"You don't have to write what you know, just something you feel deeply"Tonight was Lola Lemire Tostevin's reading of her beautiful novel, The Other Sister. I thought I would take the time to not only reflect on the book, but also reflect on the many ideas that she presented about her book and writing in her soft-spoken manner.
In reference to the quote above, Tostevin discussed the part in her novel about Dr. Mengele and his experiments on Jewish twins during WW2. Although it was not a topic that she has personal experience with, she said she used her imagination and research to be able to write about it. She used her personal connection (her grandchildren are Jewish) to drive her emotion and need to tell this particularly aspect of her story. I also find that writing about something that I care about or feel a deep emotional connection to, makes it easier to communicate.
(On a related note, someone on our listserv discussion named jsweete1 actually found a feature on the Discovery channel about Dr. Mengele that I also thought was interesting. Here is the link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4087/Overview?source=link_tw_02#tab-Overview)
She also said that she has used writing throughout her life to be able to cope with her problems. Similarly, I have kept a spiral bound book of random ideas since I was in grade one or two. Although I am not used to writing extensive entries, writing even short sequences of words has always been an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. I am looking forward to continuing in this course to discover more about other writers' thoughts on writing and how their perspectives can influence how I observe my own writing. To that effect, writing this blog has made me feel a connection to the character of Julia and how she writes her own thoughts, ideas, and memories on her laptop computer. This is one of the aspects that I liked about her book. The fact that I could find qualities in Julia, an aging woman, that I could relate to said something about the quality of Tostevin's writing. Tostevin herself shared in class that she started writing during her time at the convent. Like her, I often write and reflect best when I am alone and in quiet.
I look forward to growing accustom to writing habitually through this blog and perhaps learning more about my relationship to writing and to Canadian literature in the process.
