Inspiration From The Distant Past

Inspiration From The Distant Past
Found note in an old book... warms the cockles of my bookish heart...

Friday, April 29, 2011

About writing...

Every single person who will ever read these pages is grateful to the people who write.   Books, words, expressed thoughts, typed ideas, they are our lovers, our passions, our savory life morsels, our presents.   They are the "why" of Mrs. BG's Book Nook's existence.

DeLynne is writing a book.    My sister is writing a book.  I am writing a book. 

Actually, let me correct something here, because I try not to make a habit of presenting untruths: DeLynne talks about writing a book. I talk about writing a book. My sister talks about writing a book and I suspect Lesa would talk about writing a book if she didn't have to spend so much time taking care of Mrs. BG and her delicious book nook.

What drives us to write, or to create at all?    

Sorry.  This isn't that post.  If I knew what it was, I'd cure it, because it is like a drug.

I don't know what it is, but I know how it feels.  

To write is to dance with the Universe.  

There's a reason so much art has been offered up to the mythical forces that seduce creativity from the ether through little ol' us.

But it's hard.  

It's hard to keep your toes (ego) out of the way.

It's hard to keep up with the muses because they have those annoying trim, lithe, dancer bodies and we all have the cubical, baby weight, not fifteen year old bodies, or exactly fifteen year old bodies with the exact gangling that comes from all that power we've yet learned to wield.  

It's hard.


It's hard, and yet, not to be melodramatic, not that you'll think me so if you've had this dance, but I almost can't breath without it.


DeLynne, Leslie, any of you out there dancing, write.   We owe it to ...well, pretty much everyone.

21 comments:

  1. Wonderful Post Tracy! All of you make this blog very entertaining to read. Always a giggle in each post.

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  2. RY,
    I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

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  3. Yes, at this point, I am just trying to keep up with this blog...once my feet stop hurting, I'll start dancing again.
    Love you...

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  4. Les, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not writing either. it's like flossing. We should far more than we're going to...

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  5. I believe in some places you were talking about me. I have two published short stories and I've started like five YA novels but I have yet to complete any of them.

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  6. You are so right! I need to write, and so do you ;)

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  7. J... I truly was. I'm not sure what the "how" of it is, but I know it's important. How many of us were given immense gifts from the books we read? And those authors weren't descended from on high. They were normal people with average life problems, but wrote anyway. Maybe we just need to see it as another way to give back.

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  8. biblio,
    I'm really trying. I take a notebook with me and 99.9999999999% of what I write is trash, but I keep thinking I'll start to refine the "signal" and end up with less static aka trash.
    We'll see. What do you do to make yourself a better, more consistent writer?

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  9. +JMJ+

    Ah, I wish I could dance again! =(

    The main reason I stopped writing fiction (which made up the bulk of my creative output as a teenager) was that I worried that what I came up with didn't really come from me. Not to get all political and post-colonial on you ladies, but I think that living greatly off a diet of Anglo-American fiction doesn't really help a non-Brit, non-American, non-Canadian, non-Australian, non-Kiwi lover of words find her authentic voice.

    For a long time, the stories I wrote were set in places I had never been and knew I might never see--places that were real to me only because I had read about them, not because I had lived in them. And even the characters I created were completely different from me, based on those I read about or saw on TV: I had never shared their experiences (except the most universal sort), but I must have wished I did.

    After a while, "wish-fulfillment writing," no matter how creative it was, just didn't seem very honest. So I just stopped doing it.

    And that's my sob story--but I don't ask for pity. I share it because I know exactly what you mean about dancing with the Universe but needing to get one's toes--whatever they may be--out of the way. I just have no idea how to get my issues out of the way so that I start writing again!

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  10. Enbrethiliel,
    If I could give you one piece of truth it would be that all your experiences are universal as are the seemingly "foreign" themes of the books you love.
    Tell the story that connects the two. You're the only person than can tell that story. And to tell the truth, that is the story we're all trying to tell, how my stories connect to your story.

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  11. I live this feeling... totally, get this post... LOVE it!

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  12. Stacey,
    Then you are a brilliant woman and I'm very glad that you enjoyed the post.

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  13. This reminds me of the quote that says, "Why do writers write? Because it isn't there." (It's a play off the guy who was asked why he climbed Mt. Everest and he replied "Because it was there") But I think it's a great reminder of the value for creating for the purpose of being creative. I think it's easy to get caught in endgame thinking (will I be published? who is my audience?) and lose sight of the joy of simply being creative, artistic, and original.

    So best wishes with all the books! I look forward to reading and reviewing them someday, but even if they never make it out of the notebooks they're composed it, know that you've still created something awesome because of the simple fact that you created something at all!

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  14. Lisa,
    That is the best quote re: writing. Ever. Make it "there". That's our only job.
    love this.. and thank you thank you

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  15. 'To write is to dance with the Universe'

    Love it-- it makes my soul soar! Now to sign up for dance class.

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  16. Life is worth recording. If you don't write it down -- or take a picture -- it never happened. Our minds are wired for stories.

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  17. "Our minds are wired for stories." Very well said, GG. It has to be in us, as story "tellers" to give and that can only be good.

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  18. I just want to write so I can make money at home in my felted slippers.

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  19. In which case, I only half jokingly suggest you start with a ya story about your slippers... they sound enviable. *grin xot

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  20. I love writing, too! If I acn just have 48 hours in a day. Thank you for linking up this great post at the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop :) Hope to see you again this Sunday!

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  21. Beautiful post. I have no idea why I have never seen this till now. I don't really have much to say, but wanted to comment anyway. It's inspiring me a bit to dance again!

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