On Editing

A fellow writer and friend Shane Joseph is my guest blogger. His post, On Editing was written over three years ago, but is timeless and has relevance to the writing life.

 

Shane is a strong writer and his wit sparks. We met in San Francisco and in many ways; our paths have been very different.  He was born in Sri Lanka, I, the United States. He has lived in four countries; I have lived in two. He works in the corporate world; I teach. He plays in a rock band; and I sing in the shower.

 

And yet, we are also similar: we are both avid travelers and share a philosophy of visiting a foreign location every year.  And we both have lived in the desert. He said his time there was an intellectual void; I call it a hypnotic placidity that floats where nothing ever falls or changes.

 

Please welcome him.  You may enjoy his style, or you may not, but please make your comments known.  We are trying something new to support each others' creative endeavors, which I appreciate.  I hope you do too.

On Editing

Friday, August 1st, 2008

A writer once went out into the fields of imagination and created an animal with a lion’s roar, a giraffe’s neck, a cheetah’s speed, and a horse’s gait; he gave it the vegan diet of an elephant, the conceit of a cat and the faithfulness of a dog. The animal, which the writer decided to call “Novel” due to its uniqueness, took on the colours of the rainbow as it danced in the light of a fading sun. Both writer and his creation played and frolicked until it was time to go home.

 

At home, he met his friends, fellow writers, who did not like the lion’s roar (too frightening) and the cheetah’s speed (too racy). The writer took them off Novel to please his friends. He met his editor, who was livid that a giraffe’s neck should go with a horse’s gait (inconsistent). The writer met his publisher, who said, “How can I sell this…this…thing?” More cuts were made to appease all aggrieved parties. Finally, the publisher was happy and petted the animal, saying, “Now you are understandable and non-threatening. Everyone will want to have a clone of you in his house. They will enjoy you on their lap in their armchair beside the fire on a winter’s evening. They might even let you live in their bookcase.”

 

As the publisher walked away figuring out how many clones he would make, the teary writer sat dejectedly with his animal, now reduced to a tiny dog, and said to it, “Who are you?”

 

Shane Joseph is the author of three novels and a collection of short stories. His work After the Flood won the best futuristic/fantasy novel award at the Canadian Christian Writing Awards in 2010. His short fiction has appeared in international literary journals and anthologies. His latest novel The Ulysses Man has just been released. For details see www.shanejoseph.com

Blog Smart

In talking with a screenwriter friend about blogging I was asked how many hits does a writer need to be recognized.  I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-300 hits a day. That would make 3,000-9,000 in a month and is achievable.  But 9,000 Twitter followers and  thousands of Facebook Fans? Not so easy.  In fact, you’d have to be an author endorsed by Oprah to make those numbers. So are we all wasting our time?

I originally began to blog two and a half years ago as a way to market myself and a book.  But as the Internet is becoming more saturated, I believe it will be more of a strain for a new blogger to make waves in the blogosphere.

There’s a difference between having a writing platform so tall that you can snag a book deal based on your reputation alone and having a well written book with a little social media behind it to show agents and publishers that you’re out there making connections and that you’re book-marketing savvy. The key is to make sure the book-writing comes first followed by the blog, Twitter, and Facebook.  I say this to remind writers that there are times when we feel like we are spending more time on social media than on a book, which is counterproductive. Because without a great book, what’s there to market?    

While I don’t think blogging is a waste of time, I think blogging poorly is a waste of time. The key is to find your niche and delve in. Write about what interests you, what makes you unique. If that’s rock climbing, gardening or speaking Portuguese, then that’s what you should blog about because people with those interests will find you and follow you and read your work.

What about you? Do you have a particular niche, something that makes you different from all the other writer/bloggers out there?
In my next post I’ll be having a fellow writer join in as a guest blogger.

Evocative

Some of my more mature students come to class with a desire to write a memoir. My question follows –what memoirs have you read? I recently put one down, The End of Boys by Peter Brown Hoffmeister that was filled with gripping and disturbing anecdotes from his past, including being asked by his mother to kill a neighborhood cat to perpetually participating in fights, drug-use, and mischief.

