I enjoyed Daniel Wallace’s engaging interview with Aaron Keck about his new collection of short fiction, so I was eager to attend the Chatham Literacy Spring Luncheon and support a great organization.
In his talk, Wallace shared that many beginners start writing from the inside, meaning they begin with an emotion or feeling. But Wallace believes that writing moves us when we begin with an object (something on the outside). Even a small item that seems insignificant can serve as a gateway or portal to access emotions. This advice reminded me of the maxim by William Carlos Williams, “no ideas but in things.”
In lieu of a red wheelbarrow, like Williams, Wallace brought a glass eye and a shark’s tooth. He told stories about them and read a few excerpts about how those unlikely items found their way into his fiction.
This brought to mind the baseball glove that sits on my bedroom dresser. About once a week, I slide it on my hand and always note the words “Big Man” branded on the leather before I pound my free fist into the pocket a couple of times. The glove is about 35 years old, yet still in excellent condition. It was broken in by my grandfather, but he only used it for one spring.
Granddad had previously played catch with an ancient mitt, basically a leather strip with hardly any padding, which was fine when I was little. But by upper elementary school, I threw hard enough to make Granddad’s palm sting. So, he bought the mitt. I remember thinking that the Big Man glove fit him well.
I know that many grandfathers die of cancer. I wonder how they are remembered.
What items call them to mind? How many grandsons keep a baseball mitt in their bedroom every spring so that they can pound it, close their eyes and remember how their hero said, “Great day in the morning”?
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.
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