Live To Write...Write To Live?
I read Asian American writer Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior (as part of an American Studies elective) almost a decade ago.
At the time, I remember thinking to myself how i felt the writer's personal strength as an individual coming through the stories she told. She was direct, unafraid and unapologetic in telling her stories. I felt that and I admired that.
As with some of my other favorite writers (plath, cunningham, Franzen), what i loved about Maxine Hong Kingston most was her honesty. She was writing from her heart - she was writing as truthfully as she could.
writing truthfully isn't easy.
you get obsessed with details. why does XYZ only take his coffee black with no sugar? Or why is ABC terrible at counting? or What goes on in the head of a dying person?
Since I left my job on May 5 - I've had a couple of doubt-laden jolts as a writer. The solitude that comes with writing throws light on our expansive internal lives and our subconsious. It makes clear the fuzzy images of our memories and gives words to old festering hurts and moments of exhilaration from childhood.
Nothing escapes you as you write in solitude - in fact you chase the memories, pain, happiness, hopes, anxieties, grief, joy and relief from your past, present and future. Your words and characters, i guess, can only be believable cos they stem from truth and reality - yours and others - others.... as you try to tap the consciousness of those around you.
It gets overwhelming at times. But it always pays off cos something usually quite brilliant happens after the initial frenzy - there's a calm of awareness and more importantly acceptance. And there's also a cathartic release.
i guess, this is why they say there is therapy in writing.
Maxine Hong Kingston has obviously experienced the gift that comes from writing - and it seems she has made her purpose in life not merely her writing - but sharing the gift of writing with those around her.
she has been conducting writing workshops for war veterans. The workshops have culminated in a book of stories and poems from the workshop participants.
many veterans from the Vietnam war and the Gulf wars have taken part in these workshops. they've all managed to seek some form of release and therapy in writing - as witnessed during wednesday's reading.
so, does a writer live to write or write to live.
maybe the answer isn't as important as sharing the gift of writing.
maxine hong kingston has surely been leading the way.
At the time, I remember thinking to myself how i felt the writer's personal strength as an individual coming through the stories she told. She was direct, unafraid and unapologetic in telling her stories. I felt that and I admired that.
As with some of my other favorite writers (plath, cunningham, Franzen), what i loved about Maxine Hong Kingston most was her honesty. She was writing from her heart - she was writing as truthfully as she could.
writing truthfully isn't easy.
you get obsessed with details. why does XYZ only take his coffee black with no sugar? Or why is ABC terrible at counting? or What goes on in the head of a dying person?
Since I left my job on May 5 - I've had a couple of doubt-laden jolts as a writer. The solitude that comes with writing throws light on our expansive internal lives and our subconsious. It makes clear the fuzzy images of our memories and gives words to old festering hurts and moments of exhilaration from childhood.
Nothing escapes you as you write in solitude - in fact you chase the memories, pain, happiness, hopes, anxieties, grief, joy and relief from your past, present and future. Your words and characters, i guess, can only be believable cos they stem from truth and reality - yours and others - others.... as you try to tap the consciousness of those around you.
It gets overwhelming at times. But it always pays off cos something usually quite brilliant happens after the initial frenzy - there's a calm of awareness and more importantly acceptance. And there's also a cathartic release.
i guess, this is why they say there is therapy in writing.
Maxine Hong Kingston has obviously experienced the gift that comes from writing - and it seems she has made her purpose in life not merely her writing - but sharing the gift of writing with those around her.
she has been conducting writing workshops for war veterans. The workshops have culminated in a book of stories and poems from the workshop participants.
many veterans from the Vietnam war and the Gulf wars have taken part in these workshops. they've all managed to seek some form of release and therapy in writing - as witnessed during wednesday's reading.
so, does a writer live to write or write to live.
maybe the answer isn't as important as sharing the gift of writing.
maxine hong kingston has surely been leading the way.
posted by mypurpleink at 6:20 AM
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