tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post7299347335507350539..comments2023-06-28T22:58:28.247+10:00Comments on Sixth In Line: Is this really me?Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-39297132521274650592011-09-13T21:57:43.081+10:002011-09-13T21:57:43.081+10:00Hola Elisabeth, I comment here on this particular ...Hola Elisabeth, I comment here on this particular post because of two coincidental dates mentioned within, my mother was born in 1919 and I was born in 1952.<br /><br />It is just by pure chance that I am here commenting. Having read your comment on Dave Kings post today there was nothing I could add but state my agreement with you, and you being so kind as to visit and follow my little blog, has led me here.<br /><br />I consider myself most fortunate for chancing upon you. You write marvellously and it's a great pleasure to read such quality. As time permits I will be stopping back to read and comment further. You have quite a bit of history here that will be well worth the exploring.<br /><br />Here now again I must state my agreement with what you have written in this post; Yes to universal truths rooted in the past blooming in the present.<br /><br />Your newest follower,<br />TUGThe Unknowngnomehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00310142102993090697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-56222823338289820932011-08-19T23:31:37.938+10:002011-08-19T23:31:37.938+10:00Perhaps you could be more explicit, Frances, or em...Perhaps you could be more explicit, Frances, or email me. <br /><br />I've re-read your comment and I think maybe it's not my use of the expletive now that may have offended you, so much as your sense that I am saying I'm not interested in certain people's struggles as reported in the newspapers. <br /><br />If that's the case, then I need to qualify my comment as one based on the way in which certain journalists in certain newspapers go for the extreme reaction: the shock value, as if they seek to arouse intense anxiety. <br /><br />I had in mind more of the doom and gloom about the economy that is reported every day. It rises and falls like night to day. I was not thinking about the real and genuine horrors of the world at large, like the plight of asylum seekers, and starving people in Africa and the riots in England, which most often make page three or four if we're lucky, unless of course they are at fever pitch.<br /><br />Perspective is powerful, Frances and I'm sorry if my perspective in that one particular post led you to believe that I do not care about the world's 'real' crises. <br /><br />Please, if I have read you wrong again, let me know.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-72596580181227164672011-08-19T22:28:12.062+10:002011-08-19T22:28:12.062+10:00Elisabeth: Your response suggested that you either...Elisabeth: Your response suggested that you either had not read, or, more likely, perhaps did not comprehend, my post.<br />Suggesting that it had something to do with your use of the word "shit" was simply bizarre.Franceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05588049222095187200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-29400192850467732682011-08-19T20:59:27.341+10:002011-08-19T20:59:27.341+10:00Frances, it's hard to know what to say in face...Frances, it's hard to know what to say in face of your disappointment with my values. Maybe my use of the word 'shit' offends you. I put it in quotation marks, but even so it seems you have taken it literally as a measure of something. I'm not too sure of what. <br /><br />It is colloquial granted, but it's not the first time I've used colloquial language on my blog. Maybe there's something deeper that bugs/disappoints you, though I'm not sure what it is. I can only guess.<br /><br />In any case, thanks for your honest thoughts, Frances. It's never easy to accept negative criticism, but I suspect it's better that you voice your criticisms than remain silent.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-8124262114168194732011-08-19T20:52:20.741+10:002011-08-19T20:52:20.741+10:00I did not see the program on memoir, Little Hat. ...I did not see the program on memoir, Little Hat. I'm one of those strange creatures who lives without a TV, and s a consequence I miss out on much that is wonderful but I also find it easy to resist the temptation to watch much that is banal. I prefer to be able to control the flow of my movie style content and watch DVDs on my computer. It's not ideal but it works well enough for me and mine. <br /><br />I know how hard it is to struggle through writing memoir in such a way as to stick with the essence of the truth even as you try to make it worth reading, hence the need go not be controlled entirely by the 'facts'.<br /><br />Thanks, Little Hat.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-89350050966086773572011-08-19T20:39:17.187+10:002011-08-19T20:39:17.187+10:00"The newspapers shit me," you said in yo..."The newspapers shit me," you said in your last blogpost, exhibiting not only a rejection of the standards your education tried to teach you, but an indifference to all outside your own comfort zone, from the hunger in Africa to the appalling cruelty inflicted on our exported animals.