In the book, Hoffmeister demonstrates not only the strength of his writing but also his fearlessness when confronting the trauma of his childhood. With sobering honesty and gripping narrative, Hoffmeister has created a riveting memoir, one that will leave you shocked at its content while thankful for a story that can turn such pain into something beautiful.

The cover alone immediately demonstrates the perilous state of his childhood. The family photograph is a striking image of two young, blond boys–Peter inhaling a cigarette with deep concentration while his brother looks on, completely mesmerized. And one need not question where their parents are– their mother, an artist is the supplier of the cigarette, as a way to make them artists like Picasso, she claims.

His parents, both educated don't apply intellect or common sense into their home lives. I found myself thinking– why do people assume they can parent just because they can reproduce? An unconscious animal can procreate but only a conscious living being can parent.

This memoir captures such a lonely story and it's not an easy read but when you put it down, I think it will make you a better parent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOHWCSs2mHU

Anybody Home

Students ask me if creativity can be learned. My answer is– we owe it to ourselves to open the door to our creative urges, honor it and its challenges and by doing so we sustain passion and joy.     

We all have our definitions of what it means to be successful with our creativity. All too often, those definitions are based upon the insatiable appetite of the ego, for external recognition.

Not that there is anything wrong with external recognition. Recognition can lead to success and that can be fun, remunerative and reduce, for a while, one's anxiety about –how talented am I really.

Problems arise when we give credence to the ego story that writes external success as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Even if we chance to dip into that pot, its riches are never enough for the insatiable ego; thus any perception of loss acerbates feelings of failure and sends us on a desperate search to redo the success and, should that fail, to give up. 

When we hand over validation of our creativity to others, we become victims of their judgments.

Creativity in its infinite expression is our most vital experience of life energy and the adventure of life itself. When we answer creativity's call, we give our self one of the greatest gifts that life can offer. We give our self... there is tremendous power in those words. For what we give our self, no one can take away, unless we allow them to. The creative part of you will never give that gift away, but the ego will and does.

Just another crazy woman

Again I'm taking a detour. Every Monday night I look forward to the HBO show Enlightened (http://www.hbo.com/enlightened/index.html). When it came out last month, I had three immediate reasons to watch; first, I was attracted to the name, second, because Laura Dern has always reminded me of my eldest niece and third, how can anything on HBO not be good? As I watched, I identified with character Amy. It took me back to a professional moment when I wanted so desperately to change the world and all I witnessed was television corruption and cowards that hid in the shadows that wouldn't take a stand. 

Main character Amy has an affair with her boss that costs her a breakdown. She goes to a spiritual retreat to mend her brokenness and returns with a fresh and very honest approach to life that no one seems to be able to handle. What her co-workers, ex husband and mother do is dish out their superficial attitudes with their judgmental stares and intolerance for her being different a.k.a., being in her integrity. The company she works for– Abaddonn (it's Hebrew for Hell) tries to shun her and facing a wrongful termination lawsuit demotes her throwing her into a basement where she won't be seen or heard.

The last two weeks have left me in tears and feeling hopeful at the same time. It's creators, Mike White and Laura Dern are geniuses and first-rate artists for stepping out of the mold. If you can stomach these issues then stay tuned: embracing your inner Zen can be isolating. Grief can be grotesque. Mental instability is rarely tolerated. Deportation can split families and be painful. Alienation from your parents can be painful.  Mothers can be strangers.  Corporate America is soul-shattering. People can be shallow. Men can be philanderers.

Enlightened is not filled with mundaneness or laughs except for dark humor.  If you're looking for ordinary and light that eats up your time and leaves you empty, then don't watch the show–you won't find it. What you will find is a show about an intense and sane woman trying to make the world a better place through serving humanity– and ultimately isn't that the reason why we were given life?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Nj5xLuT6c

Did any of you watch Enlightened last night? If so, what were your thoughts?

Gutenberg's Invention on the Decline

It seems that Amazon can do everything. First they taught readers that they do not need bookstores. Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers. Publishers say Amazon is aggressively wooing some of their top authors. And the company is gnawing away at the services that publishers, critics and agents used to provide.

It has set up a flagship line, to bring out brand-name fiction and nonfiction. But can Amazon create its own best sellers?

