Does the watershed ever stop? This writing is serious and profound business. Debbie Wiles was the visiting guest today at the Hamline Summer Residency. She had the lecture hall blubbering with her moving speech, culminating with the empowering reminder that we are all connected, our stories are all equally important, and forgiveness is at the center of everything. She pointed out that stories fulfill these five basic needs:
1: To Love and Be Loved
2. To Be Safe
3. To Belong
4. To Matter
5. To Understand
These are not themes, but basic human needs, therefore all stories contain one or more (or all!) This is what we strive for in our art and in our lives. But, I want to remind us all of what Claire stated earlier this week, “You can’t figure out all this theme and meaning if you’re not writing!”
Writing is the way to discovery.
A big THANK YOU to Deborah Wiles for opening her heart to so many through her books and through her humanness.
It was a terrific talk, and her reading of COUNTDOWN, her newest novel and the first of a trilogy set in the sixties, went beyond reading to show how this unusual documentary novel was conceived, written, and produced. All of our guest speakers this residency had fascinating stories about the creation process.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lisa, for this post--and for sharing the story of Debbie the Spider (Web Weaver) and Debbie Wiles, who weaves stories that connect us all.
ReplyDeleteSome Speech, she wove--full of intelligence, power, and, most of all, grace.
Thank you for bringing Deb. She was amazing.
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