i had planned another post for today, but then i came across THIS ARTICLE by sarah fine and it was so brilliant, i had to write about it. it’s short, so i’ll wait for you to click through and read it.
ok, done? the thing that’s so great about that post is that it applies to a whole lot of creative endeavors.
writing
running
reading
cooking
listening
drawing
music-ing
knitting
dancing
taking pictures
painting
all of these things can be improved upon if you focus on the relationship between things rather than just one specific item. how much sassier would that still life painting be if, instead of just the orange sitting there, it’s about the orange and the table and how close it is to the edge?
see? electric.
so yeah, to quote Oprah, i just had an AH HA moment. the idea of squishing, ordering, and/or expecting your muse to show up in the form of one person or one place or one idea is ludicrous (to me), but until i read that article, that’s exactly what i was anticipating would happen. i don’t know where i came up with that idea because as i sit here and think about it no one i know exists in their life as just one person. we’re supported and surrounded and sometimes forced to deal with friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances and strangers and it’s all of these interactions that shape our responses, our days, our world. it’s these occurrences that make our lives and stories interesting.
as a writer, the way i express my creativity is through time spent alone because how else am i going to get the words out? i can’t do that in a room full of people expecting me to engage in conversation, but being social is something i like to do, so this idea that my muse involves a lot of people and a lot of relationships and the electricity between them, well, hell, i’ll go to that party.
and suddenly, just like that, the writing time isn’t so lonesome. AWESOME!
in other news, there is one other thing that charmed the pants off me (yes, pants. it’s mid-June and i’m still wearing pants. come on, New England!) is this quote that kelly breakey shared with me: “Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book!” oh my! how true that is. gosh, don’t you just love to read?
Abigail Mumford 
Whoa. I think I just had my own ah-ha moment. The relationship thing? So true!
And, yeah, that’s an awesome quote from Kelly. Why limit yourself to one life?
and the funniest thing of that post by sarah fine? she writes it as if it’s a bogus answer, when, hello. changed my life a little bit. it makes so much sense. GAH. i love it!
and i love getting the chance to live all kinds of lives through the pages of a book. you’ve got nothing on me cat with nine lives.
Okay, the quote wasn’t mine. It was something my Gram used to say, so I can’t take credit but thanks.
You know what I love about YOUR post. Embracing the idea, that while writing is solitary (you have to like spending time with yourself, Karla get your head out of the gutter) it is also fueled by those moments when you are not alone.
I get that ideas can come to us while we are alone, but in my experience many of my ideas, most of the good ones have come to me while being completed engulfed in family and friends.
So I say when writing; be in the moment\. But writing, like social media needs to be tempered by real interaction. Nothing beats life experience when you are telling a story. Nothing.
i tried to be obvious that it wasn’t something YOU said, but rather, just shared with me. i guessed i failed on that front. whoops.
and yes, the best parts of writing are the parts where you research and get to learn and live and do and see and feel and taste and touch. yay for research!