I'm certain publishers are terrified and don’t know what to do. If you’re a bookstore, Amazon has been in competition with you for some time. If you’re a publisher, one day you wake up and Amazon is competing with you too. And if you’re an agent, Amazon is stealing your lunch because it is offering authors the opportunity to publish directly and cut you out.

If writers have one message drilled into them these days, it is this: you have to hustle yourself. You are told you need to build your platform, start a blog, get on all the social networks, make yourself known and put your work in the viral spotlight. And do all of this marketing in addition to your writing to get an agent interested in “you” and do it at your own expense because publishers will pay you as little as they can get away with.

As far as I can see, traditional publishing is now fading into the sunset.

I have to admit, I'm still unsure what I think of this particular development. Amazon's apparent desire to remove every one else from the book chain is a concern. Crowding out smaller players, concentrating buying power, narrowing publishing towards a certain device, these are all trends that I don't feel are strictly business models but are based on greed and consumption. Big bully Amazon is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Aggressively pushing its' way into the hearts and minds of readers, dictating all the rules to gain control. The concept that comes to mind is a monopoly– will Amazon be infringing on our first amendment; and will we be able to read what we want or simply that which becomes available to us?

A Humble Abode

             

If you think of “Halloween destinations”, Paris should top the list. Yes, the lovely city of lights has a creepy past.

Around the 10th century, when Paris’s population was on the increase and cemetery space became scarce, a decision was made to bury the less wealthy in mass graves. Maybe it was due to the Parisians untenable burial practices that there was a lack of ideas for disposing of the dead exhumed from the city’s intra-muros parish graveyard. Seven hundred years later, bones were exhumed and transported to old abandoned quarry sites. The Catacombs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bElIDgAFaiM&feature=related) was one such site, where skulls and bones were deposited and later on arranged onto a bizarre wall.

The Catacombs are open to the public, and run beneath the city’s 14th arrondissement — at least that is what is open to official tours. When I first saw them as a student in 1980, it was months before Halloween. After descending down narrow, spiraling stone stairs and cold curving corridors, there they were. Prior to that my trip had been more intellectual than sensory– but the image reminded me that I am human and alive and sent a tingle up my ingenue spine, but it didn’t deter me. They captured my imagination and as a traveler because I didn’t know when I’d be back, being in the presence of a vast piles of bones and wanting to stay awhile I convinced myself that they looked like decorative Art. I don’t think I would have gone any further, not at least without an amulet; perhaps a necklace strung from raw garlic. 

What about you? Have you ever done something wild or wicked in an innocent act of horror where you surprised yourself?  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVjd5w2iRAg&feature=related

Love Color

Originally I started this blog with my travels in mind, there are so many places I've gone that I still haven't covered. Then I switched it up a bit, and included my thoughts about life, current events, my adventures, love of fashion, books, music and the cinema. I never included much on food, cooking, or restaurants, because they don't interest me, much. Although I still remember three years ago going to L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon for my birthday, known as one of France's best chefs, where the cost of our dinners combined could have fed an entire African village for a month; I was more interested in “the luxurious experience” vs. the meal. 

Once I wrote about jewelry. I like bold and delicate, ethnic and estate pieces but today's looks of wearing more crystals and sparkle than the average diamond mine, isn't me. Then I began to focus and blog on writing but today I'm taking a departure and am going to write about another favorite topic, one that I haven't discussed and that is... beauty. I get hyped being inside Sephora http://sephora.com/ it's a girls candy store! 

I love color so much, and have a fetish for lipsticks and nail polish. Although I would never paint my nails green, blue or purple and black isn't my style, I break the rule once a year when I dress up as a witch and give out Halloween candy. Years ago, before self-tanners were as good as they are now, I read that brewing tea bags and placing them on my legs could prolong a tan. I applied that principle to my hair and found a brunette tip that's worth sharing. I'm hoping it will cause less fading and prolong color. Brew a small pot of coffee or espresso (depending on your shade) allow it to cool and pour into a spray bottle. After you shampoo and condition, spray your roots and throughout your hair, letting it sit for 10-15 minutes. Follow with a quick cold rinse to close the pores. The procedure will boost and enhance your color adding richness.

