Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Organic Writing Path

In looking at adult learning theories for a class I am taking, it struck me that we write despite everything we have been told about why we should or shouldn't create through words.

Look at the history of communication and we share a very basic need to share our stories, to warn others of possible dangers ahead and to imagine better or worse worlds. This is the organic path we take in writing because we need to, not because we must.

Writing is as natural to human beings as breathing. We get beyond the basic need to survive in this medium, just as visual artists do through paints, chalk, clay, marble and textiles, and musicians via sounds and instruments.

We may have been taught to write, to understand the common rules that allow others to understand our works and to assign the correct meanings to words, but not everyone feels this urge. So give yourself credit for every word, idea, thought, desire and slash mark you commit to paper or digitally.

 

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Short-Short Version of a Writing Vacation

On the downhill of one semester and into a new educational experience, it's hard to even catch my breath without wanting to write it out.

That's right, writing may be what I do for a living, but living to write and having two weeks to edit one book, continue on another and flesh out a third sounds like a delightful creative vacation. However, with school starting again on Monday, and so many necessary distractions like cleaning and fixing things around the house, there's so little time to play with words. And for the next semester, research will influence everything I write, and provide another focus. (Just what I need....)

For now, let's just imagine how a vacation that concentrates on writing would feel and how to etch out a day "away" to make it so. First, it requires the best pen, ample ink, a journal, notebook or paper pad and leaving electronics, except for music, at home. Getting away means having something solid to show after you are done and no hesitation when you are in the flow that you don't control.

I can't write at a bookstore because of too many distractions, so for me it would be a vacation to write at the zoo or the Biopark. And while I may have my phone with me, it must be turned off.

Finally, rain or shine, I would give myself at least two hours with no preconceived notions of what should be finished or finessed.

That's my version of a vacation in town and immersed.