{"id":40872,"date":"2023-02-27T06:30:57","date_gmt":"2023-02-26T17:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=40872"},"modified":"2023-02-26T23:13:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T10:13:52","slug":"the-tao-of-writing-the-book-that-can-be-spoken-of-is-not-the-book-reprised-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2023\/02\/27\/the-tao-of-writing-the-book-that-can-be-spoken-of-is-not-the-book-reprised-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tao of Writing: ‘The Book That Can Be Spoken of Is Not the Book’ (Reprised, Sort-Of)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, when addressing (the great!) Margaret Atwood\u2019s \u201ca word after a word after a word is power\u201d<\/em><\/a> I also quoted Lao Tzu\u2019s \u201cThe journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step\u201d<\/em>, relating it to how a book begins and ends with a single word.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(But oh my, it\u2019s the betwixt and in-between of that first and last word, dear friends, as we \u2013 that\u2019s me and thee, not the royal we \ud83d\ude09 \u2013 know all too well!)<\/p>\n

All of which, together with another recent refeature on Writing As Vocation<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, put me in mind of a post from 2014, which also focuses on a Lao Tzu quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Way that can be spoken of is not the Way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As noted then, \u201cone interpretation of this is that the Tao or Way that can be spoken of or described is not the true Tao, which by implication can only be directly experienced.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Handwritten beginnings for “Thornspell”<\/p><\/div>\n

The reason I titled the original post, and today\u2019s refeature, \u201cThe Tao Of Writing: The Book That Can Be Spoken Of Is Not the Book\u201d<\/em> is because I felt then that the spirit of the Tao Te Ching<\/em><\/strong> quote is directly applicable to writing\u2014that until the book is done and can be directly experienced by readers, then there is little of merit to talk about. And because books that are still being written are by their very nature fluid and elusive, I also felt that trying to talk about them in any meaningful way is counterproductive\u2014and may actually do harm to that fluid, elusive, but also fragile process of creativity.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Work in Progress: WALL2 style…<\/p><\/div>\n

All of which is why I’m always reluctant to talk about or post on the book and writing progress while it still is<\/em> a work-in-progress. In short, I fear jinxing the process. And sometimes it does feel like that\u2019s exactly what happens, i.e. I post that I\u2019m in such-and-such a stage, then get bogged down in it for weeks afterward! (Which is, to be honest, just the writing process, but I\u2019m aware that from the outside that must feel like writing time bears a close correlation to its geological and astronomical counterparts!)<\/p>\n

\"\"

Knocking off those sections, one by one…<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyway, although I\u2019ve striven to overcome my fear of jinxing the process in order to provide more regular updates for WALL #4, as well as posting the occasional snippet from \u201cinside the writing life\u201d, part of me will always be attuned to Lao Tzu\u2019s wisdom regarding the Way (not quite the same as the Mandalorian \u201cway\u201d \ud83d\ude09 ) and the parallel caution regarding speaking too much of books while they\u2019re still works-in-progress.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Nope, not “that” way either \ud83d\ude00<\/p><\/div>\n

On which note\u2026 No, not going there, since I did a mini update recently<\/strong><\/a>, which is still an accurate enough summation of the current trajectory.<\/p>\n

Besides, it being Monday and officially the start of a new working week, I\u2019d best eschew (great word!) further posting and hie me to the writing desk! Otherwise, stay as well and safe as you can everyone, wherever you are and whatever you\u2019re currently doing.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The writing desk waits…<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, when addressing (the great!) Margaret Atwood\u2019s \u201ca word after a word after a word is power\u201d I also quoted Lao Tzu\u2019s \u201cThe journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step\u201d, relating it to how a book begins and ends with a single word. (But oh my, it\u2019s the betwixt and in-between of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-writing","category-influences-on-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40872","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=40872"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40879,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40872\/revisions\/40879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}