I Posted

"It's slice of life monnnth..." she says curled up across the table in her comfortable smile.

"I know," I squirm.

"You could just post every Tuesday and Thursday."  Her eyes brighten with a little mischievous flicker.

"I do wriiite.  I have lots of drafts." 

"Then post one!" she giggles.

"I can't do that." 

"Why?"

"'Cause they're all crappy, that's why."

She laughs, "I'm sure they're not, but how would I know if you don't post!"

I answer back with a quiet eye roll and a grin.  

Nudges.  Honesty.  Smiles.  Squirms.  Laughs.  Acceptance.  

My mentor.

My dear dear friend.

My Ruth.

Have you been writing?

This quiet question came from a dear friend, but also one that I greatly respect.  I murmured a slow, "no..." and probably added some comment like, "I should be".  I hated letting her down.  

My excuse before was that I was so terribly busy and exhausted.  Which I was.  But now that I'm on summer vacation, I don't have much for an excuse.  I do write some, just with pencil and paper so no one can see except me and God.  

During the Slice of Life Challenge I had a reason to write that made sense in the outside world.  Now that I'm on my own, it has a different quality.  Before, I had some sort of an audience in mind. Now, I may have no audience.  It drives me into a quieter, deeper place.  It's as though I've stepped out of my warm comfortable home for a late evening walk - hesitant steps into the darkness with a single candle burning.  I have no intention of leaving those fond and familiar things completely, but the desire to discover something new drives me out.  I may find a swarm of mosquitos, or a perfectly still, moonlit masterpiece.  Most likely, a bit of both.  

Just Write

Just write something.  Write about... your dog, your kids, your job, whatever.  It doesn't matter - just write.

Yeah. 

Sure.

That's all well and fine until you know that someone ELSE is going to see it.  

I'm lovin' this entire process though.  It's so very good for me.  How many times have I uttered that first line to a bunch of 13-15 year-olds?  Like it's no big deal, right?  

No big deal to pour your heart into something and have it critiqued.

No big deal to happen to make a poor choice for a topic for the day and write something lame and suck-y and then have it stuck in the cogs of your brain for ever and ever wishing you could delete!

Writing takes so much more courage than we give it credit for.  And I need to remember to be patient and commend my students' courage much more often.  

I also need to be more courageous in my own writing... to dare, to dream, to dance.

My Genius

Well, it's only my third slice and I'm hooked.  I wish I would've been brave enough to try this sooner.  I guess all things have their own time.  Before I gave in, I always made the excuse that I was too busy this time of year.  Secretly though, it seemed kinda, well... pointless.  Now wait!  Before you kick me to the virtual curb, when I was asked to slice this time around, I'd honestly been thinking on a forgotten lesson...  

A few years ago a very dear friend bought me a spot in a creativity class taught by Canadian artist Kal Barteski. [How cool was that!?!?]  We experimented with all kinds of fun: photos, continuous line drawings, even crayons.  Each lesson offered a video message by Kal to inspire and encourage.  One lesson in particular pointed us to a video clip of Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, speaking on TED.  It may be an overly referenced clip, but it's one that's definitely stuck with me. [There's a link below if you'd like to check it out for yourself.]

I must confess I never read her book and honestly only watched the movie because Mr. James Franco tends to be easy on the eyes.  Ahem.  It was a pretty good movie, but what she said in her 20 minute chat was what really rang true.  

Her suggestion was that people cannot be a genius themselves, instead, that they have their own "genius" [as in like a genie] that provides the special sprinkles of "wow" on whatever they're creating.  I found this interesting, but not until the last five minutes or so did she hit upon a very powerful splinter of truth.  Elizabeth found in her studies that long ago, during sacred dances, the watchers would chant "Allah" whenever one of the dancers were truly spectacular.  

To these ancient people, Allah meant a "glimpse of God".  Yes.  Truth.  And for me the truth that God creates and created us in His image tells me how important it must be to create.  Before, I always viewed my time singing, acting, making cards, scrapbooking, journaling, decorating, whatever... to be frivolous.  Just big girl play time.  After making this connection though, I realized that it's so much more than that.  

Creating is a part of who we are, inherited from the one who made us.  Christ himself was raised in a carpenter's house.  Have you ever wondered what he made?  I imagine him fashioning out a raw piece of wood, smoothing his hand over a finished piece, smiling warmly at what he'd created...  

How could I have missed this all those years?  [And shame on me for forgetting it again!]

What's more impacting this time around is the revelation of the fact that God created through words... He spoke.  He didn't think, he didn't whip up a potion.  He spoke.  Words, out of all our creative vessels, hold such power.  I just hope that through my month of slicing I can give this honor of creation the justice it deserves.



Elizabeth Gilbert on Genius