It is a nice Saturday morning, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, a cool breeze floats through my window. I am propped up against the pillows on my bed, listening to to Ray Cs Ntilie as i sip sweet milky Earl Grey tea. Those men in Ray Cs video are handsome, i must meet them sometime. This week i have been trying a new writing voice, slightly less restrained, less celebral, putting down on paper the first thought that springs to mind. It is SO liberating, and i would recommend it for other writers too. Dont try to sound intelligent, dont even necessarily aim to make sense, just vomit (for lack of a better word) it all out. I want to write more about things that i feel. Some people like to ride bicycles, some people like to go to church, me, i like to emote. It is as though my body is a bundle of nerves which when they have no feeling coursing through them, feel dead. And so i like things that make me feel. Whether it is strong pain or extreme hilarity, i want it. In retrospect, now i get why i have said in the past, that my favorite books are those which make me both laugh and cry. The intellectual side of me is sort of like the Knight in Shining Armor that swoops in to save me when it realizes that i am wallowing in dangerously bad emotions and i need to be pulled out before it is too late. In the past the emotional side and the intellectual side used to fight a lot, but now they have become firm friends. Lets just say that the intellectual side has realized who is the boss :-) The urge to write, to splatter emotions and thoughts on paper has been welling up in me these past three days and i find that extremely interesting. Going hand in hand with the new propensity to Write What i Like (Coming to this place has not been easy) comes the question, how to channel it, where to take it? The muse is certainly on a mission thisaway. Maybe the biggest lesson i have learnt in this writing walk has been to LET IT BE. The times that i allow it to take whatever direction it chooses to, all is hunky dory. The moment my mind starts telling it what to do and be, it closes shut, like a petulant child. Yes indeed, the soul (which is where the soulful writing springs from) IS a child. And youve got to respect that and give it its dues. Force it to go somewhere it doesnt and you have a lifeless, joyless piece of work in your hands and your read the story or novel youve put down and admit to yourself that you have participated in environmental degradation because, seriously, WHAT A WASTE OF TREES!!! So what you need to do is to cajole it, persuade it, shower it with praises about how magnificent it is and show how it will benefit by this thing you want to do. If the thing you want to do is truly substantive and interesting, it will be bouncing with excitement on its own, you dont have to resort to these methods. And kindly note, it will hate you if you keep on bringing it stuff that doesnt interest it and will turn all silent-treatment, cold-war on you. But even more powerful than this is if you allow it to choose for itself what it wants. What makes it happy, what rings its bells, what makes it tingle, come alive, dance, sing, feel joy. Perhaps, actually, thats your only role in the process. To lead it to this metaphorical river of connection, to drink. Because its all about connection, how much it feels that thing; how much that thing sets it on fire, courses down its veins, charges it, sets it aflame. And related to connection, is....drum-rolls... love. How much your soul loves it will determine its willingness to engage or not. Soul, is about creativity, and creativity is about play. The creative mind plays with the object it loves one of my friends (a long gone Swiss psychologist and mystic) said, which takes us back to the idea that your key work is finding out the thing or object that you love, and then letting your mind and soul run free with it (or them). Happy writing folks.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 08:49:43 +0000
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