First up, a few links for my writer-friends. I haven’t read a lot of blogs lately, but nevertheless I’ve stumbled upon some excellent posts that have said things I needed to hear:
- Nova Ren Suma on having impossible dreams
- Robin LaFevers on how to protect ourselves when we bare it all in our writing
- A.S. King on being “defiantly creative” and writing what comes naturally
- Kristen Lamb on staying focussed (even if you’re an ADD writer!)
Speaking of stumbling upon excellent things…I came across this video of 15-year-old Noah St. John, winner of the 2012 NPR Snap Judgment Performance of the Year:
I didn’t know when I hit play what I was going to get, but oh man–well worth the time! A good story, well told, is a treasure.
Sometimes when you come across something, you recognize right away that it’s special, so you sit up and take notice, and your day (and maybe your whole self) is richer for it. As Noah began to tell his story, I knew it was one of those things, one of those moments, so I paid attention. I savoured it.
There are other times you don’t know something’s special until after the fact. I was walking on the beach the same day I heard Noah tell his story, and I discovered this guy:
Quite possibly, this is not your idea of “special”, LOL. But I’m a curious sort, a wow-this-is-so-cool sort, so when I saw that crab I picked it up (heavy!), checked him out, and took his picture. I found joy in discovering this random critter on the beach. I didn’t know until later, when I looked it up in my trusty marine life reference book, that this is a Puget Sound King Crab, and I didn’t know until I Googled it that it’s a protected species, and that discovering one sitting there on the beach in the winter sun is not at all a common thing.
And so here’s the thing: those little gifts in our days…I want to treat them all special. Appreciate them all. Maybe they’re more rare than I realize, more precious than I think. And even if they’re completely mundane and commonplace, viewing them through the lens of special, precious, significant bestows upon them those very qualities.
I fear I’m rambling, but it felt weighty and important to tell myself these things, to remind myself to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, to keep my eyes open to the rare and precious gifts all around me.
Peace….
There is almost always something extraordinary within the ordinary, but we miss it if we’re not looking. You often make wonderful discoveries so I think you must be looking in the right places. (Noah’s storytelling was remarkable, too.)
“You simply can’t make good art and stay covered up at the same time.” <- So true, from the Robin LaFevers link. Also, I'm not sure I'm there yet with my writing.
" to keep my eyes open to the rare and precious gifts all around me." This is so important, and something I'm glad I learned at a relatively young (compared with the age of the universe
) age.