Writer's AudioShop

Here is a radio commentary on one of our audio titles. I'd like to have your reaction to add to The Front Porch, so e-mail me at WrtAudShop@aol.com

-- Elaine Davenport, Publisher, Writer's AudioShop 

Picking a Bone with Anne Lamott Tease: Hi. This is Jules Older, and I've got a bone to pick with one of my favorite writers. Stay tuned, and get in on the fight.

Announcer: Jules Older is crazy about a certain writer. But the course of love does not always run smooth.

Anne Lamott is my favorite writer who writes about writing.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is my favorite book about writing.
Word by Word by Anne Lamott is my favorite audio tape about writing.
So why aren't I happy with Anne Lamott? 

Because of something she said at the beginning of Tape One, Side One. She said: "Publication has nothing to offer you... It will work like a big plate of cocaine, where if you get the good news, it will take your mind off things for awhile. And then very quickly you will need more good news and better good news."

Lamott argues, "The writing itself can provide the solace, the illumination, the direction, the self-awareness... and it can open your heart. And there's nothing more important than that." She dismisses publication as like "like being on the rat exercise wheel."

I so strongly disagree. Publishing -- not just writing; publishing -- has made a huge difference to my life. And I'm not talking my financial life -- though it's made a big difference there, too. I've been considerably poorer as a writer than when I had gainful employment.

No, the big difference is right in the heart of Anne Lamott country; it's spiritual. Being a writer -- a published writer -- has allowed me a spiritual life so rich that it would be otherwise almost unattainable.

F'r instance... I wake up to the sun, not the jangling of an alarm clock. That's a major spiritual gain in the first 30 seconds of the day. I don't race out of the house to catch a bus or train. So I've eliminated that daily frenzy. My work is anything but routinized so I've abolished boredom. Today I write about Lake Champlain in autumn; tomorrow I write about hate crimes in Montana. After lunch, if the sun is shining, I go for a walk. If there's snow, I cross-country ski. Either way, I go with my wife -- she's also a writer -- our dog and maybe a neighbor or two. If I'm on assignment, I get to travel to far-off lands and meet fascinating people. If I'm not, I get to search my mind and see what stories lurk there. And, because I'm a published writer, I get paid for the whole enchilada.

It's the pay that lets me live this kind of life. The pay comes from publication. Not from keeping a journal, not from nature poems, not from writing as therapy- it comes from publishing my words. So publication is responsible for improving my spiritual life.

In her otherwise wonderful tape -- and in a minute I'll tell you how to get it -- Anne Lamott complains that while she tries to teach students the secrets of great writing, they really want to know where to put their name on the page when they send out a manuscript.

I don't have that problem. I also try to teach the secrets of great writing, but long before I get to the fancy stuff, I teach my students where to put their name on the page.

It's a little detail that can help in the hard business of getting published. And if they're to enjoy that rich spiritual life that Anne Lamott and I share... they're gonna have to get published. 

You can get Anne Lamott's audio tape, Word by Word, in libraries, bookstores or by calling 800 88-W-R-I-T-E. 

And, by the way, your name goes on the upper right side of the page. Don't forget to double space and leave one-inch margins all around.

This is Jules Older in Albany, Vermont, the Soul of the Kingdom... and my spiritual home.

Announcer: Jules Older's latest kid's book is Anita! The Woman Behind The Body Shop. His latest for adults is Cross-Country Skiing for Everyone.