Writing is Magic.

Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. 

The water is free. 

So drink. 

Drink and be filled up.

 Stephen King, On Writing.

=-=-=-=-

To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity. The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birth giver. In a very real sense the artist should be like Mary who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command. I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, 'Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.'

Madeline l'Engle. Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art.

=-=-=-=-=-

Art gives me life. It is the deepest expression of the human soul. 

I make it because I have no other choice.

T. C. Boyle, author.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

 Sheesh, I'm thinking I have something to add to these voices? They're too brilliant...but, I can observe that these three different authors offer us powerful insights into the creative act. All three seem to see creativity as something that pulls them forward or lifts them up, something bigger than themselves...frankly, is something that transcends reality.

Writing wrongs?

I write because it's right.
I write because I haven't left.
I write because it'd be wrong to not write.

I cannot say, as does my hero Stephen King, that I have to write, that I sneak away to write on evenings and holidays and weekends and on vacation. Hm.

However, I do love the creative process, bringing to life something that has never, ever existed, something unseen, unuttered, utterly unique. A newborn baby, if you will.

I write because the voices in my head tell me they'll...oops, shhhh.



"To write, or not to write...that is the question."

NOT reading?

What are YOU reading? Curious people wanna know.

                                           

The link below highlights a few "popular" books that the majority of Americans haven't read. Why? Because the majority of Americans aren't readers!

https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/678-books-the-bestsellers-americans-are-and-aren-t-reading#.U-KBxrl0ycw

Have you read THE HUNGER GAMES? Its sequel, CATCHING FIRE?
Howzabout any others on the list?

For me, I'd generally rather ignore the TV and instead be reading. Why?
--expands my horizons
--challenges my world-view
--stretches my vocab
--makes ME think up images that represent the story, instead of TV serving up pictures (and sound) in its soporific, mind-controlling, commercially-driven environment. (if ya wanna know how I really feel about television...well, let me just misquote Stephen King, who calls it the glass pacifier--actual term, "the glass teat." I'll bet your mind just came up with an image!)
--invites me to wonder about an author's meaning, their context, their biography
--helps me to applaud the gift of creativity as we emulate our creator.

What is Art?

Perhaps art is seeing the obvious in such a new light that the old becomes new.

--Madeleine l'Engle. WALKING ON WATER, p175.

=  -  =  -  =  -  =

Behold, I make all things new. 

--Jesus, in the aptly-named book of Revelation.

=  -  =  -  =  -  =

I've learned a ton about art this past decade or so. We've been to museums and galleries in San Diego, Tucson, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Boston, and both the Portland and Colby Museums here in Maine. I've been fascinated recently in reading about the intersections of art and world history...and literature, architecture and culture.

Applying the term "art" to all the creative enterprises, l'Engle offers a valid way of getting under one roof all of our open-ended, imagination-fueled pursuits, from painting to poetry, from sculpting to scripting. She also recognizes that there are creative, non-rule-bound creative leaps in the sciences, be they nuclear physics or sub-cellular mechanisms, brilliant computer programming, or the solution to Fermat's "unsolvable" Last Theorem.

Okay, perhaps that's a bit windy--let's try again: Madeleine sees creativity everywhere, in all jobs and tasks. Some jobs are more up-front in the use and need for creativity--other jobs require the worker to be creative in order to not die of boredom!

I also like Madeleine's observations on our reactions to disorder:

  --some see chaos and bring cosmos out of chaos. 

  --others, seeing chaos, only reproduce chaos in their art.

I'd add to l'Engle's thoughts:

  --there are probably many more who, trapped inside chaos, cannot escape it and thus are chaos.

For those of you who like word games...turn "OLD" into "NEW" via one-letter substitutions in the fewest steps possible.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

mebbe not the shortest, but after a coupla missteps:

OLD

odd

ode

ole

owe

............not gonna go.....

OLD

odd

add

and

end

any

ana

............phooey, again....

OLD

odd

old  ode

ole        |

ale        |

are        |

ore   <--

ort

oat

cat

caw

saw

sew

NEW

Rainy Daze

After taking my hypnosis seminar, back in the late 80's, I put that tool to work...and occasionally turned that focused relaxation back on myself. However, I suppose there is enough misinformation bruited about that I should lapse into educator mode for a paragraph or two.

