Independence Day(s)

This was my Facebook status on Saturday morning:

Declaring my independence from the internet this weekend, and planning to be largely "off line" for the duration. See you on Tuesday!

Well, it's Tuesday, and I'm back.

I periodically get overloaded on the internet - tired of being on it, tired of letting it suck away my time, tired of the technology buzz that makes my brain feel frazzled, tired of the mild ache I'm starting to get in my right wrist from "mousing."  I've written about it before, but my efforts to make  long-term changes in my habit have not been very successful.

I also get tired of watching other people on the internet, particularly someone who lives with me (and I don't mean Magic or Molly). My husband has become an internet addict, and now that he has an iPad and a spiffy new Android phone, his face is constantly buried in some electronic gadget or the other.

Constantly.

So occasionally I get fed up and throw my hands (and my mouse) into the air and scream "Enough!" It's like when we were kids and our mothers would turn off the television, stand in front of it with their hands on their hips and say, "No more of this! You go outside in the fresh air and play and don't come back until dinner!"

I went out and played over the weekend.  The air was indeed fresh, the grass was green, the birds were happy. We attended an outdoor concert at Greenfield Village, where we were treated to some great music by The Detroit Symphony (or what's left of it since the strike has sent half the players off hither and yon) plus a gorgeous fireworks display.  I bought some more flowers for my yard, and finally found a little stone garden bench for the back garden. I walked the dogs.

I made some phone calls I'd been putting off - arranged to have the trees trimmed, researched some places for Carpet Cleaning Marble Falls,  Carpet Cleaning Westlake, and

http://www.thesteamteam.com/austin-carpet-cleaning/

Everyday I hauled a lawn chair into the middle of the backyard, poured myself a tall glass of iced tea, plopped in a fresh lemon slice, and read/napped for about two hours.

Most of all, I felt less harried, less agitated, although my fingers did itch to check my Facebook, email, Twitter, blogs....I just shoved my hands in my pockets when I walked by the computer room, and I hid the iPad under my (very heavy) mattress. Really, I did. Oh, okay, I cheated a time or two, but only for a minute!

But I also realized that I'm  tied to the internet in an enormous and irrevocable amount of ways.  There's work, of course. There's business - banking and bill paying. There's communication (being off the internet meant I wasn't around for impromptu Skype chats with my friend in China). There's information -about family (seems I "communicate" more with my son and daughter in law via Facebook or Twitter than any other way), about the world, the weather, the TV and movie schedule, the restaurant menu....I use the internet pretty exclusively for ALL of those things.

Though I sometimes think about chucking it completely, I really don't think it's possible anymore - at least not for me.

So today, I'm back to the usual internet frenzy.  But I'm hoping that a little bit of the fortitude I demonstrated over the weekend will stick, at least through the summer, and I can tear myself away for significant periods of the day.

Because my lawn chair is still waiting patiently in the cool shade of the maple tree.

How about you? Is there anything in your life you'd like to declare your independence from?

The Body of Memory

What is your earliest memory? What is the memory that always emerges from the dim reaches of your consciousness as the first one, the beginning to this life you call your own? The first memory becomes the starting point in our own narratives of the self. As writers we naturally return again and again to these beginnings and scrutinize them. By paying attention to the illogical, unexpected details, we just might light upon the odd, yet precise images that help our lives make sense. from Tell It Slant, Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction, by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola  

Calling up memories is a critical part of writing creative non-fiction, for most of us who are writing in this genre have stories to tell about our own lives, and we want to mine the depths of those lives to get the best and most valuable information. One of the best ways to access memory is through the senses...sound, touch, sight, smell, taste, feel.  We all respond to sensory images - the way a favorite song recalls our first kiss,  or how the smell of cinnamon brings to mind Grandma's oatmeal cookies. Writing about sensory memories is also an effective way to translate them for the reader. Everyone responds to these kinds of images, and so when you write about experiences savored with the senses, you're already connecting with your reader in a meaningful way.

Here's an interesting exercise from Tell It Slant that really works to help you call up memory in a new way.

