Daily Nourishment for October 19, 2024: Be Mostly Self Taught
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 10-15 minutes
“There is a great deal to be learned from programs, courses, and teachers. But I suggest working equally hard, throughout your life, at learning new things on your own, from whatever sources seem most useful to you.” - Lydia Davis, “Thirty Recommendations for Good Writing Habits” from Essays One
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then read “Prayer at Sunrise” by James Weldon Johnson.
Prompt.
Here’s more from Lydia Davis: “I have found that pursuing my own interests in various directions and to various sources of information can take me on fantastic adventures:
I have stayed up till the early hours of the morning poring over old phone books; or following genealogical lines back hundreds of years; or reading a book about what lies under a certain French city; or comparing early maps of Manhattan as I search for a particular farmhouse. These adventures become as gripping as a good novel.”
Practice.
Write a list of five things you want to explore about the craft of writing.
Write a list of five topics you want to research.
Write a list of five things you will do in the coming weeks that will help you become a better writer.
Want More?
Read “Verlyn Klinkenborg on Writing More Clearly” then write a response. Journal or forward the link to a friend with a few of your thoughts included.
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—October Co-Writing is live. All SDW Members get free co-writing through November. If you aren’t a member and would like to join us, please contact me at charlotte@charlottedonlon.com and I’ll hook you up.
—The Great Belonging Project is live here and The Great Belonging Project October Refresh will take place Oct 1-Oct 31.
—October 26— Online Revision Stations Designed by Lauren F. Winner
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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