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| Waves in Motion Catherine Al-Meten Meyers |
For most writers, the greatest passion is the writing itself. For an author of a published piece or ten, the marketing or business end of the work becomes increasingly more important. For authors like myself who prefer the creative, solitary lifestyle that writers need, the business end of things can become cumbersome. On top of that, unless your books are best sellers and are generating a large income, you probably are involved in other kinds of work. This morning as I peruse the calls for submissions and writing gigs that are available, I'm very much aware of the broad range of skills it takes for a writer to remain semi-balanced, body, mind, spirit, and emotions. How do we ride the waves of energy that propel us forward with our work? How do we find the gentle lulls between the waves where we can catch our breath and refresh ourselves for the next surge?
For any of you who have ever surfed, you understand that point between a set of waves where you have some time to rest in motion as you keep an eye out for the next set to appear on the horizon. Today, that's what I am doing. Just back from nearly two weeks away, I've been resting and getting my house in order. Unlike some, I usually have more than one project going on at a time. Each year I attempt to pick two major projects to focus on, along with some smaller more regular assignments or events. Summer is a busy time, and this summer in addition to the Open Studio Tour I'm doing to showcase my photography, I'm also doing book events throughout the summer. Each month I'm participating in a monthly artwalk to get my books out, and I'm planning on two other book events to get my new fiction novel, Body on the Beach, launched. This will be the start of about 6 book events for that book over the next 6 months.
At the same time, I'm working on two other books. One is the sequel to Body on the Beach, the other is a new series that is in the 'thinking up and researching stage. That's the fun part of writing. While visiting my family, my Granddaughter and I played around with some new characters and now I'm ready to start laying out the new series. This, to me, is the really fun part of writing. The creative part. The writing part. Even the research and musing part, for now I understand that those musing times are also a great part of the writing process.
While packing for my recent trip, I pulled out my sketch book. I noticed I'd started the sketch book in the mid-90s, and it was full of impressions and sketches that fed my imagination for the Body on the Beach book. Little did I know at the time, watching the seagulls caught up in the wind, flying backwards in a storm was going to play a crucial part in a plot line years later. Or the detail I drew of an old piece of machinery by a light house. Or the seashells and fauna along the beach on the Central Coast of Oregon. Everything churns together in a kind of magic stew of ideas, images, and impressions. And it's all there to draw upon when writing a scene or plotting a story.
This period between seasons, between one phase of a book project and another, before one project or event and another, is a time when walks on beaches, time spent in coffee shops, and snippets and scraps of impressions, conversations, or odd encounters combine together in that soupy elixir of imagination and memory.Yesterday when writing a blog post, I compared the process of writing as something akin to a mental illness...not in its pathology but rather in its invisibility. No one can see a mental illness; it becomes apparanet by outward behavior. Writing too is more than the finished product; it is about all that goes into creating the impressions, images, storyline ideas, characters and characterizations, and then the will to put pen to paper or hands to keys to let the story be told.
This seasonal lull is a busy time, mentally. Lining up writing assignments, keeping up with regular blogs, and keeping a steady pace of daily writing on the big projects. In addition, my mind is busily deciding what the focus of the Open Studio exhibit will be, and making time to get all the final photography done and getting the framing and preparation for the event planned. This is also a time when my discernment process is challenged. When my mind is scattered in too many different directions, my work suffers. My challenge at this time is to make some choices about what carries the highest priorities, what kinds of time and energy will be needed for each, and when can each task be carried out. My working calendar is filling up, and this is the time when I separate that which draws me closer from that which is less important or interesting.
With my photography, I've chose one subject I have a great passion for--boats, and am making that my focal point. I will include some other pieces that provide a contrast to the pastoral nature of the boat theme, and will limit the number of pieces I do. Sometimes I try to do too much, and that leaves me exhausted at the starting gate. The choices I'm making this 5th year of doing the Open Studio, are more in keeping with the pace I've fallen into...the pace that allows me to ride the crest of the preparation wave, to flow into the weekend of meeting and greeting, and the aftermath and lull that follows when the event is over. Discerning what matters most, focusing on that, and then allowing the natural flow to happen. That's the part I cannot predict, and so I am less likely to anticipate what's going to happen or how the outcome is going to be. Instead, I have learned to enjoy this annual event.
It gives me a forced break from writing, for at least two weeks every summer. Many of the writing assignments I've chosen, have July deadlines. That means that some of the more short-term kinds of writing will provide me with my writing fix, and will give me a sense of how much of that kind of writing I want to do in the future. Trying out different types of writing assignments helps me explore ways that I might expand my audience, or move beyond a certain limit that I may have set for myself. As a writer, I find myself passionate about all types of writing. Ever once in a while, I like to try out different styles of writing, just to see how it feels, or what comes our of me. That's how I discovered my love for fiction writing, and so instead of being afraid to try new things, I let myself go. I'm not great at everything, for certain, but it's fun to see how a different style of poetry sounds like or what kind of short story I can turn out when pressed to.
When I leave the shore and paddle or swim out to where the waves begin to break, I am full of anticipation. Wanting to get out beyond the breaking point before a wave crashes on me. As a swimmer, this is less of a problem, for when I see or sense a wave ready to break over me, I dive deeper, and go under the wave. As a writer, I try to get beyond this period of time when my mind is wide open to ideas, possibilities, and plans. I long to get to the place where I can dive deeper and just let myself write, without regard to the other distractions that I sometimes feel I must engage in. For at the heart of things for me, for most writers, the joy and satisfaction comes in the still quiet moments when we sit down and engage in our craft. When we let our imaginations rule, when the wave of creativity flows, and we flow with it. Writing is the wave of my imagination, and as I flow with it, I am amazed at how something I had not anticipated comes out to surprise me, each and every time.
