There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
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Coming
in
2014! 
Creating Stories that Make a Difference:
Advice & Guidance for Interpretive Writing and Writers
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Shifting out of the Editing Mindset
or
The importance of making clay
I'm homeward bound after being on the road for several weeks--a week teaching the Interpretive Writing Intensive in Quincy, California, preceded by a week at the NAI conference in Reno, Nevada. The NAI conference was hard on the heels of IMTAL's international conference in Washington D.C.
In the brief moments between plenary sessions and breakout sessions, special events and performances, presenting and training, I've been doing a lot of editing: client work (essays, poetry, book chapters, exhibit labels, and more), wrapping up final edits on my own latest book (Creating Stories that Make a Difference), the next issue of Insights, IMTAL's newsletter (one of my responsibilities as an IMTAL board member and Publications Officer).
The combination of things--conferences packed full of interesting people doing a wide variety of excellent work plus hours (and hours) of editing work--has been fun and inspiring, so you'd think that it would be easy for me to sit down and rattle off a newsletter for you without breaking a sweat. I kept thinking it should be easy, too.
So when I couldn't, when I kept circling the page like a wary tiger uncertain whether the tantalizing smell was juicy prey or a trap--
Well, at first I chalked it up to fatigue, seasoned with information overload. That would be understandable. After all, I've been in at least three time zones in the last two months, not to mention the shift back to standard time. And I am on information overload. I saw sessions on the introduction of interp to Siberia (I want to go to Lake Baikal!), on the challenges of performing a live "slave auction," and a re-enactment of an historic gunfight presented for visitors who are both fascinated by the American "Wild West" and nervous (to say the least) about guns. I heard discussions about the benefits of facilitated discussions and how best to develop and manage such discussions, got an update on the latest neurology-and-learning research, and learned a bit about interpretive sculpture.
But as I sat at the corner table of a restaurant in the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, eating lunch and confronting the challenges of coming up with a profound take-away message that would help you in your writing, whether you're striving to create a gloriously inspirational interpretive project or the Great American Novel, an essay that could change the world, or a poem for the ages, the paper stayed blank, the pen stalled in the upper left-hand corner, no idea how to start or what to say.
I've been writing, editing, and coaching for a long time now, so I know better than to give up. When writing is hard, there's usually a reason. (My inner Calvinist never thinks it's a good reason, but how good the reason is doesn't matter. What matters is that there's something in the way.) I'm not prone to writer's block, so what's going on?
And finally, I recognize the reason, and it's surprisingly simple. So simple I want to kick myself for being an idiot, but then I remember that it's all part of the process, the creative process, even this kind of "Oh, duh, I forgot--" reaction.
What I forgot, what I ignored or tried to skip over, is that you have to make clay before you can shape clay.
I'd been in "editing mode" --shaping clay--for so long, I'd forgotten that editing is not writing; editing is not inventing. Editing is not making a mess on the page, wandering around trying to figure out what it is, exactly, you're trying to say.
I need to make clay. I need to be messy on the page.
It's only after writing what Anne LaMott calls the "shitty first draft" that editing comes into play.
First (and early) drafts are sticky messes. Sure, there's the rare gift from the universe, when what shows up on the page is brilliant and very nearly perfect--but those are rare gifts. Everyday writing is making clay.
Editing looks at what's already on the page; writing looks at the void and creates something from nothing. Editing rearranges thoughts and sentences to clarify meaning; writing creates meaning. Editing is analytical and sometimes fussy; writing is a freefall tumble through the infinite.
My task today is to write, not edit. Write first, edit second.
With enlightenment comes action:
My pen moves swiftly, trailing ink and ideas.
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NEW WRITING WORKSHOP!
NATURE WRITING WORKSHOP sponsored by the
Anza Borrego Foundation
Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 (mid-afternoon)
through
Friday, Jan. 31, 2014 (noon)
Palm Canyon Resort
Borrego Springs, CA
Join Anza Borrego ( ABF) and Palm Canyon Resort for a week-long nature writing workshop with Judy Fort Brenneman. Over the course of the workshop, participants will go on two field trips, have daily workshop sessions with different topics of focus, an optional one-on-one session with Judy, and time to write, reflect, and explore.
For more details including workshop agenda and special preferred room rates at Palm Canyon Resort, please visit ABF's website.
$700 Public / $650 ABF Members  | |
Palm Canyon Resort, Borrego Springs, CA
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About the Instructor: Judy Fort Brenneman is an award-winning author, essayist, and playwright as well as a popular writing workshop leader and writing coach. Through her company, Greenfire Creative, LLC, she helps people, agencies, and organizations tell their stories. To learn more, visit our website or contact Judy
by email: judyb@greenfire-creative.comor by phone: 970/416-6353
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