Write Way Essay

Austin Kleon's Friday newsletter list includes Alasdair Gray’s latest movie in the weekly blog. Kleon also mentions Gray's response to the question Can Reading be Taught:

"Of course! I couldn’t write before I was was taught! That’s why they give it to you in primary schools. Writing and speaking are things that have to be learned first. Some people at a certain stage think that they don’t have to learn any more. If you’re very interested in words then you try to keep on learning more. And the best way, of course, is by reading other writers. Good ones! Or even bad ones are better than none to begin with."
--Alasdair Gray

"What part of your writing routine do you think would surprise your readers?

Meditation has become a part of my writing process. And when I am meditating, I am giving thanks and also very much asking for guidance, for input, for the ability to hear and feel the presence of ancestors and my own higher self. I’ll sit and close my eyes and get into the rhythm of unhurried breathing. I’ll watch the swirling image patterns behind my closed eyes, and accept as purposeful the feelings and ideas that often emerge from this process. Writing can be so lonely. The whims and needs of ego can be so destabilizing. Listening out beyond my own known self gives me the feeling that I am porous, and that I can think in dialogue with another larger intelligence."

Tracy K. Smith

Writing Discipline Envy: Tracy K. Smith Wakes Early and Meditates Tracy K. Smith’s To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul is available tomorrow, so we asked her a few questions about her readers, when she writes, and her favorite book to recomme…

National Day on Writing® National Day on Writing®