{"id":40526,"date":"2022-09-12T06:30:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T18:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=40526"},"modified":"2022-09-11T19:39:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T07:39:22","slug":"on-writing-an-oldie-now-but-still-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2022\/09\/12\/on-writing-an-oldie-now-but-still-good\/","title":{"rendered":"“On Writing”: An ‘Oldie’ Now, But Still Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

When penning my WALL #4 update<\/a> recently, I thought I\u2019d endeavour to not just report progress but offer an insight into the writing life and my writing process\u2014with some additional leaven, by way of humour, from the pen of the great Dorothy Parker.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In this instance, because the last three to four months have been challenging (which is as often as not the way), the focus was on some of the ups and downs, hence choosing the famous Dorothy Parker telegram by way of a companion quote.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Yep, some days it’s mostly crossing out!<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the weekend, when searching for something entirely different in the \u201c\u2026on Anything, Really\u201d<\/em> archive, I found a decade-old post that also focused on writing and my own approach and process.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A hive of writing activity<\/p><\/div>\n

Among many other matters, I discussed the notion that writing books is not a linear art, and instead explored the view that it\u2019s far more like Edelman\u2019s rainforest.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Forest…<\/p><\/div>\n

And felt, on re-perusing, that it was still entirely relevant and so worth re-sharing a substantial portion with you today:<\/p>\n

“<\/span>OK, now I really am at the (more serious)\u00a0 \u201con writing \u201d part. … Paul Weimer,<\/a> guested over the weekend on writer Mhairi Simpson\u2019s<\/a> blog with a post titled \u201cThe Unwritten Stories in My Head.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> You really should read it in full, here<\/a>, but in summary it\u2019s about having great ideas for stories and why we don\u2019t write them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul says it all boils down to fear, and I suspect he is all if not mostly right. He mentions some of the fears: rejection (aka \u201cnon selection\u201d: he-he, \u2018a rose by any other name\u2019\u2014 is still a sourthistle!) in all its many guises; having to contend in the savage arena of public opinion, and simply that the ideas themselves may be \u2018not good enough.\u2019 These are not only very real fears, but may also be \u2018fears of substance\u2019, because yes, all these things will be in your cup should you choose to become a writer. And you will drink of them, too, down to the lees.<\/span><\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing\u2014if we give in to the ideas and begin to write them down, they become their own reward. I suspect there may be a tendency \u201coot thar\u201d to think of storytelling as a linear art (there\u2019s the plot after all, right?) but in fact I think it\u2019s more like a rainforest. The path is there before your feet, but in fact it\u2019s not an asphalted or concreted superhighway: its muddy and leaf-littered; it bends, it wends, it may even loop back a time or two \u2026 And there may not be blue sky overhead, but layers of canopy and liana creepers \u2026 If you look closely there may be slow creeping tree sloths, or spider monkeys, or jaguars with the coughing roar that heralds danger. And it is<\/em> a rainforest, so there\u2019s definitely danger out there. As the intrepid explorer, best to bring the heavier of your machetes, not to mention quinine, mosquito netting, steel-toed boots and a pith helmet. (A flak jacket and bullet proof vest may also be advisable \u2026 ) So danger, yes: for sure. But there\u2019s also colour and magic, wonder and mystery to be found in the rainforest that can comprise a host of characters peeping between the vines, or brave new worlds glimpsed around a bend in the great river we traverse in dugout canoes \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Or to say it in poetry, with a quote from the poem Angel Fish<\/em>, by my friend-in-poetry Bernadette Hall<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201c\u2026 The brain according<\/em><\/span>
\nto the Novel prize-winning scientist<\/em><\/span>
\nGerald Edelman, is not at all like<\/em><\/span>
\na computer. It\u2019s more like a rainforest<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018teeming with growth. decay, competition,<\/em><\/span>
\ndiversity and selection.\u2019 So this word<\/em><\/span>
\nis a toucan, this poem, a yellow<\/em><\/span>
\ncasque hornbill hiding beneath a canopy\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

(from The Lustre Jug<\/em>, VUP, 2009)<\/span><\/p>\n

The other thing about the rainforest of ideas we call writing, is that they\u2019re connected to dreams\u2014and even if the reality proves to be more mud, mosquitos and malaria, (not to mention piranhas) than Winston Churchill\u2019s \u201cbroad, sunlit uplands\u201d<\/em> it may nonetheless prove both wonderful, and a wonder, if we grant ourselves the opportunity to investigate our dreams.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I think, when it comes to investigating and pursuing a dream of writing, the final quote must go to Goethe:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you can do<\/em><\/span>
\nor dream you can,<\/em><\/span>
\nbegin it.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Boldness has genius, magic<\/em><\/span>
\nand power in it.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Begin it now.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBegin it now.\u201d<\/em> That does sound like the very best exhortation for the start of a new week, so I\u2019ll be awa\u2019 to make it so.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, may all your weeks be as rewarding as it\u2019s possible for any five-to-seven-day period to be, and may you always \u201cmake it so.\u201d \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

~*~<\/p>\n

To read the original post in full, click on:<\/span><\/p>\n

On Writing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"

Blue sky ahead — always a welcome sight.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When penning my WALL #4 update recently, I thought I\u2019d endeavour to not just report progress but offer an insight into the writing life and my writing process\u2014with some additional leaven, by way of humour, from the pen of the great Dorothy Parker. In this instance, because the last three to four months have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-writing","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40526"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40529,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40526\/revisions\/40529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}