A Little Time and Perspective

It has been almost a week and though I am going to get more on top of blog posting for the next month and a half, I may have to stick to only a few entries per week thereafter.  The reason being: I am returning to school.  That is right!  As of September 2nd, I will be a full time student once again and that means I will have to focus on my schooling as well, so be forewarned!

However, my blog will remain because that is the true essence of this blog.  Writing amidst life is challenging, but it can be done.  In the meantime, I will be writing and preparing for classes as I have a few pre-term exams to study for and ultimately, take.  It should be especially exciting as I will be taking courses that I haven't taken in about 12 years (since sophomore year in high school).  So, good luck to me and moving on...

I've picked up reading again, after taking a break for about 3 weeks.  I can't be blamed too much, since I was sick and now our library is closed due to air-conditioning problems.  Evidently, books melt in the heat, though truthfully, it's probably more likely that the librarians do.  So, while awaiting the library to reopen, I turned back to Ray Bradbury and I have a few tidbits to share with you from his book Zen in the Art of Writing.  I'm sure I've brought up this book before somewhere.

I was reading his essay titled, "Shooting Haiku in a Barrel" and he writes about his work on screenplays and plays in general, with most of it dwelling on his work writing the screenplay for Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983).  In the essay he talks about how he knew he could write and edit a screenplay:

I'm an automatic screenwriter; I always have been.  I've always belonged to films.  I'm a child of movies.  I've seen every film ever made, starting when I was two.  I'm just chockful.  When I was seventeen, I was seeing as many as twelve to fourteen movies a week.  Well, that's a hell of a lot of movies.  That means I've seen everything, and that means all the crap.  But that's good.  It's a way of learning.  You've got to learn how not to do things.  Just seeing excellent films doesn't educate you at all, because they're mysterious.  There's no way of solving it.  Why does Citizen Kane work?  Well, it just does.  It's brilliant on every level, and there's no way of putting your finger on any one thing that's right.  It's just all right.  But a bad film is immediately evident, and it can teach you more..."

The main reason for posting this quote is to note that the same applies to writers.  You have to read a lot, and you have to write a lot, says Stephen King.  You have to read a lot, both good and bad, because that's what will teach you how to write.  I love when an author expresses the same importance that we are taught, simply because it is tried and proven; put into practice and shown with success.  Can this not be a more important statement to us, those who are novice and/or unpublished, even the expert and best selling authors?  It's good to be reminded.

Even more, the most successful learn something new everyday, and they learn new things because they open their minds to the possibility of it.  No one knows everything and that is the beauty of the world.  There will always be a new idea and there will always be a new meaning.  As a writer, I love that prospect.  To me, it means it will never get old.

Ray Bradbury also writes in this essay about his ideas for stories and how he approaches them when putting it onto the page:

As soon as things get difficult, I walk away.  That's the great secret of creativity.  You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.  If you try to approach a cat and pick it up, hell, it won't let you do it.  You've got to say, "Well, to hell with you."  And the cat says, "Wait a minute.  He's not behaving the way most humans do."  Then the cat follows you out of curiosity: "Well, what's wrong with you that you don't love me?"  

Well, that's what an idea is.  See?  You just say, "Well, hell, I don't need depression.  I don't need worry.  I don't need to push."  The ideas will follow me.  When they're off-guard, and ready to be born, I'll turn around and grab them.  

Though, as a writer, I do find myself sometimes pushing myself to write words down, I do find great merit in his words.  Most of my best writing is writing that is caught off-guard.  It is an idea that has brewed and simmered for an extended period of time and then, suddenly, in quick easy strokes, it is put to the page.  I waited for its back to turn, for it to be unaware, and I found it quite tame-able.

I think that more than anything, the importance of this entry is to forever fuel your fire.  Fires burn out and eventually even the embers grow cold.  Find a way to keep it stoked and well-tended.  Just remember to keep from smothering it just because you feel it has to be tended and produced right at that moment.  Sometimes the best way to write is to stare blankly at a wall or carry on through your day with it ever aware of your surroundings.  You never know what will come from giving anything a little time and perspective.