“One day as I sat at
my bedroom computer, writing who knows what, Adriana, then almost three months
old, began to laugh behind me on the bed. I turned to see what she was laughing
at but could find nothing. Thankfully, I
recognized the world whispering, put fingers to keyboard, let the ideas collaborate
and grow.” I love the idea the world
whispering. Because the world whispers,
we are able to form personal opinions about everyday life. Our personal opinions create diversity and
give us a reason to write. He goes on to quote a man named Bernard Cooper “We sleepwalk through most of our lives
. . . and . . . every once in a while something happens . . . outside ourselves
that forces us to pay attention in a new way, or something happens inside us
that enables us to pay attention in a new way. And we suddenly realize that the
world is so much richer, and more magnificent, and more wonderful than we had
felt for a long time. Not to sentimentalize . . . , but think children live
much more continuously in a state of awareness of the miraculousness of
existence.” If we are always present and attentive to the world around us we
might have more to write about.
Sometimes I have to tell myself to constantly ask why. Being like a child in this “state of awareness
of the miraculousness of existence” is the beginning step to good writing. If we can’t expand our minds to new senses
and new ideas, we can’t even start to explain what is “new” to someone else. When
writing anything, you must pretend you are writing to someone too young to
understand. This way you will be able to use full detail and you will explain
everything in depth. In closing, Madden asks us to “…think more, ponder, wonder,
meander, maunder” no matter what life gives.
Think a little deeper before you react and be sure to take in all the
little details.
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