<br />You have many admirers here, Elisabeth, but I do not admire what now seem to be your values. You have deeply disappointed me.Franceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05588049222095187200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-49498128372973773932011-08-19T09:10:04.519+10:002011-08-19T09:10:04.519+10:00Authentic. I like the notion. For me it means bein...Authentic. I like the notion. For me it means being true to yourself rather than 'the truth'.<br /><br />I am in the process of writing my memoir - an exciting and taxing task and am also working thriough the truth versus the good story question. Occasionally i get on a roll and decide to run with a good storyline which I don't have the facts to back-up but invariably I decide to check the date or the name or the outcome as i know my extended family will one day read it and expose me. Equally importantly I am comfortable with the idea that this is my version and there will be others. <br /><br />Did you watch the book show on 'Memoir" last week on ABC? Interesting.<br /><br />I loved your piece on the priests. (Assumpta etc). What a great and enduring obsession.Steve Capelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14838386764407644146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-2642412206430613912011-08-17T21:04:11.046+10:002011-08-17T21:04:11.046+10:00Well, Dusty Who, thanks for your heartfelt comment...Well, Dusty Who, thanks for your heartfelt comment. I, too enjoy writing that includes a writer's innermost thoughts. It gives us access to other worlds that we would otherwise not be able to share. <br /><br />But even as we write about our innermost thoughts, I think it's important to write in such a way that we do not hector readers to see it our way, and that we put in enough of the sensuous details - the tastes and smells and colours for instance - to allow readers to decide for themselves what sense they make of this narrator who is telling them a story. <br /><br />I also agree with you that most of us write to share our thoughts. When I write I have an audience in mind, and usually to begin with that audience exists in my imagination, almost as an aspect of myself but one I lodge in others outside of myself . <br /><br />Usually it's an audience of one or two close friends. I can't fathom writing to hordes of people, people are all so very different. So for me it's better to focus on my best and most honest friends, the ones who will judge me fairly and compassionately. <br /><br />I have found a few such friends within the blogosphere, friends like you, and I enjoy our conversations about writing and the writing process immensely.<br /><br />Thanks, Dusty.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-43398897096872072452011-08-17T20:38:05.174+10:002011-08-17T20:38:05.174+10:00You are too kind, Unknown Mami, but I'm gratef...You are too kind, Unknown Mami, but I'm grateful for the affirmation. <br /><br />I'm sure there are others though, who know me, or at least imagine they know me, in real life that is, and maybe even within the blogosphere who might disagree. <br /><br />Thanks, Unknown Mami.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-48762922615419562742011-08-17T20:36:14.809+10:002011-08-17T20:36:14.809+10:00I, too, find an enormous disjuncture between certa...I, too, find an enormous disjuncture between certain members of my family's memories and mine, Eternally Distracted, but if we ever really sit down together and tease things out we can sometimes find connections. <br /><br />I recognise, though that there are families in which such shared connections are nigh on impossible and yours might be one.<br /><br />Thanks Eternally Distracted.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-36271441192322430812011-08-17T18:16:03.106+10:002011-08-17T18:16:03.106+10:00I liked the term you used, authentic. Especially w...I liked the term you used, authentic. Especially when you are sharing more then just a story, but your story. <br /><br />I don't see anything wrong with fictional stories. In fact some of my favorite stories are fictional, with one foot still inbounds on the field of author's life.<br /><br />sometimes these are exciting tales that many readers describe as drawing tears of sadness one drop and the next tear being of joy. Some readers crave stories that invoke a nearly complete spectrum of emotions from across the board. The story is like a perfectly seasoned dish that hits every taste bud and satisfies the mind as apposed to the taste that is good, not bad in any way but it's just missing something.<br /><br />I can certainly understand all kinds of different styles and flavors of stories and each unique type of story being an individuals specific kind of favorite.<br /><br />But as a reader, I know that my favorite stories are the ones that <i>are</i> peoples stories. And while I love every minute detail that some people try to define as fact (like dates, times, geo-location and weather) those details are NOT what make a person's story my favorite kind.<br /><br />What makes a story one that I won't put down until the words stop coming are the details of author thought. The sharing of mind. The thoughts that trained through, during the secondary "facts" of place and time that the author experienced the thoughts either creating each bit of history's "nows" (the thoughts in front of time)or a reaction to every second of instantaneous life (the thoughts exactly after or behind the wave, behind time) that passes like one of Einstein's slow, or quickly moving relatives.