Writing (and Living) With Gratitude

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. -- Thich Nhat Hanh

Have you ever noticed how sometimes, when we're given things, we aren't aware of the gifts until they're in our hands a while... or gone too soon?

Gifts like our ability to clasp a pen in our hands... or simply see words on a page?

Or like our imaginations... which help us transform words into scenes and images?

Or our willingness to take risks... and fail... and keep trying... day after day, year after year... until we get the words right?

What would life be like without these gifts?

And what would our lives be like without stories...or without friends who tell us stories ... and who listen when we have our own stories to share?

It's so mysterious, this process of living and writing, not knowing what comes next, or from where, waiting without losing hope that something will emerge from the mystery of light playing on the water.

Writing (and living) with gratitude helps, I think, keep us afloat as we keep swimming toward an unknown destination.

As T.S. Eliot writes in Four Quartets:

In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.

Even as we struggle, like Eliot, to arrive at what we are not, we have so much to be grateful for in our lives... if only we open our eyes and see what we're given.

In Julia Cameron's Blessings, she writes:

A life of gratitude is built upon optimism, expectation, and attention to the good of every instant as it unfolds. This is not denial of adversity. Rather, the choice to consciously count--and encounter--my moment-to-moment good is a spiritual discipline. My trained optimism creates in me a stamina funded in the constant flow of minute but perceptible spiritual nutrients which fuel me, body and soul.

The next time that you find yourself struggling to find a way into a story, to reach a place where you are not yet... give thanks for whatever glimmer of light draws you into the process.

Whatever the sea gives you, accept it with gratitude.

For more information on writing and gratitude, visit these links:

http://www.wildlycreativewomen.com/articles_givegratitude.htm
http://www.patsymoore.com/bohemians/LC6.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Dude,-Wheres-My-Gratitude?&id=238580
http://www.comadrecoaching.com/articles/10chispas.php
http://taipei.tzuchi.org.tw/tzquart/97winter/qw97-4.htm

And for information about a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging gratefulness around the world, check out:

http://www.gratefulness.org/

PS - At this time of year, I'd like to offer a special note of gratitude to the many Wordswimmers--especially each month's guest swimmer--whose support over the past year has helped keep me afloat week after week.

One Writer's Process: Carolyn Crimi

Carolyn Crimi is one of those rare writers who can make readers laugh.

"I have a severe silly streak," Crimi says, "and hate all the wet blankets out there who are set on reforming people like me."

Her picture books--Boris and Bella, Tessa's Tip Tapping Toes, Don't Need Friends, Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies, and The Louds Move In--are off-beat, humorous tales which reviewers have described as "poetic" and "bewitching," filled with "snappy" and "corpse-fresh" prose.

Mostly, she writes about things that make her laugh or about things she loved when she was young. "Sometimes that leads me down strange, twisted paths," Crimi says, "since the things I love, like monsters and Pop Tarts, tend to be a bit odd."

Thank goodness for readers (and writers) that Crimi has followed those twisted pathways.

Crimi, who teaches writing for children in the Chicago area, has just set off on another pathway, creating with her pals, Andrea Beaty and Julia Durango, a new (and silly, of course) blog on picture books--Three Silly Chicks (http://www.threesillychicks.com).

Recently, Crimi was kind enough to take time away from blogging and other forms of procrastination to share her thoughts on writing with Wordswimmer.


Wordswimmer: If writing is like swimming...how do you get into the water each day?

Crimi: S-L-O-W-L-Y.

I spend the first part of my day watching Oprah, drinking coffee, and responding to e-mail. I would love to be one of those authors who dives right in and works until noon, but I’m afraid I need to ease into my day. I’ve been known to spend all morning opening and closing the same file without actually working on the story.

By 3:00, I’ve usually settled in. Usually. Sometimes it takes me all day. I have a hard time writing if mundane things are hanging over my head, so the end of the day works best for me.

I also consider e-mailing and journaling a warm-up for my real writing. If I write enough silly, sloppy stuff in the morning, my inner critic throws up her hands in frustration and leaves. That’s when I know I can begin.

Wordswimmer: What keeps you afloat... for short work? For longer work?

Crimi: First drafts are pretty easy for me. I love the promise of a new story. After that, it’s all down hill. I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve done it before and I can do it again.
If I’m working on a novel, I make myself do 400 words a day. It’s a measly number, but if I raise it to 1000 and then don’t meet my goal, I feel like a failure. For picture books, I tell myself I have to sit down at my desk for at least 2 hours.

I take weekends off. Otherwise, I feel like I’m stuck in one big, long Tuesday.

Wordswimmer: How do you keep swimming through dry spells?

Crimi: Journaling. Taking long walks. Petting my dog, hugging my dog, walking my dog.
It helps to have a dog.

Another sure-fire tactic is to shop for writing accoutrements, like fun pens and fancy journals. There’s something about a shiny new journal that makes me want to write. I tell myself that shopping for writing supplies counts as writing.

It does, you know.

Wordswimmer: What's the hardest part of swimming?

Crimi: Bad reviews suck eggs. They can throw me off for a couple of days. Weeks, even. I spend a lot of valuable time composing nasty rebuttals in my head. Sometimes I even put these thoughts down in the form of a haughty, rude, name-calling letter. I don’t send these letters, though. I think that could put a damper on my career.

I also find it incredibly frustrating when I can’t do the revisions that my editor or agent suggests. I start by getting angry at them, which turns into despair, which then morphs into a strange combination of anger and despair. And yes, I often sit down and write yet another haughty, rude, name-calling letter. It’s great therapy.

Wordswimmer: How do you overcome obstacles, problems, when swimming alone?

