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Monday
20Aug2007

I Can Go ANYwhere! Take a Look ...

I suspect that every now and then my blog looks a bit like Reading Rainbow for grownups. hehe. But I kind of can’t help it, since this is one of my life’s constants: I read all the time. I LOVE books. This is a great place to distill and remember and shape the impressions that great books (and even mediocre books) leave on me. I’d love to know what books are in your life right now.

I have been kind of simultaneously reading two over the weekend, which converged unexpectedly at a single, emphasized point - exactly what I really needed to hear to help me out of this kind of slump I’ve been feeling.

The Writing Life

513FW905MYL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrowTopRight45-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg I finished one last night, Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. This memoir/guidebook about writing caught my eye on one of the tables at Borders a couple weeks ago, and I thumbed through it for a couple of minutes before deciding to get it.

Annie Dillard’s prose is so measured, so metrical, so visual. Her subject is her own life as a writer, but her extended metaphors apply to any artistic pursuit. And then there are the lines I had to get out of bed and get a red pen for. Like this:

“I, always want to paint, too, after I see the Rembrantds. ”

(Incidentally, she makes me want to write things. So this comparison applies as much to me reading her work, as her looking at masterworks of art). She makes me want to write better journaling on my scrapbook pages. Journaling that is well-thought and real, that is honest. She says:

“Write as if you were dying. At the same time, assume you write for an audience  consisting solely of terminal patience. That is, after all, the case. What would you begin writing if you knew you would die soon? What could you say to a dying person that would not enrage by its triviality?”

I would write about what matters to me. And lastly, so powerful:

“One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better.

Art & Fear41KrsNgx09L._AA240_.jpg 

The other, Art & Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland, is one I discovered by following links around Amazon. This one tends to get read at the beginning of university design degree programs. It’s directed toward all artists, kind of a motivational and inspirational book.

Check out this passage, so strikingly similar to the one above:

“Look back at your work and it tells you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace. When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it comes on like blazes.” 

So the message of the weekend is something I’ve needed. Commit. Don’t worry. Don’t hold back. Don’t be motivated by fear, but by love - not only a love of the craft, but a love of my subjects and the stories I have to tell. So needed this.

One final quote (Annie Dillard again), which pretty much sums up my philosophy regarding teaching and sharing scrapbooking and Photoshop:

“The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”

When you give away the best that you have (whether that’s scrapbooking, knowledge, love, time, or energy), something more will arise for later to fill that need. This has a bit to do with faith, I think - trusting that there WILL be something left over, or that something will arise for later if you spend this now.

Of all these, energy is the hardest one for me. It’s the one I’m the most fearful of running out of, and the one I tend to hold back in giving.

So let’s talk about books (and maybe not even books) that made you want to write. Or paint. Or fix cars. What have you read, or listened to, or seen that left you amazingly inspired, and running for your scrap table, or camera, or paintbrush, etc?

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Reader Comments (34)

Not really a book, but several blogs! I've resisted the urge to blog until a few weeks ago but following my friends blogs has led me to feel connections with them that I haven't felt in a long time. Some people I haven't seen in years since we were in college together but through our blogs we are reconnecting and getting to know each other (and our new families) in a new phase in life. I have started to hear more of the little things that my children say, to notice more detail in my surroundings, to take pictures of things I hadn't thought before, to post on my blog so they can get to know more about me. I've been making scrapbook pages to showcase more of my pictures. I've been inspired!!
August 21, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterKari
I love Annie Dillard. Read some of her stuff in a high school Creative Writing class. Thanks for reminding me of her. Another book I love for many of the same reasons is Nataline Goldberg's, Writing Down the Bones. I think it's a must have for any artist, and it's broken down into lots of little essays, so you can read it in bite size pieces as you have time.
August 21, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterMandy
Books:
"Bird By Bird", by Anne Lamott
"Poemcrazy", by Susan G. Wooldridge

Thank you for posting your thoughts and these excerpts. They resonated very powerfully with me.
Couldn't have come at a better time...
- Lee
August 21, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterLee
Jessica, you are splendid - do you know what inspires me? YOUR blog. Not kidding. I have taken to reading Sue Monk Kidd due to you (still haven't gotten to Bees YET, but it has just came in). But I have followed several blog links from your blog, which has led me to some very inspirational, creative thinking. So thanks! Some of the BESTEST of the BEST:
http://scrapperlicious.blogspot.com/
http://www.inspiremethursday.com/

