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I’m Ed Boyd and I’m inviting you to an adventure in writing. This is a chance,
maybe for the first time, to write something of your past. On September 14, 2011, 11 am, in the second floor of the Milano Center, I hope to convene my “Bits and Pieces” for the 5th time. Nonfiction, or memoir, always tells a good story. Readers wait for that magic moment to occur, a light bulb to flash, something to happen. In all good nonfiction, there is a sense of reflection from authors. Usually, this is a thought that has simmered in the author for some time. These are like stories that Nanci tells, things that she has thought of and has brought these to the pages to us as she writes. She tells of her “Nana” and how the grandmother had rejected her, the grandmother she dearly loved. This is a memory that she “digs” up, a painful memory that she wants to tell about. Maybe she tells of such stories to give her some release from these memories so that she might put such memories behind? Nonfiction is serious attention to the craft of writing. If you are going somewhere in your story, what was the day like-overcast, sunny, windy, cloudy…? It is these details that give life to your story. In one of Regina stories she says, “My friend, Celia, died quietly that spring, just as the blossoms on the apple and cherry trees were beginning to bloom.” This sentence contains dying and living, all at once. Lovely! I very much liked what Jennifer said about Tony, “…music was his only escape from his blindness.” This should give some idea of what you can do. You should not think about nouns, verbs and adjectives but just jump in and begin writing. As you revise your work, as most of us have to, you will find the best word or phrase for your piece. After the first session I hope you will present your writing. A page or two is fine to start. Typing is preferred but handwriting is ok if it can be read easily. Jump in and begin writing! August 5, 2011
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