Hypnosis: A Primer.

What hypnosis is not:

• --mind control or weakening of the will
• --making someone act like a chicken--well, unless they're on stage and that's what they want to do
• --sleep
• --magic.

What hypnosis is: 

• --a powerful tool that, like any other mere tool, helps you to do a job that needs to be done
• --a deep relaxation into that pleasant state we would usually call a daydream. In this daydreamy state, the mind is much more open to suggestion...and THAT is what hypnosis is all about--my planting reasonable suggestions--emphasis on both the acceptableness of the ideas, and on the fact that I never give commands, only offer suggestions.
• --again, it's a tool. Hypnosis serves to distract that criticizing/nagging little voice that makes you doubt yourself, question your capacities, or raise objections when what you really need is motivation.

Is hypnosis a tool for everybody and a solution for everything? Well, would your kitchen be complete with the one and only implement being a meat cleaver? Would your toolbox be adequate if your only tools were a pair of vice grips and a 1/2" crescent wrench?

Okay, that's a long intro to...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Lapsing into a daydreaming state, the rain has lulled my consciousness into a quiet unreality, or hyper-reality. It's as if my mind has wandered off across the bay, over the waves and between the raindrops, floating like a ghost in a cartoon. Yet, I am not unconscious or unaware. I can steer myself toward a pirate-story, or I can wander along the far shore playing junior naturalist poking in tidal pools and amongst the shrubs, or treading on the forest duff seeking buried treasure.

Okay, so, I'm daydreaming. Am I asleep? Clearly not. Might I appear asleep if I'm between thoughts and not typing as I am right now with my eyes closed? (Yes, I touch-type...thanks Mom! Yes, I did come back and edit my mistakes--you're welcome, Miss Burkill and Mr. Pavini!)

My point is--daydreams can be harnessed, but the driver of the daydreams needs a very light touch on the reins and should let the beast pretty much follow its own nose--wonderful new adventures may unfold, new horizons open, and you might take a turn off the main road you'd have never taken and now are delighted that you did. Follow that creative muse...I suspect that many creative sorts get themselves into this hypnotic trance and truly free up their knows-no-bounds imagination!

Monuments

”To safeguard these things will not affect the course of battles, but it will affect the relations of invading armies with those peoples and their governments...to safeguard these things will show respect for the beliefs and customs of all men and wil bear witness that these things belong not only to a particular people but also to the heritage of mankind...These monuments are not merely pretty things, not merely valued signs of man's creative power. They are the expressions of faith, and they stand for man's struggle to relate himself to his past and to his God.”

 

THE MONUMENTS MEN, by Rob't Edsel.

 

--------- ---------- --------

I love this quote...a reminder that creativity is a gift from the Creator himself. This gift is resident in all of us. Some have cultivated it with astonishing fruitfulness. Some have had the gift stomped on, deprecated, and debunked in the home, the school, and at work. Some are unaware or unbelieving that they are bearers of the creative spark--let me urge YOU in particular--any little urge that you have to make something, do something unique, to say or write or behave in a way that diverges from the habitual, the usual--yes, THAT is the glint of creativity.

Fan the flame--in yourself and in others. Encourage kids and adults alike as they use hands and mouth and mind to create something new, different, and exciting. (Okay, it may be exciting only the that person--encourage 'em anyhow--it could be you who will want a little cheer-leading in some off-beat pursuit of your own, tomorrow!)

Questions?

"But I've never been creative, David."
--Bah, I don't believe it. You have surely doodled on the edge of a paper, or hummed a little tune unknown to any other human, or made a repair in a manner that nobody has ever done before, or you've added spices or ingredients to a meal that no other person had ever suggested to you...do you get my drift?

"But, it takes time, David. I'm so busy already..."
--Meh. We're all as busy as we choose. How many hours of TV have you watched today? This week? How many hours of playing games on the computer, or Facebook, or...I'll bet you know where your time slips thru your fingers. Make a deal to grasp a 15-30 minute chunk of time where you can spend some quiet, meditative moments, then compose/craft/make/modify/create/write/rhyme/paint/hammer/saw/knit/sew/glue, just go and do!

