WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL: I liked it, Sue Monk Kidd

 

I like to read books about writing. I am a comp teacher--AP Lang and COMP, AP Lit and COMP, and English 9--they just wrote a personal essay and an 11th hour research paper.  But that's not why I read books on writing. I feel confident about teaching and responding to writing--really, I should (and you likely should as well). I've got 38 years, so I've likely put my 10,000 hours in! But I read these books because I want to be a writer. I want to write a book. I am neurodivergent and am considering writing about being a teacher with some mental health issues. 

But right now I want to write down ideas I got from Sue Monk Kidd's 2025 memoir/writing guide, Writing Creativity and Soul. I liked it. I don't think I was into her memoir parts as much--which is maybe ironic, as I want to write a memoir. But I really enjoyed her commentary on writing. I should probably admit, I liked Secret Life of Bees alright, (my friend Robin said it was kind of the same type as The Help, and she's got something there). I would never have to read it again. I started the one about the young writer girl who fell in love with Jesus (The Book of Longings). I thought that one was better and will finish it someday. 

It's sometimes surprising me nhow many writers (self help or novelists) write about writing and writers. My uncle was kind of brilliant and felt everyone's first novel was probably a good percentage autobiography. (He probably had something there as well.) One of my teacher friends opens a poetry unit with poems about writing poetry. He makes it really work, but I hate those. They make me want to performative yawn. They are definitely worse than books about being an author. The only good ones I've read are Mark Strand's "Eating Poetry" which is technically about reading poetry and one by Colleen McElroy that I came across in an old AP Lit exam: "Monologue for St. Louis."  

Anyway. I am going to write about a writing book now. Hypocrite? (I'm not writing about my writing--about my reading about writing.)

Here are some nuggests I found interesting in Writing Creativity and Soul

Sue Monk Kidd talked about how fiction writers are either planners or spontaneous. She's a planner. I'm also reading Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing--he reallllllly pushes for spontaneity! I lean more toward the latter. (She mentions the Bradbury book in Writing Creativity and Soul--that's probably why I ordered it.)

p. 128 Monk Kidd talks about "the writer's malady: the anxiety of beginning." There's certainly something there. But I can usually find some stupid things to say to get me going. I usually then end up with too much preamble.

p. 141 She talks of "inevitability": I find inevitability fascinating in general--it connects to how much responsibility I have to take for my this and thats. She meant it connected to fiction, though: "I try to create a causal chain of events as much as possible, so the plot seems inevitable and believable, but I reserve the right to let the queen die of unrelated natural causes. As in life, sometimes stuff just happens."

p. 148 SMK mentions that the reader is smart. I tell my AP Lang writers this all the time--don't insult your reader by assuming they're stupid. (I just kind of did it right there by explaining that. (I just did it again. (And again.)). Sorry.

p. 172-73 Monk Kidd has also written memoir--Dance of the Dissident Daughter--which I haven't read. She said, "in our creating we are created." I like that.  

I also think that in our personal storytelling we can regain control of a narrative--make it something it was not at the time or something it actually means instead of the incident in the moment.  I like to do that with embarrassing moments or things I regret. It seems to elevate them--give them some dignity or purpose. 

p. 205 "Sometimes all you need in order to rewrite a piece of the world is anger and grief." She's right, I think. My first published piece was about a sexual assault, and the trickiness of using something like Oates' "Where Are You Going, and Where Have You Been?" in high school lit classes. When someone in the same publishing grad class told me I was "so lucky," I remember saying to him, "Have a tragedy; write it up." p. 196 "...we become present to our pain by representing or re-presenting it to ourselves in scenes with detail and vividness." 

p. 194 Similarly, she feels our sorrow can be handled by making a story. She notes that life events lead to a "metamorphosis" anyway. Why not write them?

(Bradbury says to write about what you hate and love--to make lists and go there.)

p. 203 She quotes Zola--I read Therese Raquin in French in college! "I am here to live out loud." Je suis ici vivre avec volume. (Translation credit: Trace)

p. 121 SMK quotes Faulker: "the human heart is in conflict with itself." True dat.

p. 155 Last thing, because I'm a restless person and ready to just put this online-- what the hell-- she reminds herself to "hurry slowly."  She said she thinks the idea has its roots in Greek or Latin, and I know I read something from one of the Stoics like that: "Go slow to go fast."  I generally go fast, and then try to re-narrate the details later. It's often a re-story. It helps me find some peace anyway.

I recommend the book--sent a copy to my friend Teresa (a gifted teacher and writer). The book is 1/2 price on Amazon right now if you can stand giving money to Jeff Bezos.