Theory and Practice
-
Blankness or Clutter, How Do YOU Begin a Writing Project?
I have always felt sympathy for my freshman composition students as they anticipate a writing assignment in my class. I know the discomfort of facing a blank screen. I understand the anxiety some students experience when trying to fill the blankness with . . . something . . . something that will satisfy the requirements… Continue reading
-
How Much Should We Really Think about Audience?
Lately I’ve been writing about food. I’ve been reflecting on the complicated relationship I’ve had over the years with eating. The way I overate during the summer after my father died when I was twelve, downing box after box of Keebler cookies all those hot afternoons, enough to singlehandedly keep those tree-dwelling elves in business.… Continue reading
-
Writing about Family Secrets: God, Father, Power
My career-long exploration of contemporary memoirs has led me to examine stories in which writers choose to reveal family secrets—those skeletons that families try to keep locked in their closets, those uncomfortable truths that they choose not to share with others. Two memoirs stand out for me as good examples of instances in which a… Continue reading
-
How to Leave Your Problems on the Page
Do our problems define us? Have our past experiences, especially those that were difficult or troubling, made us who we are? Are they an integral part of our identity? In their 1990 book Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, family therapists Michael White and David Epston observed that people sometimes define themselves in terms of their… Continue reading
-
What If Your Mother Tells You Not To?
I first read Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir The Woman Warrior when I was a graduate student. At that time, something important struck me about Kingston’s message. The first chapter opens with the words of the author’s mother: “You must not tell anyone what I am about to tell you.” Immediately following these words, Kingston reveals… Continue reading
-
A Brief Rant about Writer’s Block
I am tired of the term writer’s block. Please don’t misunderstand. I empathize with writers who are stuck, who can’t move forward with their writing, who struggle to get even a few words on the page. I feel for writers who are lost or discouraged. The problem I see with the term is that it… Continue reading
Do you write about yourself and your experiences? Do you write about traumatic events in your life? Or, do you struggle to find time and motivation to write?
If so, this blog is for you.
Person on the Page 