Writing Class
Date: Jan. 10, 2005
From: MJS
To: CW
I am so pleased with my latest story, “Seeing the Black Knight and the Wizard”! It was a gift to me, you know. It just kept hanging out somewhere above my head, just out of sight but wouldn’t go away, so I finally wrote it down. The first draft took a couple of hours, but there are more hours in revisions. Now I just wallow in the pleasure of having done it, it pleases me so much!
There are three levels of meaning, and in each case the “I” is me. First it’s a fantasy story of battling forces, and I am on the edge of it observing. In the second, which is metaphorical, Chaos is what is the battle, and like many people, I cover my eyes and ears and grow more weary. The whole thing is a dream provoked by the storm, but I awake and find my “familiar”, a god-in-dog spirit that is with me and he leads the way. On yet another level, where I really started, the Knight and the Wizard are my impressions of two personalities that clash, over which I have no control.
No, I am not in a “writing class” exactly, although I do sometimes attend a women’s writing group at the community college. They just share around the table of seven to twelve women, read their pieces, and then everyone jumps in to praise or criticize constructively. It is hard to submit my writing to such scrutiny, but well worth it.
I am in a “writing class” spiritually. I cannot tell you how compulsive that is! The inspiration for my stories comes to me in many ways, through impressions or memories and insights that just beg to be written down. They wake me up at night. Once I start writing, it all just keeps tumbling out! It amazes me! Sometimes I find out what I really think when I write it down, and then it gets even better. I follow the leads, and they take me. I listen to the “voices” in my head, which can be just about anything, sifting out and ignoring what is promoted by fear or vain ambition. Sometimes my projects flop, but that’s OK.
I recommend the tapes by Carolyn Myss, “Spiritual Madness: the Dark Night of the Soul.” She has some great suggestions for dealing with the inevitable emptiness.
---------------------------------------------------
Comments & Questions? Email: womenbefriends@yahoo.com
From: MJS
To: CW
I am so pleased with my latest story, “Seeing the Black Knight and the Wizard”! It was a gift to me, you know. It just kept hanging out somewhere above my head, just out of sight but wouldn’t go away, so I finally wrote it down. The first draft took a couple of hours, but there are more hours in revisions. Now I just wallow in the pleasure of having done it, it pleases me so much!
There are three levels of meaning, and in each case the “I” is me. First it’s a fantasy story of battling forces, and I am on the edge of it observing. In the second, which is metaphorical, Chaos is what is the battle, and like many people, I cover my eyes and ears and grow more weary. The whole thing is a dream provoked by the storm, but I awake and find my “familiar”, a god-in-dog spirit that is with me and he leads the way. On yet another level, where I really started, the Knight and the Wizard are my impressions of two personalities that clash, over which I have no control.
No, I am not in a “writing class” exactly, although I do sometimes attend a women’s writing group at the community college. They just share around the table of seven to twelve women, read their pieces, and then everyone jumps in to praise or criticize constructively. It is hard to submit my writing to such scrutiny, but well worth it.
I am in a “writing class” spiritually. I cannot tell you how compulsive that is! The inspiration for my stories comes to me in many ways, through impressions or memories and insights that just beg to be written down. They wake me up at night. Once I start writing, it all just keeps tumbling out! It amazes me! Sometimes I find out what I really think when I write it down, and then it gets even better. I follow the leads, and they take me. I listen to the “voices” in my head, which can be just about anything, sifting out and ignoring what is promoted by fear or vain ambition. Sometimes my projects flop, but that’s OK.
I recommend the tapes by Carolyn Myss, “Spiritual Madness: the Dark Night of the Soul.” She has some great suggestions for dealing with the inevitable emptiness.
---------------------------------------------------
Comments & Questions? Email: womenbefriends@yahoo.com
posted by MJS at 5:00 PM
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