Tropic Thunder

Even though it's assumed I've read all of the classics, I haven't. I've spent the last few weeks reading Herman Melville's Moby Dick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick 

As a child I read Treasure Island and enjoyed adventure stories but as an adult I didn't think I'd like Moby Dick. Without a female lead, or romance, I can lose interest so I put it off. Not so in this case. The voice of Ishmael, the novel's narrator caught me by surprise. He sounded like a friend, a beloved soul mate and adviser. Not only is he funny, wise and bighearted, but he is the consummate survivor, for he alone lives to tell about Ahab's encounter with the great whale. Moby Dick is not only a great classic, it's a metaphysical survival manual. Published at this time of year, 160 years ago, it's a guidebook for us now facing an impenetrable unknown; the future of civilization in this storm-tossed twenty-first century, with all the conflicts and ideals of America.

After hearing of Turkey's earthquake and thinking how can we help them when we haven't helped ourselves? I ran across Ishmael's advise, “Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.”

And Many More

Yesterday was my birthday and after coming home from a small celebration dinner there was a choice of watching either Modern Family or Dick Van Dyke. I choose the latter knowing I would get more laughs from old-fashioned smart comedy writing versus current day writing of sexual overtones. I think it's a cheap trick for writers to rely on the mundane aspects of life and it takes real talent to use your wits.

I find it ironic how a few new ABC series are set in the 1960's and have visual appeal replicating Mad Men, but they combine current day writing tactics done by those born twenty years later who don't rely on imagination.

I’ve written about my like for Laura Petrie as the character on The Dick Van Dyke Show once before so I’ll spare you since I could go on and on. I’ll end with what may be my all-time favorite scene from the series. Rob and Laura are at their neighbors’ house for dinner and they are acting bizarre. Unbeknownst to Millie and Jerry, their kids had set up walkie-talkies in the two houses and Rob and Laura accidentally overheard Millie and Jerry saying some not-very-nice things about the Petries before the party. Here’s the result:

Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore are clever indeed. And so is Carl Reiner, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Richard Deacon, Ann Morgan Guilbert, and everyone else connected with this show. Starting this month, to honor the 50^th anniversary, the show is back on TV Land. Hip, hip, hooray!

Dick and Jane

A couple of weeks ago I advocated that saying yes to life we open the door to possibilities.

Today my day was filled with mechanical things, writing this blog post came as a creative thought and by writing it, I am following through on my own advise. Hooray.

I’ll admit, though, that it’s a steep challenge to shut out the follow-up thoughts, such as: Who cares? Why are you writing about the challenge of writing when you could be working on some other more concrete (not to mention commercial) idea you’ve had cluttering your brain for years, which people would probably enjoy more? Of course, then you’d have to decide which of the other possibilities to execute first. The one most likely to sell? Or the one you’re burning to write? You are aiming low by writing a blog post– because, come to think of it, no one reads your blog.

I realize it is possibly a waste for me to display those secondary thoughts for you here. Maybe you can relate.

Some of my best ideas, the ones I’ve followed through on in my life, have come to me while walking by myself, whether on a quiet hiking path or a bustling, noisy, narrow city street. One time, when I was jogging through the Rose Bowl, I felt compelled to call my answering machine and borrowed a jogger's cell phone, so I could record a story idea that came up. I got home, and wrote it as an essay. I trust my instincts. But I have confidence in my ideas and when they start to percolate, and every time I went with them, it paid off.

When I hit a certain plateau in my writing, people around me, expecting more started asking, “When are you going to publish your own book already?” Already. What an awful, disappointment-saturated word – one I’d already sent knocking around my brain on my own. Not that those people deserve any blame for what's happened in my life or in the publishing landscape. I am not blaming them – they say those things with the best of intentions, to be encouraging. The implied message is, “When do I get to read your book? I can’t wait! I know it will be good!” As a perfectionist, it was an expectation I had of myself, but I took so long to do it, because of my fear of taking a chance unless I was guaranteed a positive outcome, and that's what made me hear their encouragement all wrong. It's why I can now perpetuate this message to my students –don't let your inner critic keep you from conceiving and then aborting what are probably decent ideas. What are you waiting for? Live and write now!

