I'm Back!

I thought I would be absent from writing this blog for just two months, but actually it took me six months to come back. Why? Winter blues, combined with job DIS-satisfaction, threatened to send me plummeting into depression. To combat this, I went into automatic survival mode which turns off the creative channels. Of course, denying creativity only compounds the threats to destroy me with depression, but the internal tape-recorder was already on auto-play by then, so negativity was sinking me and anything I might put on paper was not for the public eye.

Then, true to the spirit of the artist in my soul, I had to hibernate and wait for myself to buoy back up to the surface where I could think and feel again. Only then did I dare to open my notebook.

It’s summer now and I am once again unemployed. Am I bailing out to the fantasy of the starving artist, or is it true that financial worries are nothing compared to the soul-suffocating stress of the working world? I don’t know for sure, but it I’m telling you, I feel alive, even with no money to spend, and I was dying, even with a paycheck to buy plenty of food.

I have great callouses on my feet, but my heart remains tender and fragile. That’s a great combination for rising with the sun and hiking to the river’s edge to write poetry, play with words and listen to God, and reconnect with my purpose and value in earth life. it’s a terrible combination, however, for managing the subtle nuances of academia that deny authenticity and chisel away at personal value.

Nonetheless, that’s behind me now. The days are long and warm and I am once again awake. Bare feet on hard earth, birds and water ripples serenade me as my soul opens up and my pen scribbles quickly across the pages.

Ahhhh! The riverside writer is back!

Simply Writing

The nitty gritty of writing is first and foremost about simply writing. that’s it in its most basic, essential core: WRITE.

The term “simply writing” may seem like an oxymoron because writing is comprised of so many steps, so much effort, so much mental energy, and so much time. And too often we get bogged down in all that we think writing is – the word choice, perspective, tenses, grammar, cohesion… We get overwhelmed by the potential of being read or the fear of not being read, the approval or disapproval of our work… We stop ourselves before we even get started!

Sure, all these things and more make up the nitty gritty details of producing a piece of writing, but first, you simply have to WRITE. Bring your mind to a screeching halt and silence all the crap that is clanging around in your head; strip yourself of all that burdensome baggage and just WRITE.

Go back to the phrase “simply writing” and notice that it is active.

Writing: n. “the act of a person or thing that writes” (dictionary.com)

Simply: adverb. “in a simple manner; clearly and easily… wholly, absolutely … sincerely” (dictionary.com)

Simply writing is the act of free-flowing pen on paper. Release yourself to the free-flowing pen because that is uncensored thought, ideas, images. It is the absolutely and sincerely of simply that gives life to the act of writing.

Simply writing is the essence of the nitty gritty of writing because the act of writing wholly, absolutely, and sincerely, is where you discover yourself and all your powers and limitations. And wish such self-discovery also comes the discovery of powers beyond yourself – powers without limitations. I’m talking about the inspiration and the unfolding of creating that surprises even you – the one who holds the pen. That free-flowing pen takes off and comes alive and you become both observer and participant in one.

You can’t plan or orchestrate this experience, you can only show up. And this is precisely what I mean when I say that the most basic aspect of the nitty gritty of writing is simply writing: you show up ready to engage; you take the pen and begin to dance. That’s it. You do this regularly and the stuff you want to write about multiplies over and over. Your skills get better, the dance picks up speed and before you know it, you are performing complex movements beyond your dreams.

You will eventually deal with all that other nitty gritty stuff later, but first and foremost, WRITE: get in the act of simply writing.