<br /><br />When an author can share, as in let the reader know those thoughts that their mind now shares because of writing. That is a living story in words. Those are the books that are lived by a reader more so than read.<br /><br />and the few books that I don't put down until the words stop, that magic for me only comes from authentic words. It doesn't happen when I an author attempts to lead or persuade, but rather from living and doing nothing more than attempting to lend the mind that lived that story to the reader.<br /><br />sharing thoughts, and when the points are accidental and after the fact. Because that is when the magic happens (for me anyway) <br /><br />Stories are read after the fact, with intent to share, and less so to impact (although they sometimes do)<br /><br />you do a good job at sharing your mind. I'd like to read a book where your stories are the ones you lived. Each of us knows when we are writing with a purpose other than to share with those who genuinely want to know how life felt. <br /><br />If a author can't admit an underlying purpose (at least to themselves) when there is one, then the words begin to rot and die and it often reads just so.<br /><br />Your authentic words will live when you write them, what page are you on?whohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17685473418191606910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-62257374278830212552011-08-17T12:06:57.732+10:002011-08-17T12:06:57.732+10:00You are a beautiful and thoughtful person. I suspe...You are a beautiful and thoughtful person. I suspect you've always been so.Claudya Martinezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17034216831504207496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-38143695128144610012011-08-16T22:15:22.526+10:002011-08-16T22:15:22.526+10:00It always surprises me that my families truths are...It always surprises me that my families truths are never even closely linked to my memories... I figure there must be a balance to be found somewhereAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-14937233520704378822011-08-16T20:50:35.220+10:002011-08-16T20:50:35.220+10:00There's a TV program on here tonight, Tracy of...There's a TV program on here tonight, Tracy of Phoenix fame, about facial reconstructive surgery -not for deformed folks but for those who'd like their noses flattened or their eyelids made more 'western', To me it's scary stuff and yet it's all part of the so-called Beauty Myth. <br /><br />All this is to say, I agree with you Tracy on the pressures exerted on young girls and women to be beautiful and to reflect a certain narrow conception of beauty. It's tragic and goes back a long way, including during and before my childhood.<br /><br />I also agree with you on the importance of authenticity, the stuff from the heart. <br />Thanks, Tracy.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-20493488352120899562011-08-16T20:46:00.622+10:002011-08-16T20:46:00.622+10:00We need to paper over those gaps, as you suggest, ...We need to paper over those gaps, as you suggest, Rachel, otherwise it becomes terribly boring. To say to a reader, sorry I can't tell you this, I can't remember it, would become very boring in no time at all. <br /><br />And to paper over the gaps requires imagination, fictional techniques etc.<br /><br />Thanks, Rachel.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-71846974971778721762011-08-16T20:43:23.252+10:002011-08-16T20:43:23.252+10:00I haven't read 'Boys Life', Eric but t...I haven't read 'Boys Life', Eric but thanks for the recommendation. This term 'fictography' reminds me of Gerald Murnane's description of his writing as fictional autobiography, to some a misnomer to me perfectly acceptable and much like your book by the sound of things. <br /><br />Real life experience becomes the raw material of so much fiction. After all we can only write what comes out of our heads, our minds and our imaginations. And all this is informed by our experience, as well as what others tell us.<br />Thanks, Eric.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-62258570204902189632011-08-16T09:35:23.719+10:002011-08-16T09:35:23.719+10:00I don't think there's a single child out t...I don't think there's a single child out there (especially girls, since the onslaught of beauty expectations comes early on) who does not think he or she is ugly. We measure beauty by trying to find people in our life that we think are beautiful, and then ask ourselves, Do I look like that? And as a child, no, we don't look like anyone that we think is beautiful, our mothers or fathers or teachers. We just look like us, still growing, a bit awkward, and we are unhappy with the unfinished product.<br /><br />I think all autobiography is authentic fiction. After all, if you're writing YOUR autobiography and it did not happen to me, it might as well be fiction because I have not gone through what you have, so I will be using my imagination, much like I would with any story. And if I'm writing my own autobiography, my memories will be flawed and skewed towards my own perspective, thus rendering it black and white fiction in a gray world.<br /><br />But it is never un-authentic, if it comes from the heart.Phoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07477498671080132176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-70516188383298677652011-08-16T08:51:04.316+10:002011-08-16T08:51:04.316+10:00A thoughtful post.
