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6/14/05
::: EXERCISE FROM AMY FRIEDMAN
Amy
Friedman is an incredible writer and a brilliant writing teacher.
She is also a huge proponent of the personal essay. When FRESH
DAILY launches in the fall, Amy will be a regular contributor,
offering up exercises to help free you to write. Check out
her bio
and one of her personal
essays on FRESH YARN. Then dive into this excercise...
VALUES
So you think you know what you care most deeply about. You're
sure you do. You talk about it over coffee with friends. You
write about it. Don't you? Try this exercise. But this time,
don't talk about it. This is truly private. More private than
your banking account.
Starting
today, take five pieces of paper, and on each piece, write
down one thing you value above all else. That is, these five
pieces of paper are going to be a compendium of the things/people/ideals
you cannot imagine living without. That may be your dog, your
best friend and the New York Times; could be justice,
chocolate milk and your kids. (You may include all children
on one page, but you must separate everything else).
When
you are finished, you may be exhausted -- culling the other
things and people that don't make the cut. But hang out for
a day with those pieces of paper staring in your face.
And
then the next day: You
must lose one. Throw away the one that's least important to
you of the five. You're down to the four most vital things
in your life.
Next
day, throw a second one away, and now you're down to three.
Day
after that, throw one more away, you're down to two. Spend
the rest of the week hanging out with those two, rolling them
around in your brain, living with them, thinking about them,
telling no one. But once you're down to two, write about whatever
comes into your mind. Write for an hour.
TAKE
ME TO THE PERSONAL ESSAYS
FRESH
DAILY ARCHIVES
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