Unsilencing the Voice
I started writing on the first of November using the Nanowrimo challenge site.
https://nanowrimo.org/
The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month. I've done it for a couple of years so it doesn't seem overwhelming anymore. But it takes a lot of work.
I've been reading Ensouling Language, On the Art of Nonfiction and the Writer's Life by Stephen Harrod Buhner.
My daughter, Elizabeth gave it to me for a gift a couple of years ago. Buhner is adamant about the idea of letting the mind and heart lead the way when writing fiction or non-fiction.
It's a solo sport. Not unlike snorkeling. I look for surprises in the lake. I don't have to know they're there. Just the idea of finding something is exhilarating.
When I write I'm often surprised where my mind takes me. It definitely helps to have an imagination and not be afraid of the hours of silence it takes to create. When I say it takes a lot of work I'm not saying I don't love the work. It feels like play to me, yet I have something of myself in the end. Something I've created out of thoughts.
As Buhner says a writer has to step out of "Self" to write. He quoted Ludwig Wittgenstein, "What we cannot speak of we pass over in silence."
When I write there is a birth to my voice. I wouldn't know it was there unless I write. And just maybe......my voice is mixed with the voices of my ancestors.
Tomorrow is election day. Here's hoping we don't pass over in silence what we can vote for through our ballot.
https://nanowrimo.org/
The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month. I've done it for a couple of years so it doesn't seem overwhelming anymore. But it takes a lot of work.
I've been reading Ensouling Language, On the Art of Nonfiction and the Writer's Life by Stephen Harrod Buhner.
My daughter, Elizabeth gave it to me for a gift a couple of years ago. Buhner is adamant about the idea of letting the mind and heart lead the way when writing fiction or non-fiction.
It's a solo sport. Not unlike snorkeling. I look for surprises in the lake. I don't have to know they're there. Just the idea of finding something is exhilarating.
When I write I'm often surprised where my mind takes me. It definitely helps to have an imagination and not be afraid of the hours of silence it takes to create. When I say it takes a lot of work I'm not saying I don't love the work. It feels like play to me, yet I have something of myself in the end. Something I've created out of thoughts.
As Buhner says a writer has to step out of "Self" to write. He quoted Ludwig Wittgenstein, "What we cannot speak of we pass over in silence."
When I write there is a birth to my voice. I wouldn't know it was there unless I write. And just maybe......my voice is mixed with the voices of my ancestors.
Tomorrow is election day. Here's hoping we don't pass over in silence what we can vote for through our ballot.
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