Joyce Maynard

When I found out we were required to go to one of the River City Writer Series events, I was not super excited. I'm not a big reader, or writer. I never enojyed doing either thing. So having to read a bunch of essays and go listen to the author talk about then was not on my top priority of things to do. It was on Wednesday night too so I would be giving up TWO of my favorite shows. But I went, because I had to. I arrived there with Meg and saw eveyone from class and we all just hung out and snacked. There was a lot of cheese. Thats pretty much it. Just cheese and really sugary punch. Finally we went in to listen to Joyce Maynard.

The three essays I read of hers were actually interesting. I never found my mind wandering...which is a good sign for me. When we were listening to her tell about her life and what inspired her to write I was amazed. The things that this woman had accomplished in 53 years of life were amazing to me! You name it, she did it. Then she read an excerpt from her memoir. It was funny because we all knew about her relationship with J.D. Salinger. It was kind of a taboo thing because Salinger was a recluse and no one knew anything about him except that she dated him. And we were told not to ask about it. But the main thing Joyce talked about the entire time was Salinger! It was so interesting. He was a man that wrote such an important book in American culture (Catcher in the Rye) and he turned out to be a callous, bitter man. It was just very interesting to hear.

My favorite thing about listening to Joyce was her talk about honesty. Honesty in your wrting and how important it is. She talked about how up until her last memoir, she was not honest in her writing. She didn't feel like her readers could handle it. So she left out many important things that were happenening to her. I know what she means. I've often edited thingsto leave out personal things I may have included. But it's important to be honest or else you lose yourself. I keep this journal. And I don't write in it every day, just whenever I feel upset or like I need someone to talk to and no one's there. I write it down. And that's where I'm most honest. Because no one else has to see it, just me. But even still, sometimes the hardest person to be honest with is yourself. I find that happening a lot. It's hard. But it makes you feel a lot better once you've said it. It's like a weight lifted of your shoulders.

I was also glad when we got to go see Maynard again during class he next day. She was so inspiring. She made me want to be a writer! ME...the person who hates to read, hates to write. But I loved it...I might even go see the other authors...even though I don't have to!