What a Reader Wants
That’s all a reader really wants — to know the author better. Even if it’s a novel, they want to know the author.” – the novelist Cecil Dawkins to Natalie Goldberg.
I’m trying to organize some of the more “untamed” corners of our home. (i.e. The basement, home to my desk, but also where random household items go to die. See: essential oil diffuser that I thought was a good idea when we were all cooped up at home in 2020.) I unearthed my old copy of Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life by the amazing Natalie Goldberg. Someone (a teacher?) introduced me to Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones in high school and sometime soon after graduating I acquired Wild Mind. My memories of summer 1995 mostly include bopping from one housesitting job to the next after my parents moved to DC. When I wasn’t working the 7-3, M-F shift at Bernie’s Bagels, I was doing one of 3 things: 1) Moving my clothes to the next housesitting gig via a family friend’s ancient Volvo that I borrowed, 2) Seeing the small number of hometown friends I kept up with after parting ways for college the previous summer, 3) Writing, this book at my side. I wrote all.the.time — mostly in a lil’ sunflower journal. (Sunflowers were a big motif in the mid-90s for some reason.)
So I started reading it again. Never mind that it is ensconced in some disgusting dried food remnants vis a vis a grocery bag from almost 30 years ago (applesauce?)…they are my own disgusting food remnants, so I’m ok with it. (The devil you know and all that…) Check out this 1990 edition in all its 90s glory. (Note the trying-to-be-quirky font that makes the apostrophe in the subtitle really awkward as well as the Extremely Bright And Fun cover art. [No sunflowers?])
Right from the get-go, this quote above struck me. It’s true! I want any author’s work to give me a glimpse into *why* they decided to write about XYZ. What do they care about? What do they find interesting? It’s also a little inspo as I trudge along with my own writing…albeit in a time of life where I have more than 3 things to do. 🥴
{This was kind of a fun trip down memory lane. Check out what else I found in our basement. #SunflowersForDays 🌻🌻🌻}
originally published on instagram