This Small Space Is Enough: A Writing Exercise Inspired by Toni Morrison—Daily Nourishment for June 10
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
“But this is all any of us have…” - Toni Morrison
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale.
Then do two or three rounds of a breath prayer using the words below from Toni Morrison’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
Inhale: We die.
Exhale: That may be the meaning of life.
Inhale: But we do language.
Exhale: That may be the measure of our lives.
Prompt.
Read this quote by Toni Morrison:
“I have an ideal writing routine that I’ve never experienced, which is to have, say, nine uninterrupted days when I wouldn’t have to leave the house or take phone calls. And to have the space—a space where I have huge tables. I end up with this much space [she indicates a small square spot on her desk] everywhere I am, and I can’t beat my way out of it. I am reminded of that tiny desk that Emily Dickinson wrote on and I chuckle when I think, Sweet thing, there she was. But that is all any of us have: just this small space and no matter what the filing system or how often you clear it out—life, documents, letters, requests, invitations, invoices just keep going back in. I am not able to write regularly. I have never been able to do that—mostly because I have always had a nine-to-five job. I had to write either in between those hours, hurriedly, or spend a lot of weekend and predawn time. . . .
I’ve tried to overcome not having orderly spaces by substituting compulsion for discipline, so that when something is urgently there, urgently seen or understood, or the metaphor was powerful enough, then I would move everything aside and write for sustained periods of time.”
–from a 1993 interview with Elissa Schappell in The Paris Review
Practice.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and sit down in a space that’s good for writing and write something. Anything. A letter, a to-do list, a complaint, or begin a new essay, story, or poem. What’s urgent? If there’s nothing urgently there, pretend something is.
Want More?
Toni Morrison, Remembered by Writers
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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