I have been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks now, for the beginning of my time to really write. I’ve been too exhausted to put pen to paper yet but my head has been working overtime.
I had a few ‘moments’ the last weekend. Some were a bit disconcerting, but I think I have evolved a bit. I can only dwell on the exciting ones. Even though I’ve been taking in the media hype surrounding MJ and even though I’ve been silently ‘mourning’ (notwithstanding his eccentricities and trials-literal and figurative), I believe he was genius/talent unparalleled. What was so spectacular about his moves or voice? That is not rational. Charisma shouldn’t be analysed. It just is and he had it. It’s that meditation on his works that reminds me of the principle – there are some truly wonderful experiences that cancel the messes we confront. And that past weekend, though I had some unsettling bits here and there, there were others formidable enough to cancel out subversive energy.
I was fortunate to reason with one of my favourite Caribbean writers. Where to begin??!! Initially I just wanted to be in her presence so that some of her energy might touch me. I was nervous about meeting her, I didn’t want to seem greedy for guidance, but I was. She was wonderfully patient and attentive. She asked me the questions I have been reluctant to acknowledge and she said the things I needed to hear. The universe has an uncanny way of putting things in the right place at the right time. We just need to be receptive. Speaking to her gave me a sense of peace and purpose which reminds me of the importance of community and communion with others, especially communing with others of the creative persuasion. What she gave me was so obvious but worth hearing from one who has walked the road. I will share three things that moved me significantly.
1.What do you really want to say to your audience?
I used to think that was so obvious, that I was unwilling to say it out loud. I used to think that if I am driven by this cliché of a moral then why do I need the story? But the moral is not the story. Saying the moral out loud validated it in a way I never expected. I realized that I really do want to tell this story. And I am willing to risk all the things I feared to say out loud. I have reached the place where I feel I need to tell this story. It has nothing to do with me. It is a message that ought to be heard.
2.The characters come as fully formed complexities which go in places I didn’t expect. What do I do with them? It feels so much easier to just let them be.
She said what I believed deep down but I didn’t want to admit because it was so exciting to sit at the PC and let the characters flow: The writer ought to take control. If I know where I want it to go (and yes I do) then craft the characters in that direction.
I knew I had to hear this out loud for me to take it seriously because I suspected for a while that my project was going slower than I wanted to because some of the peripheral characters were getting all pushy with their lives and motives. She reminded me: let the character do their duties; I must direct them. So yes, I told myself, don’t be a wimp, listen to them but don’t just take everything they tell you.
Good advice comes in three:
3. I admitted my fears about not being relevant to the people I want to speak to and that was leading to some kind of creative paralysis sometimes.
(I should know better, really.) She reminded me - your work is often most relevant to the people you least expect to reach. She said that she never expected to hear some of the reactions to her work or the expanse of the reception she received. So don’t fret about who will care about your work or who will read it. Just do what needs to be done, be creative.
SO
Although you ought to consider your audience, you have to abandon the idea of the audience that you have when it comes down to the reality of writing. She reminded me to encode the messages into multiple levels that a range of individuals can access the work. That I will have to think about some more.
I didn’t think it cheesy to ask for her autograph. I really do believe in the strength of shared creative energy. It sounds extremely corny but her signature on a copy of her work is a tangible thread connecting me to the wider community that I would like to be a part of. That was last week Friday.
The following day, while doing my Saturday morning - visit the town thing, I was busy looking for a house-warming gift for a crony and I heard someone call a child’s name - the name of my lead character. I was so taken aback! There I was in the store, staring down the mother and her two children, one who had the name which I took from our local patois meaning ‘Truth.’ That was the first time I had ever heard someone with that name. She said it EXACTLY how I think of her, a Francophone word, with an anglicized pronunciation. I was so excited in that moment, as if it was the sign I needed to reinforce the lessons I received the day before.
After getting much needed rest this weekend, tomorrow is a brand new exciting journey to find out where TRUTH will lead.
