A master of expression

My husband and I were lucky enough to see David Sedaris live last night at Boston’s Symphony Hall. This was a thrill for me, as he is one of my favorite authors and a master of my choice writing genre: the personal essay.

Although much of his writing involves humorous takes on things others would prefer to keep private, his stories come across to me as love letters to the people and places he cares about most. They also have me laughing out loud, even in public. (Pro tip - maybe don’t take a big gulp of something if you plan to read one of his books around strangers!)

Anyone familiar with his work probably already knows he keeps a daily diary from which he pulls much of his material, but did you know he had aspirations to be a visual artist when he was younger? His earlier entries included not only his written observations, but visual objects he thought interesting enough to save, such as photos, drawings, postcards, even the occasional piece of trash. You may be thinking “Big deal! Many people do that!” True, but not many people did that over 40 years ago, which is when he started his daily practice.

The opening paragraph of David Sedaris Diaries A Visual Compendium, which I hope inspires you to try keeping a diary or journal of your own, or to keep going if you have already started!:

“One of the great things about keeping a diary is that there are absolutely no rules attached to it. You can write in it every day, or you can check in once a month. Entries can be brief and exciting, or they can run for fifty pages, each one duller than the last. They can be in code, or all caps, typed onto cream-colored paper or scrawled onto plywood with a crayon held between your toes. Care to write the words on a wet beach with a car antenna? Knock yourself out. It’s whatever you want, baby. The point is to express yourself.”