Crimi: Well, there’s the haughty, rude, name-calling letter thing. The dog thing. The shopping thing.

Getting together with other writers helps, whether it’s a conference or an impromptu dinner. There’s always someone there who’s having a harder time with her career than I am. Or there’s someone there who has had already dealt with the same thing that I’m going through. I remind myself that the solution is out there, I just have to listen and wait for it.

I think the biggest difference between beginning writers and more experienced writers is patience. The story will get better, the market will turn around, and that poky editor will eventually get back to you. I’ve lived through many ups and downs in this crazy career and I can safely say it’s impossible to control it. All I can do is write the best story I’m capable of.

I can’t believe I’m about to quote Tom Cruise in this public forum, but he recently said that the best way to weather a career in acting is to “keep your head down and do the work.”

You’d be surprised at all the good advice you can find in People magazine.

Wordswimmer: What's the part of swimming that you love the most?

Crimi: You mean besides the fancy pens and shiny new journals? I guess I’d have to say that I love that buzzy, post-writing high. It’s addictive. Sure, new book contracts and fat royalty checks are fun. But those things don’t come along often. I keep coming back to the page because I love the process.

For more information about Carolyn Crimi, visit her website: http://www.carolyncrimi.com/.

P.S. - Wordswimmer will be taking a break until the 27th. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Sound of Water Laughing

If you've ever closed your eyes beside a rippling brook and listened to the water careening over stones and pebbles, you may have heard the sound of water laughing.

When was the last time you listened for the sound of laughter and took a break from the serious side of your writing practice?

What if today--right now--you drop your stubborn defenses and simply laugh at the challenges that are frustrating you?

Instead of knocking your head against the wall in search of a solution, try to imagine looking at the wall and dancing with the shadow that your body makes on it, pretending that it's not a wall at all but a partner in the mystery of creation.

Instead of struggling with words, play with them.

And rather than find frustration in the gaps that still remain in your stories, take joy in the daily process of discovering the story itself.

Leap beyond the routines of an ordinary workday... and do something different for a change, something that might bring a looser, more relaxed approach to your work.

If you can listen to the sound of water laughing, you may find yourself with a completely different perspective.

You may find the plot that you think is going one way... is really going somewhere else.

Or that a character who seems kind-hearted and sweet is really a horror.

You may find a different point of view

Or another voice.

Who knows what you may find until you leave the seriousness aside for a while and simply play at your desk ... or in the backyard... or at the beach... or ... anywhere but the place where you usually do your work?

Who says that you can write only one way?

Or work on only one story at a time?

Or think about that story in only one way?

You can choose how you want to work... and which stories you want to work on.

Sometimes the simple sound of water laughing reminds us that we can step out of our routines and follow a different path.

And sometimes that different path may lead to new and unexpected ways of seeing ourselves ... and our stories.

For more on laughter and creativity, visit these online resources:

http://www.sharedpaths.com/relaxation/relaxation3.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_v21/ai_5128068
http://www.holisticonline.com/Humor_Therapy/humor_therapy_laugh-your-way.htm
http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/boost_creativity.htm

Before You Jump

Where do you find ideas for your stories?

Do you just jump into the water and swim off in search of an idea?

Or do you wait patiently for an idea to surface, much like a fisherman trolling the water and waiting for a fish to appear, suddenly, out of nowhere?

In Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life, Terry Brooks suggests that where we get our ideas is “at the heart of how we work and what we do.”

How does Brooks, the former lawyer turned best-selling fantasy and science fiction writer, find ideas for the many novels that have earned him praise and so many awards over the years?

“I start asking questions,” writes Brooks. “What if this? What if that? I ask these questions until I come to the central question of the whole exercise, and then either I find my story or I abandon the effort and start all over again. Sooner or later I find a set of questions that suggest a real story, and I am ready to put together a new book.”

For Brooks, the questions are like discovering a string of pearls, each question pointing the way to another question, which in turn leads him to a new idea, an unexpected way of viewing a potential character or situation.

“It works like that,” Brooks advises. “In your thinking, you build your story one brick at a time until you have a recognizable house in which to move about.”

It's this process of asking questions and thinking about the answers that gives Brooks his ideas.

He writes that he likes to consider possibilities and where those possibilities might lead him. Mostly, he lets his mind “run free and then takes a close look at whatever it happens to stumble across.”

“It isn’t thinking so much as it is dreaming,” Brooks explains. "All things begin with dreaming."

It was his long-time editor and friend, Lester del Rey, who told Brooks that the most important part of writing fiction is thinking about the story before committing words to paper.

“Don’t write anything down. Don’t try to pull anything together right away. Just dream for a while and see what happens” Brooks notes.

“There isn’t any timetable involved, no measuring stick for how long it ought to take. For each book, it is different. But that period of thinking, of reflection, is crucial to how successful your story will turn out to be.”

This pre-writing stage, suggests Brooks, can be the most pleasant part of a long and arduous process. “What’s hard, really hard," writes Brooks, "is making those ideas come together in a well-conceived, compelling story.”

But at least you’ll have found a place to start... and then you can begin building the solid frame for your story which will help you reach deeper water.

For more information about Terry Brooks and his work, check out his website:
http://www.terrybrooks.net/

For more thoughts on pre-writing, check out these resources:

Jenny Cruise on using collage to bring your stories into focus:
http://www.jennycrusie.com/essays/picturethis.php

David Michael Wharton on how much you need to know before writing:
http://www.creativescreenwriting.com/csdaily/pitch/05_20_04.html

Meg Cabot on why she prefers not to use outlines:
http://www.megcabot.com/diary/post.cfm/pid/2614