Writing True

Chapter 2, 3, &4: Daily Writing

1. Line starters can be found anywhere: in a phrase that jumps out
from your notebook or in newspaper headlines. Whatever
provokes, challenges, annoys, saddens, or makes you smile.
(Chapter 3)
2. The idea, when doing a memory chain, is to write enough details
for each memory to have the beginning of a story without writing
the whole story. (Chapter 3)
3. Find a picture of a former you, and write in the present tense
about what you were thinking and feeling.
4. Notebooks can be catchalls for whatever comes to mind, told in a
stream-of-consciousness that jumps randomly from one topic to
another. (Chapter 2)
5. As writers, it is also a place to experiment with form and
language, to record details, and to take risks that explore.
(Chapter 2)
6. None of these counts in a notebook as long as the writer can
read the entries and remember what happened.
7. Scene makes characters come alive on the page, using dialogue
and description to zoom in like a camera on key moments in the
story. (Chapter 4)
8. Riffs work well to add dialogue, scene, and reflection (Chapter 4)
9. Uses poems, letters, interior monologues, drawings, and the
stuff of daily living to tell a story. (Chapter 4)
Reflection piece: It is very important to paint a picture for your
audience during your piece. Mentally, you believe that you have

done a great job of introducing their name and what they said,
but there are so many more details you must include. By
including dialogue and descriptions, the readers are engulfed in
that persons presence in the room; they understand why you
cried, smiled, screamed, or jumped for joy. They were right there
with you, holding your hand during that moment, and forever
engraved.