Literacy Week 7

There are two quotes in Anne Lamont's Bird by Bird that really spoke to me. The first quote comes from her chapter titled Broccoli. Lamont writes "when you don't know what to do, when you don't know whether your character would do this or that, you get quiet and try to hear that still small voice inside. It will tell you what to do. The problem is that so many of us lost access to our broccoli when we were children." (Lamont, pg. 110) The reason why I love this quote so much is that I am a firm believer in listening to your intuition, it always will lead you in the right direction. Very often when I am writing something I know if it is good or not, or I have an idea of what my readers would enjoy. I really thought that what Lamont said about people losing their intuition with childhood was a powerful statement as well. When we are children we often don't care as much what others think and follow our hearts, or our intuition. As we get older many of us try to conform to society, and along the way loose sight of what that little voice in our head tells us and instead fall victim to peer pressure. I like that Lamont points out to listen to your intuition when writing. Lamont goes on in the chapter to make the point that your "broccoli" allows you to be having a bad day when writing and if you are just using your rational mind to guide you, you will have a very difficult time writing, but the blessing with your intuition or your "broccoli" is that it allows you to write even when you are having a bad day, letting that little voice come forward and not be drown out by your rational mind may let you get more work done than you actually think. Lamont also makes the point to double check your intuition and make sure it's not your mother speaking to you, meaning any negative voices that may be bringing us down. She reminds the reader that there is a difference between your "broccoli" and your mother, and not to let your negative thoughts get mixed up with what that little voice in your head tells you. Make sure to keep your "broccoli" and your rational mind separate, and it will make writing so much easier.