My dear friend, Sarah, brilliant innovator over at Art Expedition
tagged me to participate in the
Thank you, Sarah, for thinking me worthy of this honor and hoping I have inspiring quotes to share.
At university and afterward at supplemental lectures and classes, and from many writing books, I’ve worked at learning the craft of writing. I’ve participated in writing critique groups, helping other emerging writers as they hone their skills, and heard authors talk about their journeys to getting published. Each has taught me something worth deliberating over and remembering.
I’ve also been fortunate to be a “long distance” student to two women whose books have nurtured me with their passionate writing.
One of these teachers is Natalie Goldberg, who wrote Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft. From this book are these words:
Writing practice taught us how to contact ourselves. Now our job, our responsibility, is to contact what’s in front of us – the photo, the story, the place – and to hand that moment of contact, that merging of two presences, over to the reader.
Like many people, my love of writing showed up young, by my first years of elementary school. But I wasn’t a writer yet. I was a kid who could write a few sentences well, a couple of stories considered beyond my grade level. None of them made me a writer. Paying attention to the metronomic pulse around me, to the tiny movements of other people, and working at writing them in ways that reveal the concentric waves that eventually circle the Earth – that is what I do to become a writer. I practice and revise, like all of you. One day, one day you will be able to read my words in print, because I practiced and I learned.
Natalie Goldberg was one of my teachers.
Is there anyone who has not read the work of Maya Angelou? Is there anyone who has not been transformed? From pain and fear, from violence and ugliness, she found a voice and she gored everyone with her words. She woke us to rage and rocked us to sleep. You cannot do this to me, you cannot hurt me, I am someone who counts, this is my world as well as yours. That’s what I hear when I read her words.
Following is part of her poem A Brave and Startling Truth, written for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and read by Angelou at the ceremony in 1995. I cannot read this poem without hearing her sonorous and confident voice, she who was as a small child cowed into silence by a horrific act of violence. But now she has a voice:
It is possible and imperative that we discover
A brave and startling truth…
When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.
In only 46 words she identified the truth we must find. Love is what she means, a love free of hatred, the only thing that can save us from death, the only thing to bring us peace. It is meant for all of us to hear, for all of us to benefit from.
We humans search for love but the object of our desire may be unique to each of us. A career to give us focus, a calling to give us a sense of worth, a lover to give us solace, a child to give our life meaning, a cause to benefit others. It may be our life’s challenge to find such to love or it may be a challenge to recognize it was there all along. Revealing these quests in the stories we write tests our strengths as writers.
Maya Angelou was one of my teachers.
A few times in my life I’ve felt a glimmer of success. The ordinary spotlight moments in school: the lead role in the school play, a relay race in seventh grade, a medal for an art project, a solo in a ballet, an A in math, an honor in English class, an award at a speech competition. Later the glow stemmed from relationships build with friends and colleagues, advances at work, opportunities take a lead position on a project.
Even more, my heart still pounds when thinking about meeting the man I would marry, the birth of my sons, helping them grow up, applauding them for their momentous life achievements, standing by their sides at their weddings and waiting in the wings at the births of their children. And even the failures that still give me nightmares and make me angry: losing a job unfairly, the end of a long friendship because we’d both changed too much, weeping over the deaths of too many people I love, rage over the injustice in the world.
You may wonder what all those events have to do with these two quotes. Everything is the answer. I’ve lived, and I’ve learned to convey those moments in my writing. I’m learning to merge two presences – the experiences I’ve lived and the words I write – into a story that reveals a truth.
From a masterful writing teacher and writer to a master writer and poet, these two quotes are bookends to consummate storytelling. One day, one day you will be able to read my words in print, because I practiced and I learned.
You two women have taught me well. I am learning, thank you, I am learning.
The Young Student, 1894, by Ozias Leduc, courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Photo of Maya Angelou courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Photo of Natalie Goldberg courtesy Creative Commons
Comments on: "3 Day Quote Challenge #3" (38)
These are beautiful quotes, Shari. You´ve chosen some of the best teachers there are in the writing world!
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I agree that these teachers are outstanding, (as are many others) and hope I’ve absorbed sufficient lessons to improve my writing. Thank you again for trusting me with your challenge, Sarah.
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It’s been my pleasure, Shari, and I’m actually sad that it was only a 3 day challenge as I could read these kind of posts from you on and on! Your choice of quotes was simply marvellous and inspiring. 😊
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Thank you so much for saying that.
