Life on Rural Street

woo. Busy week. Cards, cards, cards. Oh yeah, I'm trying to learn flash as well. Oy.

Still reading Traveling Mercies. Still loving it. Here is what I love about Anne's writing (we're on a first name basis now...)

1. She's vivid. I can picture exactly what she is talking about as I read. I took a "creative non-fiction" writing class my last year of college and we talked about this exact thing. The descriptions aren't in anyway cliche, in fact they are just the opposite. Every depiction of every event is truly original. She paints pictures with words. And for me, that is what a good writer does.

2. She doesn't take herself too seriously. Anne knows she's been to hell and back in her life. She knows that this has happened to a lot of us. But she talks about her experiences in a way that you don't feel too bogged down and depressed after reading about them. She is still able to have wit and humor while describing the most agonizing situation you can ever imagine. You honestly can laugh and cry at the same time.

3. I can resonate with her. I just finished reading a chapter about her insecurities in a bathing suit while she was in Mexico. I nodded my head and grinned to myself the entire chapter! Any woman who reads this book will be able to relate to at least part of Anne's story.

There is something extremely powerful about memoir-type writing. (Yes, I know I just made up a descriptive phrase) To reveal that much of your life and make yourself that vulnerable is amazing to me. I love to write this kind of stuff - but I don't like to share it with too many people. And it's for that very reason - you can open up a can of worms doing that!! And even if people don't judge you like you think they will, if you're like me, that doesn't help you to not feel exposed.

I hate to feel exposed.

I can wear a pretty thick coat and a really good mask sometimes - and when someone is able to rip it off, it frightens me! I like to be the person I think other people want me to be and not who I really am. Or who I was created to be. I'm such a work in progress.