Tuned Into Meaning by Fran Haley

That’s the trouble with people, their root problem. Life runs alongside them, unseen …

A chorus of living wood sings to the woman: If your mind were only a slightly greener thing, we’d drown you in meaning. 

-Richard  Powers, The Overstory 

These lines from the newly-awarded Pulitzer Prize novel sing to me. As a writer, they stir my ink-blood; as a human being, their truth cuts deep into my heart.

How much of life are we missing, in our one-shot sojourn on this planet, because we do not notice?

I’ve heard it said in various ways that a writer is an observer of the world. Noticing details, interactions, snatches of dialogue, endless sensory perceptions … this is what writers do, yes, but for me, “noticing” goes beyond recording these.

It’s a matter of knowing there’s meaning in it all. Why does that woman laugh in that particular way? Is it low self-esteem? Is she anxious? Or both?

How is it that dogs and little children are so inherently trustful and yet so able to pick up, on some inner radar, the vibes of troubled adults?

Why did sunlight suddenly pour through the stained glass window just as the preacher spoke of forgiveness?

Why are these blades of grass shivering in the dead of summer, when there is no breeze?


When I was expecting my first child the obstetrician was impressed by how early I felt the first flutter of fetal movements, the quickening: “You’re really in tune with your baby,” he smiled.

Writing is this to me - being tuned to life, with the stirrings of the world without and the world within, realizing that everything is interconnected. To write is to see the life that runs alongside us. To listen to its song.

And to drown in its meaning.


Fran Haley is a K-12 English Language Arts educator currently serving as an elementary literacy coach. Writing is her favorite thing to do and to teach; she loves helping people of all ages discover the power of their own writing and fall in love with the craft. She facilitates writing workshop training for teachers in her district and authors the blog Lit Bits and Pieces: Snippets of Learning and Life. Connect with her on Twitter: @fahaley. 

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