I think we all edit our own me...A thoughtful post.<br /><br />I think we all edit our own memories to tell our stories in the most interesting way - cut out the dull bits for the reader - and this naturally bridges any gap between strictly factual and fiction. But I think, however you choose to tell them - your memories, your stories are your thruth. <br /><br />An interesting post.<br /><br />I think you were a beautiful child, by the way.Rachel Fentonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10046917627054462214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-26117381380097324182011-08-16T00:13:03.202+10:002011-08-16T00:13:03.202+10:00Have you read Boy's Life by Robert McCammon?
...Have you read <i>Boy's Life</i> by Robert McCammon?<br /><br />He calls it his fictography. It's a fictional autobiography.<br /><br />I wrote one of my own, my fictography. I split myself into two characters, and turned my brother and me into whores living in Beaumont, Texas.<br /><br />There was a ton of fiction in there, but I kept the dogs, both of them, changing only their names. I kept the house, the pasture, the woods, and the creeks. I kept the church and the graveyards behind it.<br /><br />I kept the ~feel~ of the story of my life, even though I killed off my pop and let my mom run off with another man. That never happened, but that wasn't the point.<br /><br />I haven't published it and I may never do so. That story was for me, not the world.<br /><br /> - EricEric W. Tranthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13842968931062056407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-7860937892320915142011-08-15T20:43:07.354+10:002011-08-15T20:43:07.354+10:00It must be the Dutchness of my visage, Marja that ...It must be the Dutchness of my visage, Marja that you also recognise in one of your daughters. I see a certain Dutchness in your profile, too. To me there is a look that is uniquely Dutch, at least I like to think there is, at the risk of being nationalistic .<br /><br />Thanks, Marja.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-43055950636818881642011-08-15T20:40:12.470+10:002011-08-15T20:40:12.470+10:00Harry, you put it so beautifully:
'Our lives a...Harry, you put it so beautifully:<br />'Our lives are performances that are observed by the onlookers about us as ephemeral disjointed scraps of narrative. We, inside our role performances, imagine the thrust of the action to be the plot of some kind of a novel.'<br /><br />But as you say it's less a novel to be shelved after reading, and more a play to be enjoyed however briefly and then remembered and in time treated as a fading memory, until forgotten. <br /><br />One day the curtain goes down and we are left to pick up our lives, if our lives go on beyond the public performance. It's rare that our writing and performance will outlive us, but at least we can dream.<br /><br />Thanks, Harry.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-91436231197378973072011-08-14T21:02:19.148+10:002011-08-14T21:02:19.148+10:00I revisited the definition of the word 'fictio...I revisited the definition of the word 'fiction' , Rob Bear, and found that it refers to the notion of shaping, in part. To me this is what I'm on about here. We live these lives. How we communicate aspects of that living depends in large part on how we shape our communications, and there's many ways to do that, as you'd know.<br /><br />Thanks, Rob Bear.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-37928042347282917762011-08-14T20:59:15.770+10:002011-08-14T20:59:15.770+10:00I'm pleased that this post resonated for you, ...I'm pleased that this post resonated for you, too Anthony. As I think I've said earlier here, it's always good when your writing reflects other people's experiences.<br /><br />Thanks, Anthony.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-34820531796602943752011-08-14T20:57:32.152+10:002011-08-14T20:57:32.152+10:00Thanks for the 'thumbs up', Laoch. I'...Thanks for the 'thumbs up', Laoch. I'm glad you found this post worthwhile, assuming that's what you mean by the word elegant, here used as an adverb.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-18986706108926415612011-08-14T20:55:25.090+10:002011-08-14T20:55:25.090+10:00I know what you mean, Kirk, about seeing yourself ...I know what you mean, Kirk, about seeing yourself today the way you saw yourself in the past, despite all the obvious changes both inside and out. <br /><br />Even my 91 year old mother feels like a fifteen year old school girl much of the time. We oftentimes remember ourselves as much younger than we are.<br /><br />Thanks for your kind words, Kirk.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.com