I just realized, looking over the actual post, that part of what I’d written hadn’t gotten into the post itself, so I corrected it. Being careful about proof reading is another writer’s task to master – I’m still learning that one.
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I feel the pressure of finding something startling! Yikes! I just know I’m not up to it.
Sigh.
Good quote.
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Jacqui, you are much braver than you know and up to anything. Even that which startles – though I can’t imagine what that might be in your case. Me – I’m afraid of the dark – I really am.
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Beautiful, Sharon. Thanks for the reminder to step back and see the miraculous!
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What a lovely thing to say, Jenna. Thank you.
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Wonderful post Sharon, you learnt well from these marvellous women.
Their quotes are fantastic and makes one stop and consider how much
there is to learn.
I am very fond of Maya Amgelou’s writing too.
~ miriam
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Maya Angelou speaks with great power and insight. Thank you for reading, Miriam.
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Wonderful quotes, as are your reflections on them.
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Thank you, Betty. These two women say things worth remembering.
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I totally agree! So glad you wrote about them. ❤️
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Thank you, Betty. They are such wise people to follow.
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Great ones indeed. Reality is most people don’t ponder the gifts of others enough.
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I certainly agree with this – we don’t, until it’s too late to let those we love know how much we value their gifts and their presence.
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Sharing these quotes from these extraordinary women made my day, Shari. Truly inspiring and how amazing they have been your teachers.
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Uh oh, Terri, I fear I misled you and maybe others. Neither Goldberg nor Angelou were ever my personal teachers, and I never met either one of them nor heard them speak in person.
Goldberg writes many books about writing, and I’ve learned so much through her books directed to help developing writers.
Angelou has long been a personal inspiration to me through her novels, her poetry, and the snippets of her speeches I’ve seen on TV.
I did have several excellent college writing teachers and one notoriously horrible teacher, all of whom were influential in who I’ve become as a person as well as the writer I’m still trying to be.
Please accept my apologies for not being more clear. I’ve edited the article to reflect more accurately what I meant.
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Haha, Shari, we would all believe you! Glad you did have excellent college instructors. I wish I could have taken an extra writing class or two.
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I would love to go back to university and pay better attention.
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As faculty, I may get a discount…I should check to see if I could take a class. Thanks for that inspiration, Shari!
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What class would you like to take? Please let me know if you do. (So glad to know I inspired you to do this!)
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I might check out a non-fiction writing class, either in the journalism or English department. This would really challenge me 🙂
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Sounds very interesting. Have you considered creative non-fiction? I’ve been wanting to do this class for a long time.
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Now I’m going to have to pull up the catalog 🙂
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Yep, me too. Creative non-fiction or watercolor – the two sides of the many sided me.
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Inspiring post Shari.
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Thank you, Judy. I’m glad you think so.
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Two wonderful writers and terrific quotes from them both! One highlighting our responsibility to our selves, become aware of our own strength and gifts, the other reinforcing our commitment to pass on our knowledge and wisdom to others, to share our understanding. Both incredible women and powerful words … an inspiring start to my day! It is a privilege to Read your posts and partake in the joy and magic of learning! Happy Weekend, my friend! ❤️
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Annika, you’ve done a better job of identifying the gifts of these two remarkable women. Thank you for your insight. Happy weekend, yourself.
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I ended up adding three of Natalie Goldberg’s books to my list at Amazon. 😛
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I think you’ll like the way she writes, Glynis. She makes me feel like I want to get immediately to a pen and paper.
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You were lucky with your teachers and they have taught you well. I am looking forward to reading your words in print – your practice is already showing its outcomes. Again good meaningful quotes.
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As I wrote to Terri Webster Schrandt (please see above note from me to her) I was accidentally misleading about these women being my teachers. I did learn from them but never attended classes with them.
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Whether they were your actual teachers or not, they did teach you much and no matter how you learn, having inspirational people to guide you can only be good.
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Absolutely, I agree, but I realize I’d confused people.
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I love the Goldberg quote. You did well with this challenge.
I tried commenting on a selfie post, but it appears to be no longer there.
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I learned so much about writing from Natalie Goldberg’s book. I’m glad you also like her quote.
The Selfie Mode post will appear again on June 18. I’m a bit of a techie dummy.
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