Out Of the Box
Posted: September 24, 2011 Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tags: artists, creativity, family, inspiration, Making Hay, Public Art, Tom Otterness, Urban Dictionary, walking, writers, writing Leave a comment »
The Urban Dictionary says the phrase “describes nonconformal, creative thinking. Some innovative way or breakthrough.” I see it as getting my butt out of the chair and off the computer. It’s time to fill up the well–or whatever. Blame the heat, or the fire in New Mexico, or an ongoing lack of funds. It’s been too long. So . . . out of the box and into the field.
A few miles from home, I found this public art installation, Making Hay by New York artist, Tom Otterness. The 18-foot-tall figures made of steel and hay are definitely out of the box.
Synchronicity, Not
Posted: July 5, 2011 Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tags: Trusting Your Instincts, walking, writers, writing Leave a comment »I met a woman with a golden retriever. The dog’s head collar didn’t fit and yanked her all over the trail. I said something like, “My dog doesn’t like that collar, either.”
“Can you help me?”
The collar was too loose. I adjusted it, and the dog walked obediently.
In conversation I learned the golden had belonged to a friend, who was too depressed to care for it.
“She hasn’t gone to the bathroom in two days. Should I take her to the vet?”
“Is she grieving?”
“I don’t think so. She seems happy with me.”
The dog looked great, happy and beautiful, but change is hard on everybody. “She’s fine, Give her a few more days.” It was the answer the lady wanted, needed.
It’s funny how we look for answers from perfect strangers. I walked on thinking, what a good scene for the opening of a novel. A character, who doesn’t make friends easily meets one randomly walking someone else’s dog. The second character has trouble making decisions, and she’s insecure about the ones she’s already made.
I’ll never see this woman again. I don’t know her name, the dog’s name, or her depressed friend’s name. But I was able to solve her problem. Is that how things start? Randomly. I’ve always lived by the concept of “meant to be.” Maybe, I’ve assigned too much meaning to events. What if life is more a spin of the wheel than the synchronicity of the soul?
I told myself to keep my eyes open. Move forward.
And the Birds and the Bees and the Rocks in the Trees
Posted: December 7, 2010 Filed under: Writers Write | Tags: walking, writers, writing Leave a comment »While walking in the park, I noticed a strange phenomenon. Every few hundred feet, a bolder sat balanced on a tree limb. It was probably a kid prank. A dangerous one. Each branch was six feet off the ground, and close enough to the path to cause injury. It looked like that old cartoon gag, balancing a bucket of water over a door.
I looked around. No one was watching, waiting. Some were balanced on Texas persimmons, a small tree with slick bark that peels like a birch in winter. They aren’t capable of holding weight for long. A five-pound rock will split the branch over time. I felt the need to make things right. In no way was this living sculpture idea, good. So I knocked down what I could reach and mumbled under my breath.
Not long ago, I took Cherry and Coco to a book signing. Sara Pennypacker, author of Clementine, said she wrote the series about a girl, who doesn’t always have a clue, but has a lot of support from the adults in her life. She said, “I want to fix things with my writing.” By giving Clementine a good teacher and good parents, she’s able to fix a thing she sees wrong in the world. Like a writer, I appropriated her philosophy into my own world view.
I want to fix stuff, poke at it until a character has to deal with it or change. Like the rocks in the trees, I can’t leave things alone.
