The "Storyteller" Assignment

Today's chapter with Ms. Cameron was short and to the point. Stop straining so hard to make a story up! Settle down, chill out, and listen for the story that's ready to be told through you. I've heard this described on many occasions in various expressions, but usually it sounds something like this, "It was as though the story was already formed and I was just there to write it down." The image I have here is a tornado of words and images swirling high above a receptive writer. I picture myself flying down headfirst with their stories in a furious spiral toward the writer, eventually crashing with their pen as it flies across the page! It's all rather adventurous!

Frankly, I've been skeptical of this concept. The story as an almost separate being simply out to find the right conduit? Or perhaps envious is more accurate. Either way, I have not experienced this personally. If it really is a true experience and really does exist for some people, why not me? Julia Cameron suggests it's because I'm trying too hard to create impressive words all on my own rather than listening to what's around me. I'm going to give this a shot. Maybe I'll carve out some time this weekend to just...be...and listen. We'll see what comes from it. She suggests letting go so the creative process can work in and through you. I shall try. As Barney, from "How I Met Your Mother" might say, "Challenge accepted!"

The writing assignment from this chapter is as follows: "Pretend that you are sitting under a large tree with your back resting on its trunk. On the other side of the tree, a Storyteller sits also resting against the tree trunk. Take a sheet of paper and number from one to five. Tell the Storyteller five things you'd like to hear stories about." I've decided to type my list here rather than write them in my notebook. So here they are:

1. I'd like to hear a story about the diligent and hard-working person who is hopeful about a life filled with more meaning. I want to hear a story about how opportunity finally knocked for them and new hope was born as they skipped along toward their happy ending.

2. I'd like to hear a story about the committed and loving couple who, having longed for a child for years, finally have their dreams realized in a sweet, healthy addition to their family.

3. I'd like to hear a story about an adventurous woman who traveled the world in search of new experiences and opportunities to bring love and peace into a hurting world.

4. I'd like to hear a story about a child who opened the hearts of adults by being loving, kind, and unwilling to accept the boundaries and walls we create in adulthood.

5. I'd like to hear a story about the family that loves each other no matter what and that, rather than avoiding the difficulties of life, face them together through love, support, and encouragement.

Okay, so one thing is for sure from my list. I like my happy endings. As a friend just wrote today, "I don't need art to imitate life. I want a movie with a damn happy ending....tied up neatly." Well apparently, so do I. it also seems to be a theme that I don't necessarily need the whole story to be sugarcoated. But I am a fan of love, peace, hard work, hopefulness, and positivity winning out in the end.

I also see that none of the stories I want told are entirely new. I can think of several stories already out there that would fit into one of more of these categories. But still, it was a cathartic and energizing process to write them down for myself. Maybe I'll settle more into these ideas when I sit back this weekend and allow the process of creativity to lead me where it chooses.

More to come!

Blessed be,
Kelley

What is a "Writer"?

I was reading in The Right to Write by Julia Cameron about what makes someone a "writer." It was about challenging our notions of who and what writers are. An interesting thing about this chapter is she seemed to assume that associations with writers would be negative. For example, "Writers are broke," "Writers are crazy," "Writers are loners." I think my assumptions are actually glorified in an unrealistically positive light. Some of the assumptions I make are, "Writers get to travel and live abroad to study and gain experience for what they write." "Writers absorb the same world I do, but with interesting and enlightening perspectives that other people want to read." Or even, "Writers are in touch with a deeper creativity and spirituality than the average person." In fact, I often picture a "writer" as worldly woman stylishly dressed sitting at a café in Europe,  watching people, writing, engaging the locals (in perfect vernacular), and committing prose to paper that is immediately revered.

Interesting...

The "assignment" at the end of the chapter was to fill in the phrase "Writers are ________________." ten times. Again, the assumption seemed to be that the associations would be negative and that a spin on the task would be to find the statement's opposite, more positive outlook. Using the examples she gave it would be, "Writers are solvent." "Writers are sane" and "Writers have good friends."

Again, interesting.... Instead of a negative slant, I have an image of a writer lifted onto a pedestal of enlightening creativity. It's much like the place I put Julia Cameron herself despite her constant reminder that her "writing life" looks much like any other person's life, "...just with some writing sandwiched in."

Until the last pages that included the assignment, I was right with Julia. She was challenging my other assumptions that cause me to resist calling myself a writer. Here's a rough idea of what I took from the chapter rephrased in my own words:

If asked to speak on the spot, I feel very articulate. I think quickly and love the challenge of putting words together in a way that's both clear and capturing.  I even feel articulate when writing/typing my thoughts. Though I do often feel verbose when both speaking and writing. Why, then, do I not feel like I can be considered a writer? Answer: Because I'm not published. Okay, that's a true statement, but it doesn't diminish this form of personal expression. However, writing in this blog does make me want to refocus on and embrace a Bucket List item; namely, to write, illustrate and publish a children's book, the rough draft of which is...somewhere. (Note to self: search out rough draft.)

This blog is a creative outlet I'm grabbing hold of once again! I am a writer simply by the beautiful and personal act of writing!!

Some quotes from the chapter onto which I particularly latched:

We make a big deal out of putting words on paper instead of simply releasing them to the air.

What if there were no such thing as a writer? What if everyone simply wrote? What if there were no 'being a real writer' to aspire to? What if writing were simply about the act of writing?

What if we allowed ourselves to be amateurs (from the Latin verb amare, "to love").

And finally...
If we eliminate the word 'writer,' if we just go back to writing as an act of listening and naming what we hear, some of the rules disappear.

So...I write. I look, absorb, process, and then, as a bonus, I put it here (or in my journal or in my morning pages), and maybe it does connect me with something deeper and more. And maybe it also happens to connect me with whoever reads this. All in all, I think that's something worth aspiring to.

So, I'll continue to delve into this book. I'm fairly certain this will not be my last post written in response to one of the chapters. I certainly hope not. Until we meet again!

-Kelley-

Ramblings

On a friend's recommendation, I recently ordered The Right to Write by Julia Cameron. I think it's interesting that it took me as long as it did for me to call myself an artist. But now I finally feel like I can claim that title for the long years of practice and effort that I've taken drawing and painting. And, though I've been doing it nearly as long, "singer" is another title that often sounds just as pretentious to claim as "artist." But I sing, therefore I am a singer. I create art, therefore I am an artist.

But one thing I have never laid claim to is being a writer. Or, even more scary, a poet. Sure, I write on here and I journal. But really, that's about it. But there is something about this particular art that intrigues me, perhaps even calls to me. One of my life ambitions is to write a children's book and have it published. I have a draft that I need to brush up on and see where it can take me from here. I need to work on it soon because it deeply expresses my gratitude to my parents and I would sincerely love seeing them read it. I think I will share the draft with them.

I have taken one writing workshop that I extremely loved. The guidance via prompts yet the freedom to write were both incredible to experience. So, with that in mind, I'm going to see what the inspiring Ms. Cameron has for me in my latest book experience with her.

I don't know what will become of my writing. Maybe it'll be a helpful, developed from of self-expression. Maybe it'll grow into something more, though I don't have many thoughts at this moment of what "more" may mean. One thing I know it will do is give me an outlet for writing that is more representational of who I am. As a Chaplain, I document my interactions with patients and families. The formulas I use to write are dry and concrete. I do not feel comfortable nor do I think it is appropriate for me to write in the flowery, poetic style that feels more comfortable to me. But I need to do that somewhere! Otherwise it remains bottled inside, swirling and writhing, longing for release. Expression is such a beautiful form of release. Therefore, I hope to express more and filter less. Who knows what may come!