If "everything is copy," I'm not writing enough (you've been warned)
Speaking of...this week's audio has a side story about one of my favorite red flags
“Everything is copy.”
That quote is often attributed to the late writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron, a woman whose work and moxie I admire.
Raised by her screenwriter and playwright parents in Beverly Hills by way of New York City, the line was scripted into Ephron’s childhood by her mother, Phoebe Ephron. As Phoebe saw it: you can write about anything and everything that happens to you.
It’s all fair game.
Nora took this to heart and went on to make a lot of incredible art — turning private moments into iconic movies we’re still quoting at parties and bingeing on rainy afternoons.
Another woman who has harnessed the power of this phrase is none other than Taylor Swift. Famous for her poetic candor, Swift cited the quote in her speech at the 2019 Time Magazine 100 Gala adding, “everything that happened to [Nora Ephron] she used as inspiration and I think that one of my favorite things about female writers, about writers in general, about people who take what happens to them and they process it and they put it out in the world is: if you write, you can turn your lessons into your legacy.”
One of my favorite writers has made a career of sharing his personal experiences. Having kept meticulous journals for decades, David Sedaris has filled book after book with essays based on his daily entries — sometimes sharing moments so raw, they curl the page.
Something all these people have in common is that they’ve all had to contend, in one way or another, with the living, breathing inspiration for their work. It’s one thing to write about yourself but drag someone else into it and it is, quite literally, a different story.
In one of his books, Sedaris tells a fascinating story about his sister, Lisa. Toward the end, he recounts her saying to him, “don’t you dare write about this.” Later, he likens himself to a “trash man,” picking up bits and pieces of people’s lives and turning them into stories; wryly remarking, “it’s not like you’re going to do anything with it.”
I bring all this up because I met a reader recently who said something about my column being, “like reading a diary,” I immediately thought of David Sedaris and took it as a compliment. I even yelled, “THANK YOU!”
(I should probably clarify this all unfolded at the brewery on Dyngus Day. Under normal circumstances, I try not to yell in people’s faces if I can help it.)
Anyway, the encounter and, more specifically, the feedback, took up residence in my head and then, as things like this tend to do with me — it started to lay eggs. I started to wonder if the comment was good or bad. After some thought, I decided — it didn’t matter — not really. Sometimes, things like that are just none of our business.
What mattered more, I realized, was what the words stirred in me. I decided to consult my actual diaries.
I’m forever trying to fall into a daily writing rhythm similar to the one my father adopted in his later years. It’s been hit or miss. Partly wanting to create a historic record for myself and partly wanting to escape, I’ll sit down and dutifully record pivotal moments in my life alongside mundane details of various exercise regimes and weather patterns. One page could contain a sweet thank you note to the universe; another a furiously-scribbled, angry letter to the void. At times, I call myself out for being too polite or editing myself too much, writing reminders that there is no better place for brutal honesty. Other times, I encourage myself to just chill out already.
Looking at my journals now, and leafing through the pages with fresh eyes, I start to think about Nora Ephron and Taylor Swift and David Sedaris — and so many other storytellers, musicians and artists — people who dig deep and take chances and even make a delicious habit of ruffling feathers.
If “everything is copy,” I thought. I’ve got a lot more material.
This essay originally appeared in my column in the April 11, 2024 edition of the Perry Herald in Perry, NY under the title “Dear Diary.”
It never ceases to amaze me how good writers always seem to be able to create good reading material! Truly an art-form. I like the way you introduce other writers into your writing. Sometimes I've never heard of them, and this encourages me to "deep dive" into who they are, and their works, which is a great learning experience.👍