Current discussion: Learning to and letting yourself be creative and artistic.
Finally, we’re to spring. The sky is blue here, the sunshine is out, hubby scalped the backyard lawn trying to thatch it, and all I want to do is go to the gym. It must be something other than winter.
But I’m not staying here long today. I’m on writing hiatus. This post will be short and sweet.
Happy spring, everyone!
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I’m doing research about Morocco for the novel. I go to Flickr first. Here’s some images I’m using to help me daydream.
Photo by SaffyH
Photo by Peace Correspondent
Photo by marghe00
Photo by marghe00
Photo by atsjebosma
Photo by docman
Photo by fam_nordstrom
Photo by DarkB4Dawn
Photo by OpalMirror
Photo by Agus Susanto 82
Photo by Simon Purdy
Photo by Alessandro Coiro Mas
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Perseverance. We remember seeing this in movies when we kinda already know what’s at stake: winning the game, getting the guy, overcoming evil with good.
In real life, we may be just at the climactic moment of something in our lives, and we give up, sure that if there were going to be anything good for us with this thing, it would have come by now. The audience watching this movie about you gasps and then leaves early, throwing their discarded popcorn boxes at the screen, at your face.
Why not give them the rest of the movie?
Keep on with it then.
This week is particularly volatile for me. I was warned. I’m on week 6 of Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way, the creative recovery program for artists. Julia warned, “This week may be volatile for you.” And I read it, but must have forgot. Good thing the week reminded me. I am writing . . . a lot. Two very big projects, one requested by an agent, another in cahoots with a novelist friend because we want to discover what we’re made of. I didn’t start these projects this week, I started them a few weeks ago, but these are the two things that in a movie, everyone would be holding their breath to see how it turns out. I picture myself on the screen, sitting here in my office in front of hundreds of already written pages, piles of reference books, a very tired laptop who never gets a break, and dozens of empty hot chocolate mugs scattered here, there, and everywhere. This is the moment in a movie when the main character gets a brainstorm, powers through, usually a cluster of scenes showing this set to a nice musical interlude. These are the guts of an overcoming resistance movie.
Can I do it? I don’t know. Am I going to give up? Absolutely not. Am I going to keep powering through, even though the musical interlude is over (or on repeat for the next four months)? Yes. Has God told me to stop? Nope.
And that’s the key. We think those stupid Israelites wandered in a desert with only minimal attention from God. Truth is, they had His complete focus. At the moment they needed water, He had Moses strike a rock and there was water. The moment they needed bread, manna came from heaven. The moment they needed meat to sacrifice, there were birds that actually wanted to be caught. What?
I keep thinking of the desert. Perhaps the movie screen should show me sitting out in a desert (wild, uncombed hair and all), thirsty, and starving, craving sustenance. And I can picture in my mind my God coming to my rescue, giving me just what I need the moment I need it.
Writing in my office this week is my desert. I don’t have comforting things like I had before (“I wanna go back to Egypt!”), but I can survive here. I have what I need the moment I need it.
Keep walking.
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There’s a book that I have within easy reach, because sometimes I forget that an introvert life is not bad, it’s just different. I’m also interested in the fact that I sometimes feel like being extroverted these days. Not often, however, and I always need a lot of alone time to recover. This proves Introvert Advantage to be true for me. I have to gear myself up to be an extrovert, which also reveals just how much I am an introvert: I still try to fit in with the crowd and it will never, ever work.
The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney explained to me exactly why I can’t fit in with the crowd. (I remember all those miserable years in school when I could never think of anything to say and would just freeze up.) I don’t get energy from the “madding crowd,” I get energy from being alone.
Unless you too are in introvert, that sounds like I may be the Unabomber. Trust me, I’m not. I just enjoy driving alone in the car, going to the gym by myself and not talking to a lot of people, staying home to read books, working as an entrepreneur from home. I am not completely comfortable riding in a car with a lot of people all talking at the same time, going to the gym with a friend (or even a personal trainer), going out every single day for hours just talking to people, or having a typical full-time or part-time job at someone else’s office.
This is not strange. This is an introvert. This isn’t me being crazy; this is what works for me. This is how I am inspired, this is how I get all my books read, how I write thousands of words a day, how I keep up with half a dozen client projects at a time, and how I make more money as a freelancer than as an employee. I like it at home. I like not having to fit in with other people’s plans and ideas.
It doesn’t mean introverts have weak backbones. On the contrary, introverts may be the bravest, most independent people you’ve ever met. Just because we don’t climb mountain peaks and hang out at the club doesn’t mean we aren’t doing something else with our time, or skulking in the corner while the “cool kids” are at REI buying mountain-climbing equipment. We just would rather have a day at home to create, complete our to-do list, and relax. That’s how I’m inspired anyway. And most introverts accomplish quite a bit in a day; way more than extroverts accomplish. But I’m not interested in having a contest (I would win anyway), I just want extroverts to understand how we differ from them (and not in a bad way) and I want introverts to stand up straight.
This book is my field guide to surviving in an extrovert world (which also happens to be the subtitle). If you think you may be an introvert, get it, read it, and thrive. And if you’re an extrovert, could you please live it up for me? You can do what I can’t. (I’m okay with that.)
Grade: A
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