Not all those who wander are lost

literaryartifacts: from “Several Short Sentences about Writing” by Verlyn Klinkenborg, via Ecotone: “The central fact of your educations is this: You’ve been taught to believe that what you discover by thinking, By examining your own thoughts and perceptions, Is unimportant and unauthorized. As a result, you fear thinking, And you don’t believe your thoughts are interesting Because you haven’t learned to be interested in them. There’s another possibility: You may be interested in your thoughts, But they don’t have much to do with anything you’ve ever been asked to write. The same is true of what you notice. You don’t even notice what you notice, Because nothing in your education has taught you that what you notice is important. And if you do notice something that interests you, It doesn’t have much to do with anything you’ve ever been asked to write. But everything you notice is important. Let me say that a different way: If you notice something, it’s because it’s important. But what you notice depends on what you allow yourself to notice And that depends on what you feel authorized, permitted to notice In a world where we’re trained to disregard our perceptions. Who’s going to give you the authority to feel that what you notice is important? It will have to be you. Being a writer is an act of perpetual self-authorization. Only you can authorize yourself. You do that by writing well, by constant discovery.”

literaryartifacts:

from “Several Short Sentences about Writing” by Verlyn Klinkenborg, via Ecotone:

“The central fact of your educations is this:

You’ve been taught to believe that what you discover by thinking,

By examining your own thoughts and perceptions,

Is unimportant and unauthorized.

As a result, you fear thinking,

And you don’t believe your thoughts are interesting

Because you haven’t learned to be interested in them.

There’s another possibility:

You may be interested in your thoughts,

But they don’t have much to do with anything you’ve ever been asked to write.

The same is true of what you notice.

You don’t even notice what you notice,

Because nothing in your education has taught you that what you notice is important.

And if you do notice something that interests you,

It doesn’t have much to do with anything you’ve ever been asked to write.

But everything you notice is important.

Let me say that a different way:

If you notice something, it’s because it’s important.

But what you notice depends on what you allow yourself to notice

And that depends on what you feel authorized, permitted to notice

In a world where we’re trained to disregard our perceptions. Who’s going to give you the authority to feel that what you notice is important?

It will have to be you.

Being a writer is an act of perpetual self-authorization.

Only you can authorize yourself.

You do that by writing well, by constant discovery.”

1 year ago

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    I feel bad blogging this hahah because its exaclty what my redundant prof is talking about BUT goddammit he’s so inane...
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    I’m going to print this and hang it up everywhere I can see it.
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