Apple Pie Logic

One time an adviser I greatly respected, laughed affectionately as he told me he liked my essays best that followed "apple pie logic". I had to have him explain what he meant by that. Apparently, sometimes I write deep truths as if they were all part of some logical & simple recipe. It's a compliment that stuck with me.

When I know something I just know it, I've processed it long enough, carried it around in my mind, & eventually I just say what I know, or what I think I know. Unfortunately, I often need to write about something before I'm ready & then it often comes out incoherent & insincere.

I loved what little Deleuze & Guatarri I've read. & they certainly don't read as a recipe. It's hard to write past a certain complexity with any real sense of logic. I like the idea of being more conversational & playful & engaging the reader on this quite human level of thought instead of conclusion or decision. I like that idea, but that was not how I learned to write. That is not what comes easily.

& how much this dependence on logic & essay & English has influenced my mind is hard to overstate. There is so much of what makes us who we are that is so far beyond our control. But my stubborn yearning for control, ah yes; that is another thing I did not choose & I find difficult to change.