Even after I'd beendoing this for years, panic would set in. I'd try to write a lead, but instead I'd write acouple of dreadful sentences, XX them out, try again, XX everything out, and thenfeel despair and worry settle on my chest like an x-ray apron.
This is the common mistake everyone makes when writing their first drafts, they try to make it perfect almost like the first draft is the only chance they get to write.
Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it. Nor dothey go about their business feeling dewy and thrilled.
Just sitting down and writing whatever comes to mind seems to be the key to a first draft, so that those ideas can be turned into a second and third draft later on.
and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic andconfident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts.
Writing a bad first draft is a common step in writing anything, it is not something that should be avoided but encouraged.
She stood, the dog extended toward me, silent to my questions,her eyes bulging nearly out of her head.
The proprietor seemed to not only have a prejudice against him but also a real hatred for the author which extended beyond merely fearing him.
n central Manhattan,the near-constant crowd cover minimizes tense one-on-one street encounters.
Being surrounded by multiple watching eyes is the only way some people feel relatively safe when close to him.
poor and powerless young men seem to take all this nonsense literally.
Most likely the background of these boys and the fact that they lack control over their lives is what leads to the need to find control over things in other ways.
Where fear and weapons meet—and they often do in urban America—there is always the possibility of death.
Violence and fear are things that are constantly present in urban America, which leads to a cycle of never-ending violence because of the commonality of it which leads to assumptions from all sides.
Yet these truths are no solace against the kind ofalienation that comes of being ever the suspect,
He feels isolated from a part of society, and seen as just another criminal and lowlife of the area.
And I soon gathered that being perceived as dangerous is ahazard in itself.
Due to his skin color and how he is perceived because of it, ironically, he is in more danger than the people who believe themselves to be in danger when around him.
wassurprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once
The author was ashamed of how he made others feel around him
My first victim was a woman
Sarcastically labels the woman as his victim
deserted
No one around
Becausein thisway alone we can survive, by taking part in a processof life thatis creativeand continuing, that is growth
Sharing your ideas and your truth can serve to push forth the growth of humanity
I had made contact with otherwomen while we examined the words to fit a world in which weall believed, bridging our differences
Finding protection and peace in commonality is probably a driving force of breaking your own silence.
without regard for whether Ihad ever spoken what needed to be said, or had only betrayedmyself into small silences,while I planned somedayto speak,orwaited for someone else's words.
Not speaking her mind when she wanted to is her biggest regret, and feels like self betrayal
In becoming forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality
Something we all must come to terms with
what is mostimportant to me must be spoken
Human instinct and need to communicate
The Transformation ofSilenceinto Languageand Action
Talking about how language originated? How language evolved through time?