Poetry an echo

It’s truly heartwarming to see the Literature prize go to Tomas Tranströmer. One can see how the Swedish Academy might have resisted giving the prize to a local boy out of some sense of propriety, so it’s great to see that sense of propriety gave way to a more proper sense of the proprietary. 

Although many Americans haven't heard of Tranströmer, Sweden should be proud to honor a poet who has meant so much throughout the world, and who confirms the notion held that poetry can take on the exterior world and can be politically charged. From what I've read a wide public has embraced a poet who does not necessarily tell the nation what it thinks it wants to hear. For many of us poetry with its use of everyday subjects and images is an examination of the interior-world , a view into the unconscious with a syncopation of rhythms and simplicity of diction. American poet Carl Sandburg said, “Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” If that means anything to anyone, there’ll be dancing in the streets of Stockholm tonight.

Prima Donna

This morning I heard that October 5 is the most common of birthdays. It made me feel warm and fuzzy since it would have been my maternal Grandmother's 108th birthday. She brought opera and books to my attention and was known for her skills as a raconteur, a Spanish-speaking Scheherazade. But we shared other similarities besides music, reading and writing.  My birthday follows hers by two weeks and as Libras we both have a deep love of spirituality and quest for the unknown, insight into the psychology of human desire, are slightly eccentric, revere nature, have a need for beauty and harmony in our environment, ( or we can't function) were/are sociable creatures, can work long hours (independently) and dislike being told what to do. The list goes on. Naming our attributes made me think we shared obsessions and were/are smitten with books and with writing.

In the novel, Old School by Tobias Wolff, the narrator in particular is obsessed. The narrator sees writing as a passport out of what he sees as the mediocrity that he's been born into. He knows he can't belong to the class that the people around him belong to, so writing is a way of transcending class altogether. This adds fire to his obsession.

I have noticed in my writing life I experience frustration when other things take me away from my writing. A ringing telephone, loud noises, lunch, a trip to the bank or post office is an interruption that leaves me ansy to return to my desk. My dream world is filled with revisions and edits over material I've written for the day.

Has writing become an obsession for you? Is writing the only thing you can think about? Do you continually dissect dialogue when having a conversation with family, friends, or co- workers? Do you use daily events to churn into a story? Do you think about sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar before speaking during a conversation? Does a new idea for a story take over your thought processes once it has been planted there?

As I see it, obsessing over writing is a blessing.  It's a gift to use. Passion produces obsession if you let writing guide you and take over. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFypui1xKlk

Work and Play

About half a year ago I realized that many of the vocations that I have been involved in have vanished. Something I'd expect if I were 60, 70 or 80. It was a strange revelation on three counts; first because I have another thirty years ahead of me to work, second because these vocations were positions important to the American ideal, future and economy, and last, because it is sign that times are rapidly changing giving rise to unpredictability.

Two weeks after my last day in high school and for the next year of my life I was a directory assistance operator, a job that later folded when Ma Bell went from being a monopoly to becoming divested. I then went onto college and worked part-time teaching remedial reading to inner city school kids. Four years later, I leaped into public affairs with another public utility company. Public affairs was thriving in the image-conscious Reagan years, however later the department dismantled because of budget cuts. Then came my moment in television as a soap opera decorator, with The Guiding Light and All My Children's recent cancellation—it’s clear that soap operas are remnants from a television past when the three networks ruled the airwaves and advertisers could expect huge non-fast-forwarding audiences for their endless commercials. Then I had a stint as a CD ROM producer, but technology went to DVD, and put an end to that dinosaur. I switched to reporting for a newspaper, and with the advent of the Internet, we now know that newspapers will never resurrect; even the New York Times has gone from being hefty to tabloid thin. In fact, it seems all of the fore-mentioned vocations will never come back to life. And although I loved change and sought it out, I wish I would have not taken “work” so seriously, and enjoyed more of the ride.

So good-bye to phones, public affairs, the sound stages, the editing booth, the newspaper room, and all the rest of the relics of these disappearing vocations. I miss the diversity and ease of transitions I had and think about the people I met along the way– and doesn't it always come down to that equation– that we are here to connect to others. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQsooCyjcv4

Missoni Mayhem

Okay I confess, this post won't be about books because I'm multifaceted. Not only am I a writer but I'm also a shopper. I love fashion and gleam at a sale. Yesterday I got caught in the Missoni mayhem and was eager to see the limited edition designed for retailer Target and nab items that elsewhere are being sold for up to five times the original retail price.