"But, I'm really uncreative, and all those verbs above just make me tired, David."
--Oy, so, maybe you are depressed? One of the best therapies for feeling tired and blue is to go and do--acting like you're not tired and blue often evolves into feeling energized and upbeat. Whattaya gotta lose?

Fantasy? Fantastic!

Fantasy.

What do you think of when you read that word?

Faeries? (of the classical sort?

...or, Tinkerbelle?

Hobbits, orcs, ents?

Talking carnivorous plants (Little Shop of Horrors)?

Space aliens who are thwarted only when reluctant heroes ally themselves with the village idiot (Dreamcatcher, S. King)?

My mind goes straight-way to Tolkien and CSLewis. Okay, shows my age, I know. Madeleine l'Engle just wasn't that popular when I was in those formative years as a reader. The greats of sci-fi were popular, so I read lotsa Asimov, Pohl, Bradbury...but, where does sci-fi stop and fantasy begin? I didn't catch up with Tolkien and Lewis' fantasies until college, courtesy of a close friend who became even closer over the yrs (she made a darn fine mother of our children...and she and I still read a lotta the same stuff together!)

Last month, I read: a mystery, a poetry collection, a romance, 2 biographies/memoires, 2 literary novels, a non-fiction (THE YR 1000: history of England), and two thrillers. In my mind, the wider or more old-fashioned definition of fantasy embraces almost all of these works--they are the works of the writers' imaginations--even the non-fiction still requires inventiveness and aptitude with phrases and creative ways of presenting history that made it that book a fun, lively read--so fun, I read several ppghs aloud while Elizabeth (pretended to?) listened as she cooked.

Do you like to stick with just one genre of reading? What invites you to try something different? I need to know these answers, as a writer and marketer of my works...I'd deeply apprec yr comments.

Oh, and that bridges to another critical query--what moves you when buying books as gifts...but, more on that for another day.

Again, pls take a sec to comment, below. Thnx, D.

A Well-composed Book: Magic Carpet or Tribute to Perseverance?

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.

 

Caroline Gordon, author, critic.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A well-composed melody or another work of art does the same, imho. But, isn't it fascinating: what I consider well-composed is someone else's compost!

Here are some examples of great authors who didn't give up, despite being compost-piled by (idiotic) publishers:

After 5 years of continual rejection, the writer finally lands a publishing deal: Agatha Christie. Her book sales are now in excess of $2 billion. Only William Shakespeare has sold more.
 
The Christopher Little Literary Agency receives 12 publishing rejections in a row for their new client, until the eight-year-old daughter of a Bloomsbury editor demands to read the rest of the book. The editor agrees to publish but advises the writer to get a day job since she has little chance of making money in children’s books. Yet Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone spawns a series where the last four novels consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, on both sides of the Atlantic, with combined sales of 450 million.
 
Louis L’Amour received 200 rejections before Bantam took a chance on him. He is now their best ever selling author with 330 million sales.
 
“Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.” A rejection letter sent to Dr Seuss. 300 million sales and the 9th best-selling fiction author of all time.
 
“You have no business being a writer and should give up.” Zane Grey ignores the advice. There are believed to be over 250 million copies of his books in print.
 
140 rejections stating “Anthologies don’t sell” until the Chicken Soup for the Soul series by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen sells 125 million copies.
 
Years of rejection do not break his spirit. He only becomes more determined to succeed. When he eventually lands a publishing deal, such is the demand for his fiction that it is translated into over 47 languages, as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis goes on to sell over 100 million copies.
 
“It is so badly written.” The author tries Doubleday instead and his little book makes an impression. The Da Vinci Code sells 80 million.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

As Sir Winston said--Never, never, never...don't ever give up.

 

PS: do you really need anything else said, some little spoon-fed summary or a pretty pink bow? If you cannot figger out some application for yourself, all by yourself...aw, heck, you read this fah...I think you got it!

 

Endless Possibilities.

cited in THE YELLOW-LIGHTED BOOKSHOP by Lewis Buzbee, p. 3.

   Standing in the middle of [any bookshop]...I can't help but feel the possibility of the universe unfolding a little, once upon a time.

   Or, as Stephen King stated, on being told by his Mom, "Stevie, write your own stories..."

  --I saw a world of endless possibilities open up before me. [S.K.]

=-=-=-=-=-=

That, to me, is the essence of both writing and of reading--it's open-ended. Completely and utterly full of potential. Reach in with both hands and grab!

