Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams, is an American author, conservationist and activist. Williams’ writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of her native Utah and its Mormon culture. Her work ranges from issues of ecology and wilderness preservation, to women's health, to exploring our relationship to culture and nature...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth8 September 1955
CountryUnited States of America
writing cutting editing
The discipline of writing a memoir comes in the editing. This is where I cut, slash, and burn - where my creative mind is transformed into a ruthless one. No word escapes my scrutiny. It is here where I see what boundaries need to be set.
taken writing appreciate
I appreciate all of the unexpected places, internal and external, that my writing has taken me.
fall writing sentimental
Good writing must stay open to the questions and not fall prey to the pull of a polemic, otherwise, words simply become predictable, sentimental, and stale.
writing discovery tasks
I write from the place of inquiry. The first draft is a discovery period to see what I know and what I don't know. My task is simply to follow the words. There are surprises along the way. I just have to get it down. Call it the sculptor's clay.
beautiful art writing
There is an art to writing, and it is not always disclosure. The act itself can be beautiful, revelatory, and private.
writing heart feet
When I write, I put one foot in front of the other. It's an act of faith. I just follow my heart.
writing black-and-white fabric
I write to make peace with the things I cannot control. I write to create fabric in the world that often appears black and white. I write to meet my ghosts. I write to begin a dialogue. I write to imagine things differently and in imagining things differently perhaps the world will change.
writing humanity protection
We write out of our humanity by writing through our direct experience. That which is most personal is most general, which becomes both our insight and protection as a writers. This is our authority as women, as human beings.
writing bird soul
When Emily Dickinson writes, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul,” she reminds us, as the birds do, of the liberation and pragmatism of belief.
writing would-be pages
I don't set boundaries for myself when I am writing; if I did, I would be paralyzed from the start, unable to write a word on the page.
writing witness
I write as a witness to what I have seen.
book writing
The only book worth writing is the book that threatens to kill you.
cancer believe writing
I write about nuclear tests in Refuge - "The Clan of One-Breasted Women." With so many of the women in my family being diagnosed with breast cancer, mastectomies led to one-breasted women. I believe it is the result of nuclear fallout.
writing black-and-white world
I write to create red in a world that often appears black and white.