Monthly Archive

Clarity

An entire continent could be built as a reclamation project with all the books, articles, blogs and inspirational posters produced on the art and mechanics of writing.  I have adopted the popular mantra that I will take what I want and leave the rest as the quantity is far too time consuming and overwhelming.

The one true thing I can attest to after all these years is that conforming to the rules creates the biggest “block” for me.  I always understood a block to be a barrier between the creative brain and the pen (or keyboard).  I have a better understanding of that word after spending the past 6 days living in the forest with a group of fantastic human beings who, although not writers, had the same mission I did and that was to achieve clarity and a center of peace. It was a non-addiction rehabilitation program of sorts and the discovery that I was a co-dependent (a bit of an addiction in itself) was incredibly freeing as that nasty little characteristic has an amazing ability to steal your energy, stunt your creative growth and leave you feeling like a crazy person.

Hours upon hours of talking, trusting, meditating, walking among the ancient forest growth and finally GETTING IT  – that trying to control situations through our words and actions to avoid the worst-case outcome, merely creates the true manifestation of that very thing!  What we want most to NOT happen, still does….regardless of how crazy we become in our attempt to ensure it doesn’t. That is the nature of the universe so why break down some perfectly good brain cells and stress some perfectly good internal organs by trying to change that?

The same thing can be true when it comes to writing.  When I am desperate to complete a project and I am focusing on the format, the punctuation, those restrictive submission guidelines…….what spills out onto the screen tends to, quite often, be exactly what I did not want to say in my writing.

I do believe strongly in writing what is “real” for readers, whether it be a blog, a sales ad, a research piece, a humour or how-to article or even a fictional story or novel.  Fake is big on the radar for most people and pretentious or arrogant writing, presented from a “look how smart I am” level, turns readers off faster than a boring subplot about coin collecting.

Forcing the words to sound right can sometime be like trying to pull a boat anchor through a knothole in a tree trunk.  No longer swimming against the proverbial tide is incredibly peaceful so although I may not conform to the “rules” at times, I am doing what feels good by letting my fingers and the keys take me where they want to and in the long run, it helps the universe roll along like it is intended.  I love to write, my readers love what I am writing and I am experiencing an overwhelming sense of peace.  I wish I had figured this out decades ago but as I unequivocally learned last week, regrets are a waste of time and energy and need to be filed permanently in the shoulda, woulda, coulda folder.

The present moment is the place in which we must learn to live so that the future unfolds as intended while keeping our brain’s and internal organ’s health in check.  And it is nice thing to feel just a little bit less crazy.