Hands
My hands are a fence
to hold you within
or keep you out
I hold out my hand
In love + trust, security + hope
a protection from fear
I clench my fist and strike
in malice; in protest
in reaction; with intent
I open my hand as a flower
A gesture of comfort and sympathy
A lover’s caress and tender touch
To soothe wounds and help you rise
In friendship we clasp and I know
Your strength and you know mine
I can close the doors against you
or open the gates
and welcome you home
Posted in Ars Poetica, Creativity, The Writer's Life
Tagged creativity, handwritten, poetry, post it note, post it note poetry, reflection, slice of life, street poetry, writers, writing
The genesis of these lines started last night and take on greater significance in the light of today’s events.
In fact, every day is a day to #lovethyneighbour
My enemy planted a brick
and grew a wall of hate
I planted a tree beside
the wall and showed
how love creeps in
I paved the road
less travelled
And that has
made all the
difference
#streetpoetry
Posted in Ars Poetica, Creativity, Post It Note Poetry
Tagged creativity, poetry, post it note, post it note poetry, Robert Frost, street poetry, writers, writing
This is a question that confronts every new and emerging writer.
I am a new and emerging writer and I have confronted it.
Armed with a new pen, a Moleskine notebook and a dream, you set out to become a writer. But at some point the blind ambition comes face to face with the reality of the publishing industry.
It’s like having an experience with a face hugger from the movie Alien; you know at some point a xenomorph will burst out of your chest, killing you and then feed on the remnants of your dream of being a writer.
Despite every scrap of determination, every skerrick of aptitude, every committed moment of diligence, every hour of writing spent honing your craft, every fortune cookie predicting an ambiguous uncertainty of guaranteed success, there is no guarantee of you “making it” as a writer.
Alan Baxter recently hosted a blog series, The Ongoing Angst of Successful Writers, with six authors, all of whom still carry the fear of “What if I’m not good enough?”
Even though they have “made it,” based on their own standards, there is still a fear. Go and read the conclusions then work your way through the different authors. You will cheer and weep and know you’re not alone.
So what chances do I have as a new and emerging writer to “make it?”
The same chance they did.
How will I define if I have “made it?”
I see on social media reports of authors who carved out a successful blogging career and turned it into fiction or non-fiction book deal and have gone on to financially successful careers.
And they make it sound SO EASY! “I wrote a book, it was picked up by an agent and sold to the highest bidder. And I’ve sold 1,000,000 copies and now have a three book advance deal.”
I have had two short stories published in anthologies, had a vignette published, and have three stories offered for free on Ether Books app (see the Publications page). Nothing to rock the world, but it’s a start.
“Making it” implies financial success, selling stories, novellas and/or novels, whatever literary form you care to think of.
“Making it” implies critical acclaim and public praise.
And, yes, I want these things. I want to be financially successful and have critical acclaim and public praise.
But…
Not a great start. Yet there are more fears lurking.
Trying to answer the question of “Have I ‘made it’?” is akin to trying to catch a fart in a cyclone.
I want to make it. I want to sell short stories, and just like known authors, experience rejection.
I am committed to improving my craft, developing my art and telling good stories. I will have tried my hardest. I will have written to the best of my aptitude and skill; learned what I can from whomever and wherever to ensure my work is the best it can be to have every chance to be considered.
I’m going to make damn sure I give it everything I am to have a crack at “making it.”
But if I don’t make it, I don’t mind.
Because…
Despite everything looking like a failure, I will continue to write.
This is how I know I will have ‘made it.’ I will have continued despite the “failure.”
When I’ve “made it” financially or critically, I’ll let you know.
If I don’t make it, I’m ok with that.
I won’t be ok if I have failed to continue writing.
Posted in Creativity, The Writer's Life
Tagged creativity, failure, fear, fiction, just because of thoughtfulness, reflection, what if I never make it, writer's life, writers, writetip, writing
Invariably a writer gets asked a question, in fact THE question:
“Where do you get your ideas?”
And as a teacher when I set my students a creative writing task there comes a glassy eyed look of vacancy that would give a vacuum cleaner a run for its money when it comes to sucking the will to live.
Let me count the ways. It’s too easy to be facetious and sarcastic but let’s travel down that well-worn trope for a while.
But what is the person really asking? What is the heart and purpose of their question?
What they are asking is, “If I replace the empty toilet roll does that mean I get to eat the last doughnut?”
Sorry, wrong question.
The question being asked is, “Why can’t I be as creative as you?”
There is a core concept at the heart of the question: a desire to be creative yet they imagine themselves without the skills or knowledge to do so.
They are saying, “I really want to be creative but I don’t know how.”
The answer is simple. It’s one word: IMAGINATION.
It’s about exercising the ol’ grey matter and THINK.
For the non-creative person, the concept of using the imagination to develop ideas is like giving them a piece of Ikea furniture and a Phillips head screwdriver to assemble it. You’re better off asking them to stand naked in the middle of the road during a thunderstorm with a colander on their head for protection.
