Day 4 Sacred Space- "Tenacious Green Bits"

Today is one of those days where I have so many ideas rolling round my head. What to write about? There is the black eye that I am sporting, the one I refuse to tell anyone about (well almost everyone). There is how sweet this morning was, how Michael got the girls all ready, then drove them to school. There was the piece I was considering on the importance of having prayer, in some form, in ones life. There is a link going round facebook about how to use your five fingers to remember all who need positive attention and intention. I spent a good part of the day talking about the studio with Michael, we talked big picture stuff, shared vision and all that, then went to choose paint colours from the recycle depot, I could write about this too.

I want you to know you read a small sampling of the ideas I have for entries. I am rarely aware of what I am going to write about until I sit down at the keys, even then it often morphs. I love writing, I would have to to keep this crazy commitment I set for myself back in early April. I do whine a little when things back up I can get overwhelmed, but usually once I actually start the process of laying out the words, I get into my flow and am engrossed. I have missed dance to write before, THAT says something!

Michael and I were discussing what our workshops might look like, again it ran the gambit, from the meta level of what our key purpose is, to how many days and what time of year. I never really mentioned it today but running writer workshops is something I am really excited about. I am not sure what form they will take, I could imagine directing it at journal writing, stream of consciousness type stuff, but also really love the idea of encouraging creative writing, poetry and prose. They wouldn’t be about the technical side of things, if you are a regular reader you have likely noticed I am the pits with punctuation and likely break a whole slew of grammatical rules (sometimes I even do it on purpose, completely out of reaction to my grade 8 English teacher, who as far as I know, has never even read my blog). I probably don’t even use brackets properly! No the technical stuff will not be discussed unless some of my workshop attendees want to enlighten me. What I am interested in is helping people find the delicious nuggets that live within us all. Giving permission to write about exactly what calls, no matter how seemingly trivial. I am convinced that some of my favourite lines, from my favourite creative writings came about merely from writing about what happened to be present at the time.

“When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.”

A delicious line from So Much Happiness, a Naomi Shihab Nye poem. It seemed brilliant when I first read it, I thought “WOW! I want to come up with something as authentic as this!” Authentic.....ahhh I was on to something.

Basically I want to convey that everyone has things worth writing about, everyone. I have found that while the big things, like say living with my lover AND my husband, do make great writing, it is the little every day bits and pieces that really stir people. I have been blown away how often the simplest entries have brought the most emails and comments, often from the most unexpected of folk. Today as I walked along a mountain path by a lake, I noticed all the “tenacious green bits”, the plant life which despite the odds remains on the nearly frozen ground, still proudly showing off all the chlorophyll it has accrued. “Tenacious green bits”, now there is a delicious line waiting to happen!

Yes I love to write. Editing though...now that is another story. When there is a lag in my posting the writing is generally done, it is the editing I put off. This very post which you just read was written in less than 20 minutes, it was the editing that put me behind deadline. One day soon I will have my very own editor.

“What do you like to write about?” is written inside 12 day journal #206