Only one problem...shall I read now, or shall I write?

I Imagine, therefore, something is!

PHANTASY

"Remarkably, in the ancient traditions, the imagination or "phantasy" was considered a sense. In that psychology, in the detailed summary of Robert Burton's 1620 Anatomy of Melancholy, in addition to the outward senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch,
we have three inward senses: the Common Sense, Memory, and Phantasy. Burton stated:

Phantasy, or imagination...is an inward sense which doth more fully examine the species perceived by common sense, of things present or absent, and keeps them longer, recalling them to mind again, or making new of his own.

This old idea of imagination as a sense that produces "monstrous and prodigious things by recombining and re-forming the more orderly perceptions of memory and the other senses. As in dreams, the ingredients are familiar but the new reality is not."

--from: Robert Pinsky's SINGING SCHOOL: Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters. 2013. pg 148.

. . . . . . .

I like "monstruous and prodigious things" --guess that's why I write fiction and poetry and am a Stephen King fan...and a Dean Koontz fan...and CSLewis and Tolkien and Asimov and...you get the drift.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I traveled far and wide today

   I did not take a cab

I took neither bus nor car

   nor trip on substance from a lab.

I rode in comfort, but not by train,

   nor boat nor aeroplane.

Departure...arrival--by seconds parted:

   Yes, I got there, as soon as I started.

No luggage, no seatbelt,

   and no need for "security,"

I arrived by conveyance

   of eld, not futurity.

Yes, book in my lap

   and others beside

I tip my cap

   to my magical ride.

--DLS 11/9/13



The Story Behind the Story, part 2: IMAGINATION, INSPIRATION, RECEPTIVITY & SERENDIPITY.

SERENDIPITY--Lady Luck or Still Small Voice?

When an inane idea wends its way out of the murky recesses of your mind, what do you do with it? Laugh and dismiss it? Shake your head in dismay? Tell someone? Write it down? Too kooky for words...sez you, or sez who?--  too often, there's someone ELSE'S voice in our head, a critical relative/friend/teacher/tormentor, who delights in shooting holes in any and all ideas.

When someone says, "Oh, I don't have any imagination," I argue: I think it's an affront to yourself and your Maker to claim zero imagination!

"Sure you do! You just have been on the receiving end of the squelch button too many times, and now you've given up on creativity...or, you've learned, over the years, to squelch for yourself all those fun ideas that have wahoo-wide boundaries!"

Ideas for stories? Endless. Ability to sit me down and construct something out of that first flicker of an idea? Oof...that's why writing and the other creative pursuits require hard work and perseverance.

Okay, back to the story behind the story...after I wrote about the sloths of Christmas, another little nudge landed, on the same tender rib--HEY! WRITE ABOUT ANOTHER ANIMAL IN THE NATIVITY STORY!

Some nudges in the ribcage are all-caps, bold. Some nudges come with barely a size-5 font whisper. And some nudges are only perceived during times of meditation and prayer.

Others occur at very busy times and must be heeded immediately........

Oops! Buh-bye, gotta write!

=-=-=-=-=

"Imagination: the unsupervised mind at play."

DLS, 2013

Human life is inherently creative

Human life is inherently creative. It's why we all have different résumés.
It's why human culture is so interesting and diverse and dynamic.

Ken Robertson

Quick, name one book that you love!

Now, scroll down to the bottom and enter it as a comment.

Thnx. Now, can you list reasons why you loved this book? Share 'em if you'd like... but I'm as curious to know that you can put your finger on some reasons as I am in knowing what they are.

In keeping with today's quote, I'm betting that each reader thought of a different book title--we are marvelously diverse and interesting. See, you're not boring at all! And don't let anyone say otherwise.

As a singular creation of the good Lord, what is your unique pursuit/calling/interest/service-to-others? Comfy in that knowledge, in that role?

If not, then do some reading in that department. Pursue the areas that delight you, that fulfill you, where work and play are almost hard to separate. Then, I'd suggest some passages from the Bible, such as "...but whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, as serving the Lord..." (blending a coupla words from Ecc 9:10 into Col. 3:23). Another might be the very simple Matthew 6: 33, "...seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Read a bunch of the Bible's mentions of something like, "...with all your heart," or, "whole heart," just to get you started.