For a writer and the creative person, the imagination is the most important tool to use. But you need to know how to use it, to train it, to develop it and expand it.
Train your imagination. If you’re unsure how to do it, watch children play. They imagine all the time in their play, their drawings, their stories. Learn from them. Mimic their creativity, ingenuity and imagination.
On a side note, imagination gets minimised and sidelined during the school years in favour of logic and reason, when it should be expanded, developed and encouraged.
So how should we answer the question: “Where do you get your ideas?”
Remember, this is for posterity, so please, be honest. Tell me the truth.
It starts with my imagination, but that’s a wibbly-wobbley spongey-marshmallow answer.
My perspective sparks my imagination, the way I have of seeing the world. It shapes how I see people, events, incidents, and helps me understand that the individual stories of people are important.
In truth, I look for ideas. I search for them. I track them like ants at a picnic.
I find ideas in:
I get ideas because I actively pursue them.
I use my imagination to create scenarios and situations.
I ask “What if…?”
I ask “Why?” and “Why not?”
As Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
That’s where I get my ideas.
And now I’m off to read the comments on youtube.
Posted in Creativity, The Writer's Life
Tagged creativity, imagination, ingenuity, where do you get your ideas, writers, writing, writing tips
Hello, My Name Is…
A distinctive nomenclature and
classification of the familial
An ancestor’s genealogy
anchored in the present
Catalogued by a birth date,
a Medicare card, and eventually,
a tax file number
Others give their own interpretation
In the form of a nickname, a moniker
While I adopt the facade, play a charade,
engage in a deliberate ruse.
My label, my identity, my personality
and my character yet
an enigma, a question, a riddle
unsolved and unanswered
A statement of intent,
a declaration of purpose
a sign of the times and
a dream of the future.
Posted in Ars Poetica, Creativity, Post It Note Poetry, The Writer's Life
Tagged creativity, identity, name, poem, poetry, post it note poetry, writers, writing
When are the best times and where are the best places to plan new writing?
Time is precious.
We all have the same number of grains of sand filtering through the hourglass each day.
Writing time is precious.
We protect and hoard our allotted (and dedicated) time to write.
But we’re all busy.
And if you’re a new and emerging writer, you fit writing into the nooks, crevasses and tiny compartments of time available between the crack of dawn and when you finally feed the door and lock the cat for the night.
So when are the best times and where are the best places to plan new writing?
There is an untapped resource in the mundane ennui of our lives. Times and places where we can let our minds wander through the cereal aisle of our minds and happily browse all the pretty colours.
Remember to carry a pen and notebook so you can write down new ideas, revelations, plots, characters.
The bathroom – Use those quiet minutes to generate new ideas, plots, characters. If you’re constipated, you can always work it out with a pen. Maybe it’s just a guy thing, but seriously, uninterrupted time is precious especially when you have children.
Washing up – a friend of mine calls it ‘sudspiration.’ Let your subconscious compost the ideas you have. Mull over concepts for plots or allow the characters in a scene to throw around some dialogue.
Have a tea towel handy as you’ll need to dry your hands quickly to take down notes.
Hanging washing on the line – As you hang out the next load on the line, observe how you do it. Is it socks (and do you pair them or leave them on the line randomly) and underwear first? Or whatever comes to hand? Do you use the same coloured pegs for each garment or you don’t care?
Now think about how you approach a new plot. Is it similar to your washing line approach?
Use the time to plan a new plot; with each garment think of it as the next scene in your story.
In the shower – nothing like a quickie to get your mind turning over. Think about how your character would carry out their ablutions. Maybe he or she uses the face washer only for the face, or they don’t care and use it all over. What kind of shampoo and conditioner would your character use? Would your character have sex in the shower?
There is something refreshing and rejuvenating about water and the process of becoming clean. Visualise the bad ideas washed away to leave the good ideas. If a good idea slips away, hope it gets stuck in the mat of hair clogging the drain.
On the commute to work – regardless of your mode of transportation you can use the time to chunk down the massive sprawling plot into scenes.
This is a little harder if you drive to work but perhaps a dictaphone (what am I saying? Every phone these days as the ability to record audio. Use your phone instead. Forget I said ‘dictaphone’). Or train your brain to remember all the minute details (we really should exercise the ol’ grey matter a little more by developing our memory).
During the commercial break – how many plot ideas can you generate in the ad break? Make a challenge of it. If you write down 2 ideas in the first ad break, can you double it to 4 in the next?
Taking a walk – stop being sedentary. Stand up out of the chair and take a turn around the block. Get the blood moving through the body. Movement creates momentum and clarity.
Use the time to process a character’s motivation. Imagine, as you walk, the character’s movement through the plot. What is their internal and external motivation?
