Writing can be a very liberating and exciting experience when the inspiration is abundant and the ideas are flowing. On the other hand, it can be very challenging when it is difficult to think of ideas or the ideas are there but not quite connecting in the right way. In the past, becoming “stuck” in my writing was a very frustrating experience, especially when I had already committed many ideas and words to the page. Even more exasperating was when several sections of a piece of writing had been written well but for some reason or another did not connect, affecting the entire flow and overall meaning. For a school assignment, this might mean completely starting over and when writing a short story or a poem for fun, it might mean abandoning the piece and not pursuing a writing activity for quite a time afterward.
This summer, my friend Grace’s comment on my blog entry, “The Power of Cropping and Mentors” inspired me to think about the act of writing in a new way—revolutionizing the way that I have approached and thought about the revision process. She compared the act of cropping photographs to the act of writing. “With photography, it can be analogous to writing -- what are the important parts of your story. The same for photographs, what is the important feature of your photo?”
This started the wheels in my head turning, and I wrote this in response: “I really like this idea of comparing writing to photography. Interesting to think about revising in a different way. Instead of taking away the "bad parts" or what does not work, revision can be thought of as taking away words to enhance or highlight the most important parts. This way, the reader can focus on the most interesting parts of the writing. In reading your comment, I immediately thought of what Michaelangelo said when asked how he made his statue of David. "I just chipped away the stone that didn't look like David."
This new philosophy about revision has really come in handy the past few days. Wanting to write and post a blog entry for the past week, I was excited when an idea began percolating in my head, inspired by a comment that once again, Grace had made. She spoke of enjoying having people to “bounce” with as she teaches. Suddenly, a flurry of neurons were fired in my brain, furiously brainstorming the different ways that the word bounce can be used: “bounce” or body with hair, “bouncing” with the ball chairs in the classroom, ideas “bouncing” rapidly in someone’s head like pinballs in a pinball machine, and “bouncing” ideas off of someone as a sounding board or in collaborating on ideas. Using these various definitions of the word “bounce” I began thinking about how they are related to Parker Palmer’s idea of holding the tension of paradoxes in the classroom, especially that a teaching and learning space should be both bounded and open.
When I started my piece, I thought I was really onto something and in fact, many of the points that I made in my still unfinished blog entry are interesting and thought provoking. Unfortunately, the paragraphs read better separately paragraphs than as one united piece. Finally, I decided that as a blog entry, it was just not working. In the past, I would have become completely frustrated, giving up on writing the piece and writing altogether for a period of time.
However, now I am thinking that I may have created pieces of what will eventually become parts of different masterpieces, presenting themselves to me at some later point in the future. I also feel better because I no longer feel disappointed about not writing a blog post. Realizing that this blog is about teaching, learning, and the creative process—I realized that it is just as worthwhile to write about the challenges of the artistic process, as it is the successes. Having accomplished my goal of writing a blog entry, I am now once again motivated and inspired to keep on writing.
Questions to Ponder:
How do you deal with the frustrations and challenges of the artistic process? How do you help your students manage their frustrations?
Good thoughts -- it is hard when something turns out differently than you expected. But to use my photography example, sometimes when you take a hard look at a photo after you take it, you notice something different than what you thought was the focus of the picture. Same thing in writing. Perhaps taking a look afterwards will lead you down a different path.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thoughts. Thanks for sharing! It made me think of one of my favorite quotes from Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle. "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
ReplyDeleteYour frustration with writing and the flight response that sets in when something doesn't work resonated with me. I have found blogging liberating. Every piece doesn't have to be a masterpiece, just what I am thinking about or playing with. Some are more polished than others. Some posts feel more important than others, or have bigger ideas behind them. My goal is just to keep writing.
ReplyDeleteHemingway once said something to the effect that his best writing was what he edited out.
Nice post.