In Luanne Armstrong's essay, images of pain flow freely. "Pain is a kind of uninvited guest who has moved in and now refuses to leave, the rude kind who uses all the towels in the bathroom, eats all the food, makes life a hell of interruptions and never apologizes. Pain arrives in many forms: "Pain is a box … Pain is a threat … Pain is a new country." Her use of metaphor allows a pain-free reader, like myself, to experience the idea in a way that is unfamiliar, often awkward, so that I too feel the intrusion of the "uninvited guest."  Armstrong plays with images that are hard to visualize and adds a complexity to this sort of "in your face writing."

Armstrong usually sets out to write an essay as part of a conversation she is having with herself or another person. Often she'll begin an essay with a dialogue that she is having with a friend. The piece becomes her own response to the conversation and she stretches it so that the essay itself expands on and explores the idea. Consequently, she writes with a specific audience in mind.

When Armstrong became ill she had to rethink her life. As a writer, she was curious what her illness was doing to her life, her work, and her relationships. "I felt kind of scientific about the whole thing ... look at this, this is interesting." Her curiosity inspired her to write the essay and in doing so, face her rheumatoid arthritis head on. "Illness is a really fascinating thing because it changes your life in big ways," she says in a reflective tone.

She does not ask for sympathy in describing her pain. In fact, Armstrong admits that her illness has been an added gift to her life: "Pain's largest gift to me, in return for its unscheduled stay, is that I have this lens to look through." Though it's not something that any of us would sign up for, she allows the reader to see that she has come out of the long abyss of illness.

This essay went through several revisions. She used it in a creative writing class she was teaching, and also showed it to friends. Both gave feedback that fueled the four or five major revisions. The essence, however, always remained the same.

Armstrong feels that creative nonfiction is a good place for any writer to begin because you must be honest and courageous. "It takes a fair amount of guts to write creative nonfiction because you are using your life and often the lives of people around you as material so you have to be honest and straightforward about that. And as far as possible, willing to look toward the truth, whatever that means to you."

She advises students not to be afraid of the truth. Creative nonfiction is a way for people to see into themselves, "to start opening doors around themselves and write about ideas they may think are important, but they're really not sure they're important. People are fascinated with what is going on in their lives and other people's lives," Armstrong said. She advocates reading, especially authors whose writing you want to imitate. "Then forget them and write for yourself. Writing and reading go together like Romeo and Juliet. Most writers are pretty addicted to reading and we write because we know that it is the other side of that process. It is a partnership."

Armstrong carries a writing notebook with her everywhere she goes. She uses it to jot down notes and write scenes that later become essays. When she learned to write she had four kids and two jobs and "I was always writing in bits and corners of my life." She often writes an entire rough draft in a notebook, which she later transcribes to her computer. Then, she says, she goes through the "this is dumb" stage. But she forces herself to slog through the feelings of "dumbness" and reminds herself that this is what she has chosen to do with her life. "In every piece you have to work through the 'swamp.'" She is a dedicated finisher: "In some ways the only difference between me as a writer and anyone else is that I finish things, because I make myself."

She thinks she might write an essay about coming to terms with her illness. She is still plagued by dreams that she is healthy, but has to face the truth when she gets out of bed every morning. It's a hard road to face, but Armstrong is committed to walking it truthfully.




Corinne Platt