Namaste
I had a few ‘moments’ the last weekend. Some were a bit disconcerting, but I think I have evolved a bit. I can only dwell on the exciting ones. Even though I’ve been taking in the media hype surrounding MJ and even though I’ve been silently ‘mourning’ (notwithstanding his eccentricities and trials-literal and figurative), I believe he was genius/talent unparalleled. What was so spectacular about his moves or voice? That is not rational. Charisma shouldn’t be analysed. It just is and he had it. It’s that meditation on his works that reminds me of the principle – there are some truly wonderful experiences that cancel the messes we confront. And that past weekend, though I had some unsettling bits here and there, there were others formidable enough to cancel out subversive energy.
I was fortunate to reason with one of my favourite Caribbean writers. Where to begin??!! Initially I just wanted to be in her presence so that some of her energy might touch me. I was nervous about meeting her, I didn’t want to seem greedy for guidance, but I was. She was wonderfully patient and attentive. She asked me the questions I have been reluctant to acknowledge and she said the things I needed to hear. The universe has an uncanny way of putting things in the right place at the right time. We just need to be receptive. Speaking to her gave me a sense of peace and purpose which reminds me of the importance of community and communion with others, especially communing with others of the creative persuasion. What she gave me was so obvious but worth hearing from one who has walked the road. I will share three things that moved me significantly.
1.What do you really want to say to your audience?
I used to think that was so obvious, that I was unwilling to say it out loud. I used to think that if I am driven by this cliché of a moral then why do I need the story? But the moral is not the story. Saying the moral out loud validated it in a way I never expected. I realized that I really do want to tell this story. And I am willing to risk all the things I feared to say out loud. I have reached the place where I feel I need to tell this story. It has nothing to do with me. It is a message that ought to be heard.
2.The characters come as fully formed complexities which go in places I didn’t expect. What do I do with them? It feels so much easier to just let them be.
She said what I believed deep down but I didn’t want to admit because it was so exciting to sit at the PC and let the characters flow: The writer ought to take control. If I know where I want it to go (and yes I do) then craft the characters in that direction.
I knew I had to hear this out loud for me to take it seriously because I suspected for a while that my project was going slower than I wanted to because some of the peripheral characters were getting all pushy with their lives and motives. She reminded me: let the character do their duties; I must direct them. So yes, I told myself, don’t be a wimp, listen to them but don’t just take everything they tell you.
Good advice comes in three:
3. I admitted my fears about not being relevant to the people I want to speak to and that was leading to some kind of creative paralysis sometimes.
(I should know better, really.) She reminded me - your work is often most relevant to the people you least expect to reach. She said that she never expected to hear some of the reactions to her work or the expanse of the reception she received. So don’t fret about who will care about your work or who will read it. Just do what needs to be done, be creative.
SO
Although you ought to consider your audience, you have to abandon the idea of the audience that you have when it comes down to the reality of writing. She reminded me to encode the messages into multiple levels that a range of individuals can access the work. That I will have to think about some more.
I didn’t think it cheesy to ask for her autograph. I really do believe in the strength of shared creative energy. It sounds extremely corny but her signature on a copy of her work is a tangible thread connecting me to the wider community that I would like to be a part of. That was last week Friday.
The following day, while doing my Saturday morning - visit the town thing, I was busy looking for a house-warming gift for a crony and I heard someone call a child’s name - the name of my lead character. I was so taken aback! There I was in the store, staring down the mother and her two children, one who had the name which I took from our local patois meaning ‘Truth.’ That was the first time I had ever heard someone with that name. She said it EXACTLY how I think of her, a Francophone word, with an anglicized pronunciation. I was so excited in that moment, as if it was the sign I needed to reinforce the lessons I received the day before.
After getting much needed rest this weekend, tomorrow is a brand new exciting journey to find out where TRUTH will lead.
Namaste