Okay, itsa very short sermon...so, I'll take up an offering and say, "Amen." [the offering would be what you've entered in the comments section...THNX!]

"THAT'S FAR ENOUGH!"

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

T. S. Eliot

 

 

 

Only those who go too far

risk getting their hand slapped

repeatedly.

D.S.

(ouch!)

 

Gone too far? Been told you were just being ridiculous--that the chances of your success were slimmer than none?

 

Good, welcome to the world of endless possibilities. Whether in art, poetry, fiction, or entrepreneurism--there is no end in sight.

 

Push your boundaries, clamber out of your "comfort zone," turn off the television (please!), and go and make and do and become! Bored?--it's only because you're not trying very hard. Seriously. Turn off the endless chattering media and engage with people and things first-hand. Or, at least, dialogue via the media--dialogue doesn't mean forwarding the latest joke or pic or gossip, though. It's nice when someone thinks of me that much, but it is in a personal reply or comment, that is when the magic of friendship starts.

 

So, when was the last time you tried something that wasn't routine, cut-and-dried, been-there-done-that? Studied a new subject? Read a non-fiction book that was outside your normal world? Tried a new craft or hobby or musical style or instrument? Painted with watercolors or oils or sketched? Spent time outdoors identifying rocks or birds or plants or trees? Tinkered with a something: a recipe, a gadget?

 

Keep in mind that Patent Office worker, who suggested shutting down the department, "...since everything worth inventing already has been"?

 

[Even better: the quote is likely bogus in its initial attribution: somebody in the patent office said words to that effect some 60 years earlier! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Holland_Duell ]

 

So, there are endless possibilities out there...and sometimes it is merely a wandering path that'll help you stumble onto a gem. Some endless possibilities are only met by those who, like Thomas Edison and Ben Franklin, don't hear the words "NO" and "you cannot."

For a writer...endless opportunities await both the aimless and the industrious--oops, they gotta overlap a whole lot if one is actually gonna write and not merely have Technicolor daydreams.

Oh, then there's the whole opportunity to not invent one's own reality, but to (thinly or not-so-thinly) fictionalize the truth. What a wonderful world...where people will actually PAY to buy a work of fiction.

 

Hope you'll pay to buy mine! Coming soon, to a website near you...THE ANIMALS OF CHRISTMAS! Buy direct from the publisher.

 

Oh, there's a dialogue box below. Don't use it...spontaneous personal combustion may occur.

 



Laugh or Cry or Gape in Amazement: what great writing is all about.

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

-Robert Frost

- - = = - - = = - - = = - -

"No fun in the writer, no fun in for the reader" would be my little addendum, if I dare to camp onto the Poet Laureate's words. Not that life is all fun and light and sweetness...but don't we crave moments of light and sweetness and fun and fulfillment? I think those kind of yearnings are there to remind us to fix our eyes on something bigger and better'n we ourselves are.

So, do I cry when I write? Nope. (Sometimes, reading what I've written--oh yeah!)

Am I surprised when I write? Oh, certainly. I adhere to one famous author's suggestion: Take strong characters, throw them into difficult circumstances, and see what they do! Then, throw them into more difficulties...add tension, stir, and repeat.

The critical ingredient in that recipe is STRONG characters. Or, characters who are becoming strong. Or, characters who used to be strong and we wonder--do they still have it? Are they gonna reach way down deep inside and do it, or will they choke? Stay tuned, because, as Scarlett reminds us, "Tomorrah is anothah day!"

..............

"I want to make you laugh.

I want to make you cry.

Even better, both at the same time."

 

(from Stephen King's lapidary opus, ON WRITING: For Love of the Craft.)

 

“Curiosity is the engine of achievement.”

“Curiosity is the engine of achievement.”

--Ken Robinson.

---------- ------------ ---------------- -----------

How's your curiosity? I'll be you've got more than you reckon. Let me ask a few questions and you keep track:

1. How often do you look at your watch/phone/computer/other device to check the time? More than once an hour?

2. Do you watch the TV news regularly? Weather?

3. Do you enjoy Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune on TV?

4. Do you read a newspaper regularly?

5. Do you read anything regularly?

If you answered yes to any three of these questions, I'm here to say--I think you have a good sense of curiosity.

