Finding a Voice
Friday, March 24, 2006
defining women
Re. Evelyn Underhill:
She died in 1941, ten years before her husband, and is buried with him in a grave in the churchyard of St. John's in Hampstead. If one pushes away the weeds and brambles that have grown up over it, one can read the inscription on the stone -- "H. Stuart Moore and his wife, Evelyn, daughter of Sir Arthur Underhill." The defining of this prominent female writer in terms of the men in her life, while historically appropriate, is ironic for those of us who follow her.
http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/873912greene.html
Ironic, indeed. What defines a woman?
She died in 1941, ten years before her husband, and is buried with him in a grave in the churchyard of St. John's in Hampstead. If one pushes away the weeds and brambles that have grown up over it, one can read the inscription on the stone -- "H. Stuart Moore and his wife, Evelyn, daughter of Sir Arthur Underhill." The defining of this prominent female writer in terms of the men in her life, while historically appropriate, is ironic for those of us who follow her.
http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/873912greene.html
Ironic, indeed. What defines a woman?
Saturday, March 04, 2006
writing: cheating vs. integrity
Yesterday my friend Rachel challenged me on these lines from my previous post: "Sure, blogging is a form of writing and I am doing it now, but it's kind of cheating. This is not really the sort of writing that requires 'listening.'"
She's right. The self-publishing world of blogging can be a very valid form of writing, a way of testing ideas in community. However, the cheating I'm talking about is writing for the public without first taking time in private. The integrity I am feeling called to cultivate in my writing is to spend considerable time alone, without an audience, in quiet reflection, writing a lot of things that most people will never know about, let alone see. Then sorting through the pages to find the gems and offer those to family & friends & other readers.
She's right. The self-publishing world of blogging can be a very valid form of writing, a way of testing ideas in community. However, the cheating I'm talking about is writing for the public without first taking time in private. The integrity I am feeling called to cultivate in my writing is to spend considerable time alone, without an audience, in quiet reflection, writing a lot of things that most people will never know about, let alone see. Then sorting through the pages to find the gems and offer those to family & friends & other readers.