Both from Jessica (AND I have quoted YOU in a signature of mine:
'Creativity is a well that you can dip from forever, not a loaf of bread that’s only eaten once.' Jessica Sprague
August 21, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterMelanie
books,books,books, now you're talking my world.bravo to Ms. Dillard! I will have to find this book when I get to work( I work at borders!) another book along those lines is "Reading Like A Writer" by Francine Prose.
If you love reading books about books, a really fun fictional series is the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. The first book is "The Eyre Affair". Thursday works for Jurisfiction as a literary detective traveling in and out of books. This is the type of book I have dreamed of writing since a child. go check it out!
Jessica, thanks for all the inspiration you share on a daily basis! jackie
August 21, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterJackie
Thanks for this post. That last Dillard quote is so YOU and this site. Thanks for inspiring generosity toward all.

My favorite writers always make me want to write---especially those writing of their own life, like Anna Quindlan's old essays from Living Out Loud. And the writers who are able to make poetry out of the everyday, like Joan Didion and Isak Dinesen.

And if you will just find a way to present at CKC in Phoenix next month, you have a ready and willing TA!
August 21, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterDeirdre
You should try Annie Dillard's An American Childhood. I wish I could assign it to every single scrapbooker! She writes about her growing-up years and does it so vividly, no photos are required. She's good! The book that made me a much better writer is Donald Hall's Writing Well, although it's more of a text book than Dillard's.
August 21, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterAmy Sorensen
I love that you shared the books you are reading. The two you mentioned are now on my "to read" list. Thank you.

I'm a new scrapbooker who has been reading your blog posts for several weeks. You often inspire me to get off my duff and complete a scrapbook page.

And your pages and designs are beautiful. -Wendy
August 22, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterWendy
I meant to add that Stephen King's "On Writing" is a favorite of mine.
August 22, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterWendy
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. He is a phenominal author that should be categorized as classic literature instead of new fiction. He is a Spanish author and so far this is the only book I know of that was translated so far. The plot starts off with the discovery of a book and the need to know the person that wrote it.

Of course the all time fictional book about books is Fahrenhiet 451. If I wasn't forced to read this in highschool I would have never picked it up. I am so glad I was forced. It reminds us the power of what we write and how important it is to hold on to even with our lives. It is science fiction along the lines of "1984" but the social commentary and overall meaning make it such an important work.
August 23, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterDena
It's been years since reading "The Writing Life"...I just looked at my whole Dillard collection on my one bookshelf the other day and thought I should re-read that. Now I know I have to! And I have to second Lee's recommendation for Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" and Wendy's nod for King's "On Writing." Both excellent books and very inspirational.
August 23, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterLisa
Jessica,

Since you love to read so much, you ought to check out this website:
http://www.shelfari.com

I'm totally obsessed with it (when I'm not cruising scrapbooking blogs and websites!).

XXX
August 25, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterLisa Jackson
Hi Jessica. Your entry struck a chord with me and although I am a bookaholic, those are two books I do not have....so I guess that is a trip to Chapter's tomorrow. I did want to leave you with a link however. I discovered Patricia Digh's site about a year ago and have been struck by the honesty of her writing. Given your commitment to write better, I know you will love rummaging through her old essays.

http://www.37days.typepad.com/

Many of her essays bring a lump to my throat and I can relate on so many levels. I teach a journalling class at my local scrapbook store and at the beginning of the first class I read them the "Why 37 Days?" essay. This is the link: http://37days.typepad.com/37days/2005/01/why_37_days.html
To me that is the essence of why I scrapbook and why I believe it is important to journal on my layouts - maybe not every layout but the layouts that invoke feelings in me, the everyday moments that are so easily forgotten.

At the beginning of the third class, I emphasize the importance of including their own handwriting on some of their pages.This essay really makes the point. It wasn't until the third repeat of the class that I could get through reading it without crying.

http://37days.typepad.com/37days/2005/09/save_a_grocery_.html

I just know that you will get a lot out of roaming through the archives. There are some great stories there and boy, can this woman write from the heart!

Joan
August 26, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterJoan Fowler
Thanks for all the great book suggestions on here. I have a book list from this post, and I just finished Bird By Bird last nite. Tremendous book!
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