Now for the real question: are you curious about things that matter? Truly matter, to you and your family and your friends? Things that aren't fads, celebs, media-driven, or trivia, but instead are do you want to know more about big issues, about trends that may last for years or decades? About issues that effect your quality of life now and for the rest of your life? About the hereafter?

I think of those scientific minds of yesteryear: Ben Franklin, Kekule, Copernicus, Isaac Newton...never satisfied with the status quo. Closer to our times: Watson and Crick, Robert Goddard, Steve Jobs and his ilk...nobody could convince them, "Everything worthwhile is known/invented"!

Is your curiosity well-invested? Poking yer nose into stuff best left unpoked?

Just some suggestions...I know that I'm often curious about mere or mostly trivia, so these questions are as much for me as for ye!

I think curiosity is indeed the engine of achievement and of creativity. And, like any engine, it can be well-cared for, retuned, rebuilt...and with certain tools and add-ons, a whole lot more horsepower can be elicited.

What revs up your curiosity? Vroom-vroom!

Creativity--in education, and in you and me.

I feel like a late bloomer in the garden of creativity. How much of my creative spark was quenched by, "Let's draw a flower--here's how to do it...No, no, Jamie, flowers aren't those colors...or, ahem, shapes. See how Billy did it--they look just like the one that I drew."

In public school, I wrote many more book reports than I did stories...granted, reading is a deep foundation for learning and for writing, but there was a huge over-emphasis on reporting and underemphasis on creating.

My niece, Shaelin, just told me about this guy:

Ken Robinson, If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.

• Watch this talk »

Watch it. It's 19 minutes long, funny, and convicting!

[It's a choppy post today...but, that's the story, morning glory!]

Tapestries, loose threads, and loose screws.

We here are on the wrong side of the tapestry. The things that happen here do not seem to mean anything; they mean something somewhere else.

--Chesterton, GK. Father Brown Mystery Stories.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I wonder how often a writer, thru creative art, actually manages to crane their neck around to get a glimpse of "the other side of the tapestry"? And, is that the result of a bold and stunning imagination? Divine gift? Or both?

Does a writer lend meaning to the meaningless? Discover patterns that are truly present or merely imagined?

This, I think, is the delight and dilemma for the writer...am I seeing something real and making it more clear for my readers? Or, is this just, as Solomon said, a "vanity," the product of a fertile imagination?

To answer this question...well, I'm going to point in the direction where I think answers await...I suggest Narnia and Middle Earth. Whattaya think?

Did Lewis and Tolkien see something new? Or the old in new and exciting and memorable ways?

That's my question for the day...

PS: whilst I used the term "writer," perhaps better would be, "honest seeker of truth via the creative arts."

PPS: Tapestry--NOT the place to go tugging at loose threads. Art and littyature--oh yeah. Sometimes I think it's fun to go looking for a thread that, while not exactly loose, isn't quite aligned with its neighbors. Tug and run, what fun!

PPPS: Some creative pursuits may look like the loose thread isn't loose at all--it's the artist's screws that are a little loose! I think creativity and eccentricity and loosey-goosey-ness are pretty close together on a continuum that ends with --van Gogh? Jack Kerouac? Your candidate(s)?

PPPPS: I think sometimes "the other side of the tapestry" is hiding in plain sight, and we try to make things too complicated, look for "the big answers" when meaning and purpose and value is right in front of us...in the little things. Such as? Children and their absolute joy in discovering something new to them. A dog at play--is there a more clear and direct demonstration of joy than that? Sunsets, sugar maple trees bedecked in their regimental colors in September, a mountain range, chocolate, Bach, Beethoven, or Brahms! Ahhhhhhh.


There is no element of genius without some form of madness.
--Leonardo DiCaprio (I hated attributing it to him. Even though I found the quote attached to his name, I had a hard time giving a Hollywood feller credit...so I looked it up...shure 'nuff, also attrib to Seneca and Aristotle!)



God wants us to grow and discover

God wants us to grow and discover...and He accompanies us as we pursue deeper knowledge and understanding of Him and His world and His people.
                 --Loyola Press, daily retreats.

