ࡱ> +-* bjbj++ *II """""6666 B 6|nNNNNN)))$!")))))!""NN6)"N"N)Np?RL0|$.$$"()))))))!!)))|))))$))))))))) :  Friday, June 14, 2002 Tonight, Im squeezing in this session, too, just to do it. To keep my fingers limber, to keep some consistency in the exercise of writing, just as I try to do with my running. Build up a base. When Im writing these days, I am just trying to focus on doing it as consistently as I can, stay in the moment while I do, but with the restrained, not focused on too much hope, that at some point some breakthrough will occur of a direction I can start heading towards that is more focused, more coherent, that could be something that could be considered some definable kind of work. If not, though, I am enjoying my exercise, keeping the small flame alive, making small, sometimes very delicate, discoveries along the way. If nothing happens down the road, if nothing develops to be more focused about, I am enjoying the day by day meditation. On something a friend said in his last letter, he noted how specific, how concrete I am, mentioning this in the context of how I am different from my mother and perhaps how part of my answer to her is to insist on this concreteness. Im not sure I totally agree with him on the reason why I insist on this concreteness. In writing, at least, I know that when I first began this process, in my early twenties, I was very abstract, very nonspecific, too intellectual, and my writing was much weaker because of that. I still have a tendency to veer that way, on a more surfacey writing day. Somewhere along the way, though, I did understand one of the basic premises usually recommended for good writingthat specifics really do ground what we say. Theyre our proof, our examples, our evidence. Theyre what convince. What makes someone else believe. What interests. What makes what we say unique, our own and no one elses. Theyre what give a piece its individuality. No matter what kind of ideas or thoughts we have or want to express, specifics make the difference in whether someone else will accept or reject. Specifics make the piece a self expression. And yet, I also think I know the point hes trying to make about me. I am insistent on what I call reality. Im not a reader of fantasy. Im not a reader, typically, of escapism. I want things portrayed as they are. What I consider to be as they are. I dont want Hallmark statements. I dont want sentimentalism. I want to hear what something is really like, not what were supposed to agree its like. The older I get, the more I want this realismand I get impatient when I dont. Sometimes Im aghast when I dont get it. s hL-sOJQJhJG OJQJe f  (/ =!"#$% j 666666666vvvvvvvvv666666>6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666hH6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666866666662 0@P`p2( 0@P`p 0@P`p 0@P`p 0@P`p 0@P`p(8HX`~ OJPJQJ_HmH nH sH tH <`< NormalCJ_HmH sH tH @@@  Heading 1$@& >*OJQJDA D Default Paragraph FontViV 0 Table Normal :V 44 la (k ( 0No List PK![Content_Types].xmlN0EH-J@%ǎǢ|ș$زULTB l,3;rØJB+$G]7O٭V$ !)O^rC$y@/yH*񄴽)޵߻UDb`}"qۋJחX^)I`nEp)liV[]1M<OP6r=zgbIguSebORD۫qu gZo~ٺlAplxpT0+[}`jzAV2Fi@qv֬5\|ʜ̭NleXdsjcs7f W+Ն7`g ȘJj|h(KD- dXiJ؇(x$( :;˹! I_TS 1?E??ZBΪmU/?~xY'y5g&΋/ɋ>GMGeD3Vq%'#q$8K)fw9:ĵ x}rxwr:\TZaG*y8IjbRc|XŻǿI u3KGnD1NIBs RuK>V.EL+M2#'fi ~V vl{u8zH *:(W☕ ~JTe\O*tHGHY}KNP*ݾ˦TѼ9/#A7qZ$*c?qUnwN%Oi4 =3N)cbJ uV4(Tn 7_?m-ٛ{UBwznʜ"Z xJZp; {/<P;,)''KQk5qpN8KGbe Sd̛\17 pa>SR! 3K4'+rzQ TTIIvt]Kc⫲K#v5+|D~O@%\w_nN[L9KqgVhn R!y+Un;*&/HrT >>\ t=.Tġ S; Z~!P9giCڧ!# B,;X=ۻ,I2UWV9$lk=Aj;{AP79|s*Y;̠[MCۿhf]o{oY=1kyVV5E8Vk+֜\80X4D)!!?*|fv u"xA@T_q64)kڬuV7 t '%;i9s9x,ڎ-45xd8?ǘd/Y|t &LILJ`& -Gt/PK! ѐ'theme/theme/_rels/themeManager.xml.relsM 0wooӺ&݈Э5 6?$Q ,.aic21h:qm@RN;d`o7gK(M&$R(.1r'JЊT8V"AȻHu}|$b{P8g/]QAsم(#L[PK-![Content_Types].xmlPK-!֧6 0_rels/.relsPK-!kytheme/theme/themeManager.xmlPK-!0C)theme/theme/theme1.xmlPK-! ѐ' theme/theme/_rels/themeManager.xml.relsPK]   8@0(  B S  ? V ruy }  333333s{ JG fL-sgT  @ @UnknownG.[x Times New Roman5Symbol3. .Cx ArialA GenevaArial3.[x TimesA$BCambria Math"qhaGaG}}24 K# HX?'22 Monday, May 13, 2002Theresa McCourt Windows UserOh+'0Px    $08@HMonday, May 13, 2002Theresa McCourtNormalWindows User2Microsoft Office Word@F#@n꜔@n꜔}՜.+,0  hp  Capitol Word Play  Monday, May 13, 2002 Title  !#$%&'(),Root Entry F`.1Table $WordDocumentSummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8"CompObjr  F Microsoft Word 97-2003 Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q