"Don’t try to be profound or teach a lesson, and don’t write for anyone’s approval or admiration; simply write what is specific and true to your observation, to the unique, often secret convolutions of your own heart and mind."
Language is probably the most important facet of creative nonfiction because it can take the most mundane of experiences and turn them into ideas that seem life-altering.
Sure, writers write to explore our beginnings, but they more often write to transcend them. Writers also write to contemplate the horrors that might have been or almost were.
It's frustrating and alienating for readers to feel like they should know what's going on but don't. They want to be grounded in a character, in a place, in a context.
"The earrings, for example: I'll never know if she really stole them but at some point I chose to believe she did. Is that unfair? I disapproved but was also really moved by the gift, and I don't think I ever told her."
"As Rita Dove once said, so succinctly, poetry is the most “immediate and intimate” genre. Our brains/souls/hearts/memories/days are desperate for it."
Sometimes we’re so focused on producing those great works of art (or the weather is so foul) that we neglect the inspiration side of things. If your muse is uncooperative, she might just need a change of scene.