At any family gathering (or wherever people congregate) – watch people and their mannerisms. Listen to how Great Aunt Ethel speaks about fashion and last week’s Bingo fiasco and watch how she uses gesture and body language. Become an acute observer of human behaviour and language. Can you apply it to a character?
You’ll find your own mundane moments to compost and percolate ideas.
What works best for you?
Posted in Creativity, The Writer's Life
Tagged creating new ideas, creativity, ennui, everyday ideas, mundane, story, Tuesday Thought, writers, writers tips, writing, writing tips
Footpaths
The bicycle’s highway
With raggedy doll copilot
Running away from home
Once around the block
Before returning
For afternoon tea
There’s something intrinsically humbling about temporary art. You put effort into a piece of art only to have it washed or worn away.
It reminds me of Arthur Stace (9 February 1884 – 30 July 1967), a resident of Sydney, Australia, who wrote the word “Eternity” in chalk in a magnificent script.
All art serves a purpose, even if it’s temporary.
Posted in Ars Poetica, Creativity, The Writer's Life
Tagged creativity, disposable, footpath philosophy, footpaths, poetry, temporary art, writers, writing
Creativity is an intuitive skill developed at an early age. Watch a group of children playing and they will demonstrate the intuitive skill of MacGyver with a pencil, a piece of paper, a tub of glue and some glitter.
Creativity is also a learned skill. There are those who have an innate ability to be creative, and it leaves some parents wondering where on earth it came from considering the raw material they came from.
Yet creativity is replaced with logical, analytical skills once they reach school and creative skills are sidelined. Children, and adults, need both in equal measure.
In the modern age, the creative division of parent and child is separated because we have lost the idea from the ancient world (and in the adage) that it takes a village to raise a child.
Children learned alongside their parents, were taught consciously and unconsciously in the field or the workshop, around the table or by the fire. It was taught through example and illustration, through demonstration and practical experience, through metaphor and parable, through song, dance and music.
The learning experiences between father and son, mother and daughter, father and daughter, mother and son have been broken or weakened, lessened and devalued. The interaction of parent and child is a bond to be nurtured and developed. It is a fragile bond that needs careful attention.
We must embrace new opportunities for engaging in meaningful learning and creative experiences with our children. Therefore we must teach our children to be creative.
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.
Teaching your child to be creative means they have a broader skills set, balanced between the logical, analytical skills of the maths and sciences, and the creative skills of writing, art, music and dance.
It is a responsibility for the continuing holistic approach to the life of your child. The importance of developing a creative culture in the family cannot be emphasised enough.
Children need to see learning, knowledge and education are not compartmentalised aspects of life. They gain this understanding through the regimented program of school. Children find it difficult to make the links between information and subjects; it needs to be made explicit.
An essential understanding is the connection within and between subjects for creative and analytical skills. Therefore creativity is not limited to subjects such as English, Art, Music, Design and Technology (woodwork, metalwork etc) but also an essential skill in Science and Mathematics.
Encouraging creativity in all areas of your child’s life gives them a life long inheritance, regardless of natural ability and talent in sport, academic pursuit, and traditional artistic and creative endeavours.
Listen, my son (and my daughter), to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. (Proverbs 1:8)
Teaching creativity is an active experience. The most important aspect is also having your child see you being creative and involving your children whenever possible.
Take time to be with your child. Sit alongside them and do it with them, especially when they are younger when creativity is encouraged at all times.
If you are unsure what to do, here are some suggestions:
My son (and my daughter), do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart (Proverbs 3: 1)
Teaching creativity is a continual process. You model creativity by doing it with them present.
Invite your child to be a part of your creativity. Can they contribute to what is being done? Ask for their input to make them feel included.
Teaching creativity is continual when boys and girls participate and learn to be creative alongside their fathers and mothers.
Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. (Proverbs 4: 13)
Teaching creativity involves a dedicated commitment from you to your children. For it to be an inheritance, it must be active, continual and committed.
Even when it is a drain on your time and energy; when it occurs at an inconvenient time; when it is frustrating and repetitive, commit to educating your child on the importance of creativity.
When they are in high school, help them choose a creative subject as a balance to the academic subjects.
Teach a child to be creative and you unlock their imagination in everything they do.
A texta is a dangerous creative tool in the hands of the inexperienced. They might just discover their own genius.
Posted in Creativity, The Writer's Life
Tagged children, creativity, education, learning, slice of life, teaching, writers, writing
I am an English teacher and drummer/percussionist with an interest in literary pursuits, creative endeavours, rhythmic permutations, theological amplifications and comedic outbursts.
Here you will find my creative detritus: articles on living a creative life and writing explorations.
And other ideas I have snaffled from the papers stuck on the fridge door.
Twitter: @RevHappiness
Instagram: @handwrittenpages
My collaborative epistolary novel, "Post Marked: Piper's Reach," written with Jodi Cleghorn (@JodiCleghorn) out now via Vine Leaves Press.
Come and browse through the library; there is no need to be silent.
A Fullness in Brevity - Adam Byatt 