Sunday, April 04, 2010

April Showers: Living

Ah, April! This month my series is going to be "April showers, bring May flowers." I'm going to chat about prewriting. The stuff you got to do to do the stuff.

Something about Ernest Hemingway has always provoked me. He really lived a dynamic life. Not one that I wholly admire, but one that I see was a great breeding ground for vast stories. He, like many artists I've known, was feeling a lot of pain from living -- a sort of live wire sparking and electrocuting, dangerous. To write you must live.

So many writers, famous figures in history to friends I've known, there is this common thread -- they are all so damaged. Now you may be a writer and not be damaged (yet). I honestly don't think you can make it through life without dings, dents, cracks, and breaks. The sooner you embrace that you will have to do this writing from the shattered places with a basket under your arm to help you pick up the pieces, the better. Understand that all this shaping from the winds of time is what is driving your stories.

Let living, the glory and the pain of it, guide you and enrich you. And for those that share my belief in a power greater than the swirling galaxies, the loving heart of the universe, God with us, Emmanuel, the Christ, let that treasure of the divine shape your words just like water carves the valleys, wind shapes mountains, volcanoes raze landscapes, sunshine powers the great storms that traverse the planet and the currents of our oceans. Don't resent the days you do not have time to write, know that these days are probably the most important ones for your creative journey.

Thank you for dropping by. Come back next week for more April showers. Seize the day.

This week's doodle is "Moses looking at the burning bush".

If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good, and the very gentle, and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry. Ernest Hemingway

2 comments:

Vijaya said...

**I honestly don't think you can make it through life without dings, dents, cracks, and breaks. The sooner you embrace that you will have to do this writing from the shattered places with a basket under your arm to help you pick up the pieces, the better.**

I'm also discovering that out of the things that hurt the most can come healing not just for oneself but also for others.

Have a blessed Easter season. I'm still remembering last year ... and I'll see you at the conference.

Molly/Cece said...

So true, Vijaya.

Blessings to you and yours too. I'm going to try not to cry at the conference. This will be the last time I see all my writer peeps gathered for a while.

M.