The Missoni design is reminiscent of the 1960's and it includes some highly individual knitwear in bold patterns, primarily in a zigzag, some of which, I admit, I don't like and make me dizzy. But because the line has been around so long, their garments have become status symbols.

Had I have gotten to the store sooner, I could have picked up the gold and brown cardigan I wanted, but I'm not a morning person. A hoarder in the crowd filled up her shopping cart and when I asked her where the merchandise had come from, she sent me on a wild- goose chase. But all was not lost.

Left: I see an opening. You go in hard, and I'll follow.

Right: That could work ... but it's still risky.

Left: We've been training for months. It's as easy now as it will ever be.

Right: All I'm saying is, we don't have to go through with this. Nobody would blame us.

Left: It's going to be tough to run through this entire mega-store without a cappuccino, but let's move, or we'll never get through to the women's department. Come on, what da ya say?

Right: All right then. Let's do this thing. But if I slip, you're paying the chiropractor bill.

These will be fun to pair with pants because the heel is chunky (I prefer a stiletto with a dress). And, I can walk in them. The older I get the more I value mobility over beauty or perhaps I've come to believe there's more beauty in mobility?

Feel free to step forward in the comments– and, tell me what you think. 

Never love a wild thing

This afternoon while taking a walk in the light mist I saw an alley cat, huddling up against a wall, bringing to mind the cat without a name in Breakfast at Tiffany's. http://www.reelclassics.com/Movies/Tiffanys/tiffanys.htm This month is the film's 50^th anniversary which is being remastered as a DVD release.

Apparently with Truman Capote's success came social celebrity. He mingled with the social elite, and was seen at the best parties, clubs, and restaurants. His novella, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958), took much of its inspiration from those experiences.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is the story is about a struggling writer Paul Varjak that moves into a New York swank East Side apartment building (from the generosity of his female, married benefactor) and becomes intrigued by his pretty, quirky neighbor Holly Golightly. Holly confuses and fascinates Paul; in public she flits through parties with a sophisticated air, but when they're alone she changes into a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOByH_iOn88

Capote lobbied for Marilyn Monroe in the lead, whom he deemed more suitable for the role, much to his displeasure it went to the aristocratic Audrey Hepburn, to play the rural- Texas-born Holly Golightly that he created. He even went as far as to say that Paramount double-crossed him in every way. Not a bad outcome for an act of deceit.

A Yearning Heart, A Score, A Book

Night before last I turned on to Charlie Rose for the last segment of the show. The affable Italian-American Antonio Pappano; Music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, was his final guest (http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11278).

Rose referred to him as Antonio but with his strong work ethic and drive for conducting he should be dubbed Tony the Tiger. His infectious passion in communicating music made even the poker face, Charlie Rose smile.

Time and again what popped into my mind were the similarities in music as in the written word. Based on his interview here are some examples; the love of art gets your blood going like no other thing can. You have to sustain and engage your audience and keep them interested. Listening (as in writing) is an emotional experience. And finally it's his job as a conductor (similar to writer) to take the words and find the inherent drama in them for others to relate to.

On a personal note my husband sang under his baton when Pappano was a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Steven moved by a particular piece, the Britten War Requiem, went up to him and asked him how he could prevent himself from getting choked up. Pappano replied, “that's the point, you're suppose to be emotionally spent.” The score is based on poems written by a soldier during World War I, found after his death in the trenches.

To conclude the interview, Rose made a remark about Pappano's sense of purpose, at which the conductor responded with, “Opera is hard to do. It's very easy to do it mediocre, it's easy to do badly, but it's hard to get it right.” I echo his statement about getting it right.

I thought about the inter-connectedness in art, how interpretative and communicative artists are grateful to their audience that allows them to let their gift shine through and how audiences desire to embrace music as they desire to embrace a good story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qplk3PL-ltw

Write On

I've been a reader and writer ever since I can remember. Even before I could read by myself, I recall sitting next to my grandmother on the mauve living room sofa listening to her read in her light soprano voice. I was captivated by the scent of rose that emanated from her skin and the idea of books bringing stories to life. As a child I wrote stories prominently featuring girls talking to small critters such as birds, bunnies and poodles and the animals talking back.

