Maud's "little knack" and her advice to aspiring writers

Drawing by Michael Osterhus

On Facebook I saw a drawing that my son (an Art Student) made of a an alarm clock and a dial with some of the numbers missing. It was interesting, and it made me not uncomfortable (being a person afflicted with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

Anyway, as most things do, the picture made me think of Maud and chronology and the precision and rhythm in her writing. Her method ticks in rhythm just like a clock. I like the way she writes. I like it a lot.

She got me from "hello" in the first paragraph of Anne of Green Gables. See how it ticks in a rhythmic fashion (it doesn't flow, not to me it doesn't flow--oh no! --it ticks with rhythm)

"Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof."  (AoGG, Chapter 1))

So on to the other purpose of my post. A friend on the List sent me an article that Maud wrote to the Dalhousie U concerning advice to aspiring writers. The bottom line? "Have something to say."

So I'm guessing there is more to that story. I'm guessing "Have something to say and then make it tick!"