Write What You See, Not What You Think You See
I took a drawing class once, not sure from whom, I was in high school at the time, where the teacher said, “Draw what you see, not what you think you see.” After a moment to process this, my drawing improved unbelievably quickly. I was drawing a face at the time. I had put a [...]
Having To
Having to write rather than wanting to write can be a marvelous thing. Having to write whether you want to or not. I’m not talking about some person shaking a finger at you and making you sit at your computer, I’m talking about the powerful obsession where every cell in your body screams out that [...]
You Can’t Eat the Menu
You can’t eat the menu. That’s not original. I heard it years ago, but I couldn’t begin to tell you where. Another version of it is, “The map is not the road”. That which symbolizes something is not the thing itself. When stated like this, it seems obvious, but we often mistake the symbol for [...]
Creating a Rich Environment
Where are you? Go ahead, look around. What do you see? What do you hear? What does the air feel like? Smell like? What are you touching, and what’s touching you? It feels real, doesn’t it? It should because it’s what we call reality. Now, think of a place you’ve been – on vacation or [...]
When We Fear Praise
I have often heard a variation of the comment that someone doesn’t trust or can’t accept praise. A good friend recently went as far as to say, “Don’t tell me I’m special, I don’t want to hear it.” There are many reasons to have this attitude: Not believing you could be special Thinking that whoever [...]
Does Art Have the Power to Change a Life?
On a radio show recently the question was put forth, “does art have the power to change a life?” Although I’ve always thought a life without art is a dead life and a society without art is a dead society, I’d never considered the question quite in that way. It started me thinking about my [...]
The Best Time to Write
I used to be a night person. I was in the theatre, after all. (And, yes, I spell it with and “re”. I’m pretentious and gay. Go with me or move on, I say.) Even in college, when most people were getting up at dawn to get to their first class sometime in the prehistoric [...]
Possibility
A blank piece of paper (or a curser blinking on a blank screen) can be the most wonderful of things. It can fill you with wonder or dread. I chose wonder. The possibilities are endless. Shall I create a lush landscape and people it with gnomes? Shall it be a bleak forest full of gnarled, [...]
Visceral Writing
I use the word “visceral” often to describe writing, or, at least, a certain kind of writing. What, exactly, do I mean by that word? Webster’s On-Line dictionary defines visceral thus: vis cer al adj. \’vi-sə-rəl, ‘vis-rəl\ felt in or as if in the viscera : deep “a visceral conviction” not intellectual : instinctive, unreasoning [...]
Post 31 on Connie Green’s 30 Day Challenge – Having an Idea
As most of you may already know (or wondered, seeing all the posts for the last month being numbered for some reason,) a month ago I accepted Connie Regan Green’s challenge to write 30 blog posts in 30 days. Being a bit of a show-off, I’m doing 31. Did I know I would complete the [...]
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