About

Writing Out Loud began as a blog of a memoir-in-progress about three generations of daughters and mothers. For several months I posted each chapter as I completed the first draft. My reason for going against time-worn “rules” of creative writing was that, in the post-blog era, I’d become accustomed to instant sharing and sometimes instant feedback, and I just couldn’t bear the isolation of the long-distance writer anymore. (By long-distance I mean the writing of novels or other book-length projects.)

I viewed this as an experiment, and while I wouldn’t exactly call it a failure, I can’t say it was a raging success. That doesn’t matter really. What does matter is that I’ve come to believe this experiment isn’t productive–it isn’t good for my writing process, or my ego, to be sharing first drafts. Annie Lamott calls it The Shitty First Draft and advises writers to allow themselves complete freedom at this stage. Improving the writing quality can wait until revision. Even before I read Lamott, I had long subscribed to the theory of right-brain/left-brain writing: one is creative and free-flowing, while the other must become the judgmental editor who shapes and revises the work (sorta like good cop/bad cop).

And so I have deleted all the chapters that were on this blog. I’ve left the process journals, the poems, and any other writing relevant to my memoir about mother/daughterhood (which is turning out to be primarily about my relationship with my mother, period). I don’t know if what’s left is enough to sustain a blog and/or interest readers–although a lot of users tend to search for poems about motherhood, and end up here.

If it’s not enough, dissatisfied readers can click their way over to my primary blog,
Dirty Laundry, where you’ll find many posts on the subject of motherhood. (Most Dirty Laundry readers seem to go there for the racier stuff–the erotica, sexy poetry, and opinion pieces on topics related to sexuality.)

A word about the journal postings: I learned the benefits of keeping a process journal from Louise DeSalvo’s book, Writing as a Way of Healing. My creative writing students kept them in tandem with class projects as per my instructions. It’s a place to put all the spillover emotions generated by the writing of a particular book. It includes material that may not end up in the book itself, but that demands some kind of expression.

I hope readers aren’t disappointed and will understand, maybe even learn something from my experiment. Who knows? I may change my mind again someday. Never say never.