“Writing Herself Out” and Writing Myself Out
The first chapter of Emily Climbs is titled “Writing Herself Out.” It is a dark and stormy winter night, and there is Emily, beside the cozy fireplace in her room: “writing, by the light of two tall, white candles […] in a brand-new glossy, black ‘Jimmy book.’” This book is her inner fireplace where the parts of her that “burned for expression and yet were too combustible to be trusted to the ears of any living being” could be safely combussed.
She writes while the storm rages and the fire wanes, until “her candle went out with a splutter and a hiss in its little pool of melted tallow, and she came back to reality with a sigh and a shiver.”
Same, Emily. All of it.
Read more about writing myself out, including how an encounter with a crow led to a poetic obsession, at Project Redux.
