Write On Wednesday-Serving Two (or Three, or Four...) Masters

For most of my life, I've been obsessed by two things - words and music. Of course, I've had obsessions about other things along the way - a purple sting ray bike with a white banana seat and sparkle streamers, Robert Redford as Hubbell Garnder in the movie The Way We Were, chilled Chardonnay from the Monterey Valley - but those things all pale in comparison to the two constants - words and music. Ever since I was a tiny child, I have craved one or the other of these things. I can clearly recall the first time I set foot in a library and was surrounded by the amazing sight and smell of all those books - millions of words all to be devoured at my pleasure. My greatest desire was to grab them all up in my tiny three year old arms and carry them home with me. It was just about the same time that I fell in love with a toy piano my parents gave me for Christmas - fell so much in love that I tried to turn everything into a pretend keyboard, even the handle of the grocery basket, or the little white keys of the radio in my dad's big Buick.

Throughout my life, my heart has been torn between these two loves. Do I write? Do I play? Why did it never occur to me that I could do both? Is there something in society's expectations that subliminally deters me from trying to practice more than one art at a time? Does the world allow only just so much artistic expression in the life of one person?

I might have thought that was true, at least until recently. For much of my life, it seemed as if I had to partition my artistic interests - if I was mostly playing music, because of a job, or the circumstances of my life, then I stopped writing. And I have always been drawn to the piano in the way I thought that a "true artist" should be, often feeling a physical need to play, almost like a smoker needs a cigarette or an alcoholic needs a vodka tonic. But recently, I've begun to feel the same draw to this computer screen - this other keyboard that brings my words alive and sends them out into the world, like the keys on my Kimball grand piano send music into the air.

This shift in perspective has largely come from my experience and acquaintances in the blogging community. Getting to know so many of you who are marvelous writers and poets, as well as photographers, painters, collage makers, quilters, has hushed that nagging little voice that was saying "you can't do both things well, so you have to pick one or the other." I'm beginning to believe that not only is it possible to serve more than one artistic master, it's even preferable. The more I write, the more sensitive I become to the world around me, the nuances of life that I can express in words, in poetry, and also in music. And I'm developing interests in totally different artistic pursuits, which I've been having some fun dabbling with over the past couple of weeks.

So, what about you? Do you think an artist can execl in more than one creative area? How many creative masters are you serving?

Sunday Scribblings-I Have An Idea!

"I have a great idea!" This was my six year old son's favorite expression, and it occasionally struck fear in my heart. Brian was (and still is) an extremely imaginative, creative person, and his ideas as a child often centered around complicated scenarios of movie making, audio recording, story writing, play acting - all things that involved me as one of the pricipal actors, announcers, writers, and dramatists. Growing up as an only child (in a neighborhood where the next youngest person was 25 years old!) meant that I was usually his number one choice of playmate. Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't trade those times for a zillion dollars. However, I admit to occasionally getting weary of making up new stories about Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny.

But, those ideas were so exciting to him -he'd come bounding out of his room, bursting with enthusiasm, talking a mile a minute about this great adventure "the bears" would have, or this drawing he wanted to make, so he absolutely had to have a new posterboard right this minute, or a scene in a movie that required smoke effects, so could he borrow the vaporizer...

Ideas should be exciting like that! As adults, we rarely have the opportunity to get excited about ideas, and if we do, we sometimes feel uncomfortable sharing it. That's one of the things I love about this whole blogging community. It's all about sharing excitement, wonder, and enthusiasm. Just last week, I wrote a post entitled "I'm Excited." During the time I was in Florida, I was able to give my mind and body a chance to relax, so I got a lot of "great ideas" about creative things I wanted to do. Right away, I wanted to share them with all my blog buddies, because I knew you would all encourage me to complete them.

Sometimes our own ideas make us fearful. Once we get past the first flush of enthusiasm, we begin to think in our practical, adult manner about the time, or the cost, or the effort involved in carrying out this project. Not to mention those niggling doubts about our ability to do it well enough. How many times have you rejected an idea for a creative project or activity because your inner critic whispers "you'll never be any good at that!" If only we could retain the innocent enthusiasm of children, for whom everything is possible.

With the hectic pace of daily life and the demands on our time, we become so entrenched in our routine that we rarely have the time for new ideas to develop. I'm hoping this year to allow myself time to cultivate new ideas, and then act on them. If I get discouraged, I can always remember the bright eyed sparkle in my son's blue eyes as he came running up to me calling out "I've got a great idea!"

here are more great ideas

Write On Wednesday - Wordplay

Percolate~Oblivious~Meretricious~Postulation~Meander~Convoluted~Mesermizing~Vivacious

Those are some of my favorite words. Yes, I have favorite words - I suspect all writers do. Words you want to say out loud, words you want to write with a fountain pen on thick parchment paper, words you want to link together to form a profoundly meaningful sentence that will touch the hearts of your readers. Writers play with words like artists play with color, photographers play with light, and musicians play with sound. We maniuplate these miraculous little tools of our trade to create atmosphere, character, and emotion, all brought to life by black and white letters on white paper.
In Poemcrazy, Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge writes about her word collection. "The great thing about collecting words is they're free; you can borrow them, trade them in, or toss them out. Words are lightweight, unbreakable, portable, and they're everywhere." One of Wooldridge's favorite exercises with her writing classes is to create a "wordpool" - everyone in class starts tossing out words which she writes on the chalkboard. Soon, she says, the words and voices begin to take on a rhythm of their own. Words evoke other words, and the students find themselves creating poetic combinations almost effortlessly.
You can even play this game by youself. The other day I was sitting in the mall waiting for my mom to finish shopping. I pulled out my notebook and started writing down any word that came into my head. Out of the list came combinations like apricot illusions, feathered whispering, illicit muses, percolating clouds.
Author Barbara DeMarco Barrett uses her word collection for free writing prompts. She collects meaningful words and phrases from her reading of favorite authors and copies them onto small slips of paper, which she tucks into an antique box. When she's looking for inspiration, or a way to prod her imagination, she reaches in, picks one out, and free writes for fifteen minutes, using this word as her starting point.
Both Wooldridge and DeMarco-Barrett advise keeping a notebook for words you love the sound of, would love to use, that impress you, that you've never heard before.
As much as we love to play with words, Stephen King has a dire warning for us when it comes to our vocabulary. "One of the really bad things you can do," he advises in his book On Writing, "is to dress up your vocabulary, using long words just because you're a little ashamed of the short ones. The basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful. If you hesitate and cogitate you will probably come up with another word, but it probably won't be as good as your first one, or as close to what you really mean."
So, how about you? What are some of your favorite words? And how do you like to play with them?