- · What is this thing she calls “broccoli?”
“It means, of course, that when you don’t know what to do, when you don’t
know whether your character would do this or that, you get quiet and try to
hear that still small voice inside. It will tell you what to do. The problem is
that so many of us have lost access to our broccoli when we were children.” Page
110.
- · What does she have to say about “jealousy?” Are you worried that such an emotion could negatively color your writing?
“Jealousy is one of the occupational hazards of being a writer, and the
most degrading. And I, who have been the
Leona Helmsley of jealousy, have come to believe the only things that help ease
or transform it are (a) getting older, (b) talking about it until the fever
breaks, and (c) using it as material. Also, somewhere along the line is going
to make you start laughing about it, and then you’ll be on your way home.” Page
124
I know that along the road that I will get jealous of someone else’s
writings, but I don’t think it will negatively affect my writing, unless I want
it to. I think that I can control my emotions but I think that I may slip and
start to let it control my writing. But I know I will get over it, and start to
think that it was stupid of me to be jealous over some one else’s writings. “To
each is there own,” every one will have their success and failures. We should
be proud of the writers that make it, and learn from the writers that did not.
I think this is one way to get over jealousy.
- · What sort of “someone” should you look for “to read your drafts?”
“I go on telling people to consider finding
someone who would not mind reading their drafts and marking them up with useful
suggestions. The person may not have an answer to what is missing or annoying
about the piece, but writing is so often about writing mistakes and feeling
lost. There are probably a number of ways to tell your story right, and someone
else may be able to tell you whether or not you’ve found one of those ways.” Page
163.
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