Reflection on Creative Non-fiction

I am sitting in a Coffee Republic in a small town called Seven Oaks just outside of London, writing this reflection. I have just stepped out of a historical site – Ightham Mote, a house built in 1377, and I feel as though I am really reflecting, so far removed now from the place and time of my writings of the past few weeks.

I enjoyed this unit tremendously. I think much of it had to do with the exploration of self and the reflective aspect and nature of the genre. Writing some of the exercises during this unit and doing the longer pieces gave me assigned time to think about myself, which I thought quite uplifting, in a way, because we, as students, are so busy these days that we hardly ever have time to contemplate—really contemplate—things such as our childhoods or moments that have shaped us. Writing about these moments gave me an opportunity to get in touch with myself, and I think I needed this.

The idea that came up during this unit that sticks out most to me is the sense of urgency that should be present in one’s writing. Every piece we write should feel like it had to be written.

This “writer urgency” developed, for me, when I wrote my long creative nonfiction piece about my mom, memory, and stories. It felt like a piece that, when I was writing it, was just waiting to be written. It was therapeutic, in some ways, to write, because it needed to be told and I never let it be, for almost three years.

I have also begun to explore the process of revision more attentively, a process which I have largely neglected prior to this. It is very helpful to go into a piece and look for images that can be developed, narrative voices that can be changed. In my long piece “Under An Umbrella, Safe From The Rain”, I explored (after meeting with you) one word (“sanctuary”)and began to open a new layer to my story – a layer that already existed there, but that I hadn’t yet brought to the fore for the reader. I’m not sure I do this fully, yet, due to the time constraint, but I believe this to be a piece I will return to.

I mentioned to you that I am a slow writer. And I find it frustrating sometimes to do exercises in class that I don’t finish, so I usually ponder on them afterward and write them in completion (or as close to completion as any exercise can get) on my own time. But I think I could improve on this point: to just get my thoughts down and practice having words flow more easily from my pen.

Here is the longer piece: Under An Umbrella, Safe From The Rain

Shorter piece: Catching Dragonflies

Stranger Study Short (I am really not happy with this piece and have not revised as much as I would like. I think I neglected it more, time-wise, to work more on my other pieces which I thought had more potential): An Average Stranger

Response to a writer: Thomas Lynch

Braided in-class essay that is not creative nonfiction, but that introduced me to a form that I like enough to employ for my longer piece: A Cat-like Affair

Excerpts & Exercises from my journal:
A History of Glass
On Storms
Smoke
Public Bus
Pitcher
A Brief Meeting (a beginning only)
Road to Nepal (a beginning only)