Creating Opportunity through Energy Shifts

Something I wrote in another blog, but need to remind myself.

I have to admit, I’ve never read the best seller, The Secret. All the buzz I’ve heard though, is how a person can manifest what he/she wants by visualizing it. If you wish it, it will happen. If you build it, they will come. And, I say, if you write it, maybe you can sell it. If you don’t try to write it, then you will fail before you ever started, because you never tried to create in the first place.

What about trying to create a writing life? Creating a space where you write, and can even earn a living? I say take little tiny steps, and don’t give up. Start small and think big. Open your mind to possibilities.

Well, that’s what I’m doing. Taking my energy and putting it where I love. To books, to writing, to writing what I love to write about, which is books, stories, and writing. I’m keeping my mind open to learn as much as I can along the way.

It’s not top secret, it’s not something I’ve discovered even recently. It’s the thoughts I’ve had since I was in my 20’s, but just the kind of thinking I keep forgetting. Keep my intention forefront, keep my mind open, pay attention, look for opportunites and keep working. It’s not talent or luck, it’s just persistence and maintaining focus.

One of these days I’ll have to read that book or watch that DVD and see how secret The Secret really is.

Conflict in Life, Conflict in Stories

I've been thinking lately, like I usually do, about life imitating fiction. Actually, fiction is supposed to imitate life, but sometimes life is so weird and strange, that if I were to write a fiction story about life, people would call it unrealistic.

Grasping conflict seems to elude me at times. But today and yesterday I was thinking about people and how they seem kind of stuck and unhappy, and if I could shake them like a rag doll and shout, "Snap out of it!" how much better off they'd be. Then I thought about it some more and realized that people do not change because they don't want to. Staying in the same place, holding onto the same perceptions or stagnating in the same circumstances for years serves that person(s) in some way. It might be too uncomfortable for them to make a change than to keep things unchanging, and no matter how much I think they would be better off to embrace change, maybe they would disagree.

After all, I am not them, I am me, and I am the only person inside my head. And I cannot get inside their heads and know what they are thinking and feeling. Their limitations serve some hidden purpose that I am not privy to.

But when I write a character, I can be that person and be inside that person's head, even if it is only for a little while. And I can make that person stagnate for a while, and then, I can make them change. I guess the trick would be to make the person courageous enough to cast off old beliefs and fears, or by external circumstances force a change in perception or situation on them. Sometimes writing is so much easier than real life.

Private Me

Only my mind-twin, Carolyn and I subscribe to this blog, which makes me think I can write most anything in the world, and no one will know. Except Carolyn. Who is like me in many ways.

I find myself dreaming of going back to school when I retire in 10 years and going for a Master's Degree in Creative Writing. Then I wonder if that is what I really want to do, or is it something that I think I want to do, but when it comes down to it, I won't really want to do it.

And then I wonder why I want to keep learning about writing, when I could be DOING IT! Writing right now! Like this!

Is learning another form of procrastination for me? Perhaps it is.

I only did this blog because my sister told me to. It seems like a lot of work for nothing. Everyone and his/her mother has a blog these days. For me though, now it is a place for private thoughts, because who is her right mind will follow me?

Ha!

Ray Bradbury on becoming a writer

I saw a youtube video with Ray Bradbury discussing the beginning of his writing career. He finally discovered that he was a true writer, when he wrote this story called "The Lake", which was a metaphor for something he experienced in his life. He went on to say that everything he writes is a metaphor for his life. When he wrote this story at age 22, he wept, because he realized he had written something beautiful,and that he was a true writer because he wrote for himself.

Gee... I have always written for myself, and the best things I write are metaphors of my inner life too.

I've been too insecure to call myself a writer, but Mr. Bradbury once again inspires me. At first I wanted to write stories that moved others the way his stories had moved me, and now I find validation.

Sometimes life brings you little hidden treasures.

The Other Brain

Writing a short story with another person gives one an opportunity to understand how another person thinks. It's amazing. It's like having a second head on your body, a whole new well of information and ideas you can draw from and bounce ideas off of. Writing collaboratively has allowed me not only to learn from critiquing someone else's work, it has also enchanced my own analytical abilities when I am asked to defend my position. Through debate and discussion, I have come out on the other side a wiser and much more humble writer. I love it, love it, love it! What an opportunity to grow and learn.

Point of View

I'm learning that a character's point of view is all about perception. The fictional character is limited in the way that real people are limited regarding perceptions of reality. As a writer, I am like God, where I know what is going to happen to the character in the story. The trick is, though, to perceive reality from inside that character's mind, looking at the world with all the limitations that character possesses. It's a good thing to learn, and one lesson that I finally got inside my dense skull.

The Constant Thing About Life

Just thinking how nothing ever remains the same. The only constant thing about living is that everything changes. If what is here now might be gone tomorrow, then desire to keep everything exactly the same is futile. It just isn't going to work. You can't just assume it's always going to be there. People grow, animals die, the day turns to night, all is in flux. Even letters carved in stone will eventually fade by time, wind and water. If I can't keep it, why am I so attached? And if I want to stay attached, that means I have to adapt, to work on my relationships, to keep my body and mind healthy. I can't assume they will just be while I sit on my ass.

My dog was NEVER going to be allowed on the giant beanie bag chair...

Now it's her day bed.