In the preface to his anthology The Business of Memory, Charles Baxter writes, "What we talk about when we talk about memory is - often - what we have forgotten and what has been lost. The passion and torment and significance seem to lie in that direction." What have you forgotten in your life? What are the moments that keep sliding out of reach? Write for twenty minutes using the phrase "I can't remember" to start off each sentence. Where does this examination lead you?

You may find that by using this exercise you can back into the scenes and images you do remember but never knew how to approach. You can write some very powerful essays based on this prompt, exploring material that seemed to dangerous to examine head-on.

This was the first assignment in the creative nonfiction class I've been taking this summer. It seemed odd to think about things I didn't remember, but it worked in terms of helping me "back into" an event in my life that was quite important and that says a lot about my family and my childhood experience.

Try it, and see what happens for you.

You can read the essay that developed from this exercise right here.

The Power of Words

 

Just think - it all started with the Power of Words, these words to be specific:

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

In a great post this morning, writer Jeff Goins reminds us that words have power - REVOLUTIONARY power.

If you have a way with words, declare yourself! Make the most of it, and make things happen.

Happy Independence Day, America.

Creative Nonfiction

Like a poem, a genuine essay is made out of language and character and mood and temperament and pluck and chance.  ~Cynthia Ozick

I've always loved reading personal essays - love the way a good writer offers the reader a glimpse through the lens into a personal experience, and then broadens the angle so the view becomes a larger perspective on life in general, love the way creative expression and personal stories come together to illuminate a truth about the world.

So I'm very excited about a Creative Nonfiction class I'm taking this summer.  It's an online class, taught by one of my favorite bloggers, who, in addition to being a wonderul writer, is a teacher and editor.  Each week we're reading examples of personal essays and then writing our own essays in that genre, which we post for others to read and comment on.  It's been a great way to stretch my writing muscles, meet some other people who are interested in this type of writing, and get great feedback on my work.

Just before the class started, I ordered a copy of Tell It Slant, Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction, by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola. Coincidentally, our first lesson used an exercise from this book, and we've referred to it in subsequent lessons. The title of the book is taken from a poem by Emily Dickinson, "Tell all the Truth but tell it Slant/ Success in Circuit lies..." This line describes the work of the Creative Nonfiction writer - work based in truth, but told with the slant of creative and artistic expression.

Creative nonfiction can focus on either private experience or public domain, but in either case, the inner self provides the vision and the shaping influence to infuse the work with this sense of 'pluck and chance.' In many cases, the essayist may find himself thinking aloud on the page. Then the essay becomes a continual process of unexpected discovery.

Imagination coupled with facts - that the recipe for the creative nonfiction writer.

Like A Duet

I went to a lovely wedding on Saturday, and it couldn't have been a better day for it. The weather gods were indeed smiling on this bride.  After a rainy, stormy week, Saturday was sunny and 70 degrees, which is my bullseye for absolutely perfect in the meterological department. Michelle (the bride)  is a third grade teacher, and on the back of the wedding program she had listed some of the marriage advice her students had given her. It was remarkably astute. For instance:

Always hear each other, never fight about silly things, tell the truth always.

LOVE each other. If you get in fights, remember the good times.

When you fight, don't yell or call names. On your anniversary, take him out to dinner. Spend time with him on the weekend and give him a kiss before you go to work. Eat dinner together at the table. Kiss him goodnight. And if he's sick, take care of him.

Wow.  I was pretty impressed with these words of wisdom from eight year olds!  But this is my favorite piece of advice, and it probably appealed to Michelle too, since she's a musician/performer:

Marriage is like a duet, when one sings the other claps.

That's a really nice analogy, I think, and anyone who has been married a long time knows the truth of it. One of the best things about having a good duet partner is that they support you all the way through the piece and applaud your efforts when you're done.  They aren't out to prove they're a better musician than you, they rejoice in your success and bolster you when the music gets tricky.

I think this couple really has it all together, and will make good duet partners for life.  Which is a good thing, because the last piece of advice was really more of a charge. It said:

You should be married FOREVER.

I hope they will be.