Posted on June 24, 2002 in Writing
I was happy when I got permission to use “Guidelines for Writing Practice” from Judy Reeves’ terrific guide “A Writer’s Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life” as one of the selections in the forum I am creating for readers and want to be writers. Judy is my sometimes teacher at Cal State Fullerton. Her book is excellent. It thrills me that I have some people, some special friends of mine writing. I know that I have room for improvement. When I look down this page at the rant I just posted (yeah, even rants can be truthful — the defining factor is a sense of rage), I feel a little embarassed. Why can’t I write about the cactus garden on have on my porch like a normal person might? Or reflect about the puma who sometimes prowls the wilderness park a block from my house? My cats make good subject matter, too. And then there is the local skunk, the oppossums, and the raccoons I sometimes catch on hot summer nights washing some dainty in the complex’s waterfall. Yes, I do have a life that is not IRC or the InterNet. I just need to get on my own case about leading it and writing about it.
But then, in a final defense, the rants are also my life. My opinions are also me.