*  *  *

"...pursue deeper knowledge and understanding..." I really like that. Reminds me of the mental ferment of college/med school. While I enjoyed learning in high school, much was just factual knowledge, but college was much more analytical. "Why didn't we ever explore the 'whys' like this in high school? I'd have loved US History then!" was one thought that came back rather often. Or, reading stuff like the bio of Ben Franklin or John Adams--that gives a framework on which to hang US history--again, too bad things aren't taught that way.

In my senior yr of college, taking an economics course, I went to the library and read another book on econ theory. No prof had ever suggested doing anything outside the curric--why didn't this light dawn earlier? Regardless, I cite it as an example of the pursuit of deeper and wider understanding of God's world.

Pursuing a plot line that is populated by characters of my own devising--now that's a pursuit that would be almost too much fun to call work! Except, of course, that it is hard work. What are my biggest challenges?

--the tyranny of the urgent: there's always some other little project here or there that is slightly higher on the perceived priority list

--distractions

--writing too much detail, getting bogged down...shoot, if I think it's boring, it's gonna be even worse for a reader...and then, I'm tempted to spend time editing/fixing/re-writing that problem ppgh rather than just plowing forward. Right, like a snowplow in winter--just make your first pass and get the road open, don't try to get the road perfectly clean and cleared all the way to the edge! Besides, if the plow comes to a stop, it may have a hard time getting restarted if the grade is steep and the heavy snow is deep. (THIS IS HILARIOUS! It's high 90s out right now, here in the Arizona desert!!!)

--distractions.

--did I mention distractions, I was just thinking about something else, right after I Googled an idea, oh, and then had to write it in an email to myself as a reminder...?

Okay, in all seriousness, how am I doing with the pursuit of knowledge of God, his people, and his world?

Let's run with this question...I'll be back later, after reflecting for a bit. Meanwhile, hop on in to the discussion.

Thnx,

David

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

   We don't stop playing because we grow old;
           we grow old because we stop playing.


What's the diff twixt work and play? Is it a vast gulf? Are there times when it's only a wide ditch that a bold leap might span? Might the issue be that it's our attitude that needs an adjustment so that work and play have greater overlap?

Writing has to be filed under the "work" heading: if one is going to construct good sentences that weave together into cogent ppghs that synergize to create a great story--you betcha it's work!

BUT...a playful attitude helps a lot--why be perfectionistic with the first draft? I just play with words, both for meaning and for sound (alliteration, assonance, consonsance) and for the flow of the sound and the meaning. Editing time--there's where the perfectionism comes to the forefront...with icy gaze, pretty phrases that are cluttering up the tidy and simple meaning need to be axed.
     "But, it was witty and pretty and..." sez Smitti.
     "Ix-nay, it was too much icing and not enuff cake!" says the editor. "Much too often, books and periodicals are not adequately edited...and I mean for more than just spelling and grammar! There's too much language when 'just the facts' would have been better. Other sentences just go 'thud,' forcing the reader to reread the prior sentence or the prior ppgh--when that happens, unless the reader is young or distractable, I put the blame on the writer! K.I.S.S. is still a fundamental and simple truth!" the editor said, shaking his head and disappearing into his lair with a parting growl.

If dogs and cats and bear cubs and otters play, and human kids play...seems to me it just might have something to do with the imago dei...or is that just a crazed thought? [Your thoughts welcomed...there's a spot below for comments--that's sorta the idea of a blog--that we converse!]

Is play always frivolous? Look at the industrious approach taken by a child who's building (or breaking!) something orfiguring out a game or device...the kid is focused, delighted, and isn't happy to be interrupted!

I think that play is something either programmed or needed by all of us. Sure, there are time to be plodding and focused and not-very-playful with detailed, finicky undertakings...but life is too short to not try to add a measure of fun to every task. I think Mary Poppins had it right, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go do-own..."

Hmmm?

---------

Okay, I've had a few mnths to digest this blog post...so, ten months later, here's my response:

--Drawing on my own experiences, when I am "at work," I may be productive, but the productivity is rote and necessary. Creativity and fun are not part of most people's "work vocabulary."
--When I don't approach writing as play--I end up writing very little.
--When I do approach writing as work--I'd better be in editor-mode.
--I haven't produced much creativity lately...perhaps 'cuz I'm focused on marketing my last book.
--Time to go play at my writing--see ya later.