Remember...

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Waiting

This picture describes how I feel about life just now. I'm just waiting for the Big Reveal...

No brainer

I often have these epiphanies that, after they've occurred to me, seem rather obvious. My latest is no different.

At the writing workshop I went to a few weeks ago, one of the instructors lit a candle at the beginning of the class, saying that it was part of his writing ritual. He has a little routine that he goes through every time he sits down to write, and light a candle is part of what helps him center himself.

Well, I don't a routine. But I've decided that I need one. And a main component of my yet-to-be-fully-established routine will be prayer.

I want God to be a part of every facet of my life. Actually, I want every facet of my life to extend out from my relationship with God (there's a difference!). So I have decided that when I sit down to write, I will start by praying. My intention with this isn't that God will suddenly inspire me (though if He wants to, He's more than welcome). My intention is to center myself, and to remind myself where my talent comes from, where my true inspiration comes from. I want to invite Him into my process.

All of this seems really obvious to me. Like, something I should have known all along. But, I didn't. And oh well. Now that it's something I'm aware of, that I want to be aware of, I'm excited, because I believe it will make a difference.

So that's my most recent revelation. And it's going to be great.

Adventures in Reading: "Franny and Zooey" by JD Salinger

This book was a much needed breath of fresh air after "Anna Karenina".

"Franny and Zooey" is actually two related short stories in one book. "Franny" is about Franny Glass, and it's more or less a vignette that takes place one afternoon in her life. "Zooey" focus on Zooey Glass, Franny's older brother, but it delves much more deeply into the entire family. It builds off of "Franny" by providing a greater narrative for the scene that took place during that story.

Here's why I loved this book: Salinger is a genious with characters. Now, this is my first and only Salinger read to date, so I can only use "Franny and Zooey" as a basis for my statement, but based on the fact that people love his writing, I'm going to venture a guess that his characterization is great in everything he does. I mean, there's just no way this is a fluke.

And he is now my hero of characterization. He really creates a character: motivation, habits, mannerisms, speech patterns, quirks, strengths and weaknesses...he does it all. I realized this when I found myself a bit annoyed with the way Zooey spoke. His repetition of certain words started to grate on me, and then it dawned on me...maybe it grated on Salinger too. Or maybe, just maybe, this was supposed to make me dislike Zooey a bit. Maybe Salinger was telling me something about Zooey's character with his somewhat annoying way of speaking. This might sound really elementary as far as writing and reading goes, and well, it is, but the fact remains that characterization is usually really difficult for me, and this is the first time that it's clicked in my head the way characters should be written. That's not to say that everyone should write in the same style as Salinger, but I do think that making a character come alive is one of a writer's main jobs. Having a concrete example of how to do this that I can come back to again and again is going to be pretty invaluable!

So there it is. Two excellent examples of characterization. Well done, Mr. Salinger!

Oh, and PS: it took me less than a week to read this thing. After "Anna Karenina", it felt like the blink of an eye!

Thanks again, Mr. cummings

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

ee cummings

Remixing writing

A guy called David Shields' book "Reality Hunger" has just hit shelves. I haven't read it, but I can tell you what it's about:

Shields believes that in the same way the music industry "samples" songs, authors should be able to sample other people's writing and words in their own work without citing sources. His premise is that novels are being written in an archaic way that doesn't represent today's reality...at least that's what I understand of it.

So, here I sit, thinking...really? The best way to modernize writing is to take pieces, verbatim, from other people and act as if it were your own original thought?

I suppose that Shields would argue that in this new "form" of writing, it should not be assumed that the author actually came up with everything in the book from their own head. But if that's true, then why would you even bother putting your name on the book in the first place?

I also feel like writing style would go completely out the window. If I can just piece together passages from all the stories in the world, it's going to sound pretty...disconnected.

These are just a couple of the concerns I have with this.

But what if this is actually a great idea? There are already autobiographies that blend fiction with fact, like "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius". Or what about books like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"? I know the difference between what Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith wrote. But someone not familiar with Austen might not know what was part of her original story and what has been added by Grahame-Smith (from what I'm guessing...I haven't actually read it). Is Shields' idea just the next logical step?

Honestly, I'm mostly against this. But it's an interesting conversation, in the very least.

Idea

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

That's all I'm going to say for now, because that's about as far as I'll let my mind go with it at this point. But it IS on my mind...

Adventures in Reading: "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy

"Anna Karenina". It could also be called "Perseverance".

That was a long, sometimes tedious book. I don't have much to say about it, despite the fact that it was close to one thousand pages long.

Essentially, it is a book about the way a handful of Russian aristocrats deal with the changing times on of the 18th century. It also compares rural and societal life, and has major overarching themes of religion and morality. And while the writing itself is very good, the story seemed to drag for me. I couldn't wait for the climax, to see how everything tied together...but I was left pretty unsatisfied. The pay-off wasn't big enough compared to all the reading I had to do.

And I found the character of Anna Karenina herself to become less and less sympathetic as the story continued. I found myself getting more and more annoyed with her. I've heard that Tolstoy was enamored with her character. Can't imagine why, unless he loved pathetic women...

Anyway...I did it. I read the whole thing, and I did enjoy a lot about it. The description and writing style are first-rate, and the characters do really come alive, otherwise I wouldn't dislike some of them so much! But I'm very happy to be done with it, especially since I've been collecting books to read when I was finally done. I have a big beautiful stack just waiting for me. Very exciting :)

PS: The best part about reading this book was losing it at a bar on my birthday. Definitely made for a good story!

Always

On a day like today, when things just don't seem to be going the way I want them to...this is what I hold onto:

This is the start
This is your heart
This is the day you were born
This is the sun
These are your lungs
This is the place you were born

I am always yours
I am always yours

These are the scars
Deep in your heart
This is the place you were born
This is the hole
Where most of your sole comes ripping out
From the places you've been torn

And it is always yours
I am always yours

Hallelujah, I'm caving in
Hallelujah, I'm in love again
Hallelujah, I'm a wretched man
Hallelujah, every breath is a second chance

And it is always yours
I am always yours


And since sometimes listening is better than reading:

Perfect match

I little inspiration, graffiti-style.

Here's to love and the sea, two of my favorite muses.

More thoughts for Easter

"Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But NEW CREATION has already begun! The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God's new world, which He has thrown open before us." - N.T. Wright, "Simply Christian"

He is risen!

Easter...the yearly remembrance of the most important event in human history, and, consequentially, in my life. I've had this song stuck in my head all day, and I think it really says everything better than I can.

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

‘Til on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life’s first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

‘til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Happy Easter!

Nice way to spend a Saturday

I just got home from my first ever writer's conference and workshop...and I loved it!

I actually cried in my car between sessions because I was so overwhelmed with how much I love writing and language and words. Dramatic? Sure. But it was a genuine outpouring of the emotion I was feeling, so I'm unconcerned.

I don't have much to say, other than I am feeling inspired and encouraged, and I hope with the new set of techniques and ideas I was given today I am able to dive more deeply into the writing life.

I hope you are feeling equally as inspired in whatever areas of your own life you are pursuing!