I continue to read voraciously and love finding unusual books that are so good I wish I could read them for the first time again. As an adult, in my solitude I felt a depth of feelings that were very intense. And it was that intensity of emotion that led me back to writing. It opened my life.

Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a chance at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it time and time again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on the ship.

Are you a reader or a writer? And what has reading and writing done for you?

Love is not blind, it's kind

Last night I went to dinner and every-time I opened my mouth I was interrupted; as a result I did not discuss my life, interests or thoughts. Although I enjoy listening (I am given understanding and future material) I would have been better off elsewhere. Being selective of my time and dislike wasting it for things that don't enlighten me, help me to help others or bring me pleasure, I was intellectually bored.  

Everybody thinks they are good at listening – after all, it just involves a bit of concentration and not saying anything. Simple. Or is it?

In my first class I have students gather into couples and listen to one another for five minutes without interrupting or taking notes. Then I have them each give a summary of what they have heard.

I do this to promote effective communication. The art of listening and ability to concentrate is crucial for good writing.

Sometimes there can be a worry that if someone is given a chance to speak uninterrupted, they will go on forever, but often they will take up much less time than if they are interrupted.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line and in the same way, an uninterrupted stream of talking will flow more quickly to its end point, if one is continuously caused to deviate from its path by a change of topic, opinions and other comments. The repetitions and wider explanations are the speaker's response to these interruptions, leading to a longer period of speaking.

When people experience interruptions they resort to speaking in choppy sentences, don't complete their thoughts and there is a likelihood that they will not be listening either when people speak to them, because they will have developed the strategy of thinking of their next answer or comment to squeeze in whatever they can– because it has become a competition to be heard– rather than a real conversation.

In this way, ineffective listening is mutually induced in both people having the conversation. So basically, it only takes one person to break the circle of decline in the quality of the listening.

So why do people not listen? Because they believe that they and their words are more important than anyone or anything else. Yes, it comes down to arrogance. Sure, some folks will use their faulty memories as an excuse.

The brain can mold. When it has formed a bad habit; such as conditioned not to listen, being like elastic it is capable of learning something new and will benefit in the long run from the expansion.

With the practice of uninterrupted time, a listener can listen and the speaker can speak without anxiety that they will have to fend off interruptions. The effectiveness and quality of the communication increases enormously as a result. And isn't that form of respect what friendship is really about? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw1lmCS11A8

Ole Miss

You is kind, you is smart, you is important– the opening lines that character Aibilene played by actress Viola Davis says as the maid-nanny to the toddler she cares for in the film, The Help (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/). Perhaps not the best usage of the English language but the intent was to give the little girl, Mae Mobley who has been love starved by her mother, a sense of self-worth. And, since Aibilene is silently mourning her son’s untimely death, to compensate for her loss, she forms a strong, loving bond with the child, who she attempts to potty train.

There are several relationships woven throughout the film that are very touching. Main character, Skeeter, who returns to her hometown of Jackson after graduating from the University of Mississippi, is determined to become a writer. Her relationship with her mother, with her childhood friend Hilly, and to the black maids are all well developed. And so is maid Minny's friendship with Aibilene and Minny's relationship to her employer, bombshell, Miss Celia.

The movie, primarily focuses on the struggles African-Americans faced in the south during the 1960s before the civil rights movement. Skeeter exposes the injustices the African-American community was experiencing and Aibilene in turn develops a growing admiration for Skeeter.

While many film adaptations of books (http://amzn.to/odt5OM) aren’t emotionally moving, and don’t feature as many in-depth characters and themes, as their source material, this is one film that stayed true to the novel. Ironically, as I was walking out, I was silently rooting for an Oscar for Viola Davis and thought of how black audiences would perceive the film, would they view it as mockery or see it as a story of truth that evolved from a shameful undercurrent of racism. Two elderly women engaged in conversation with me, originally from the South and said that's the way it was. I left the theater thinking whichever way it unfolds viewers will feel courageous and want to stand up for what’s right.