One True Sentence

by | Aug 2, 2009 | Blog | 9 comments

I’ve been revising the memoir about my father. Some days go better than others. On a not so good day last week, a friend reminded me of this Hemingway bit from A Moveable Feast:

I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, ‘Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.’ So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then, because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone else say.

I might not be in Paris, but I can still look across the suburban lawns of Upper Arlington and think, “Do not worry. Just write one true sentence.”

You too can look out from wherever you write and think the same. If you like, leave a comment below and let me know where you’re working and how you’re doing.

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