All these books I could have written……… So many loose
ended strings …….
Back in 2006 I was working on a film script ‘If You Can’t
Join them, Beat Them!”. A first ever attempt inspired by a series of events that took place in my own immediate sphere and catalyzed by the music of Led Zeppelin, particularly "Stairway to Heaven". My mother too was excited about this out-of-the-blue venture that events conspired to seed in my mind, and we would talk about
it and brainstorm together as I frantically scribbled and the characters came to life and the drama unfolded between the pages. I randomly researched all over the net and found -
to my surprise but not - that I was on the
right track without ever having tried to validate what I'd found myself doing. I had just felt, "hey
this is how it’s done" and dived in. Oddly enough I found at least a couple
of respected opinions indicating that was indeed how they did it out there!
Well the film script never completed itself. Most creative streams that rise in the crags of my mind, tumble into some
uncharted terrain (interestingly my first online venture was named Terra Incognita from which I derive my pen name) wherein they peter out into the marshland and lose
themselves. Leading to a hiatus from writing.
I groped for the secret energies to direct streams into rivers that
swell and flow, building civilizations along their banks and finally emptying
with a surge into the vast and dynamic
resource pool – the ocean of creative enterprise that is all of ours. The ocean from which the
droplets are again distilled to feed those crags in my mind and the minds of
others.
Maybe the secret lay in the hiatus. In the letting go. I realized something important and powerful could be at work unknown to me and I had to give it breathing space to work. And I did!
Today I feel the emergence of something. A new creative stream. And I grab a pen once more to carry on, recharged. Yes I've had to be patient, often fretting through it. But something tells me it could have been worth it after all.
Maybe the secret lay in the hiatus. In the letting go. I realized something important and powerful could be at work unknown to me and I had to give it breathing space to work. And I did!
Today I feel the emergence of something. A new creative stream. And I grab a pen once more to carry on, recharged. Yes I've had to be patient, often fretting through it. But something tells me it could have been worth it after all.
Could this film script resurrect itself and grow into
a better and more relevant one? Could it
actually be completed? Can I continue where I left off seven years ago - now enriched with experience - those books I was inspired to write for those who feel lost and grieve that
sense of loss and isolation? Those books that in 2007, at the time of my own personal losses, had magically named
themselves “Embrace The Darkness” and “Embrace The Silence?” Titles on covers
hiding secrets between their blank, unwritten pages that would come to life
with a touch of new essence! Navaneeta(new essence) touched me that year in the shape of a person who unexpectedly entered my life but the books
remain unrevealed. I realize now that they have written themselves somewhere and been stored, waiting for the power
to be switched on and start them flowing to the outlet channels!
I often see the way people collaborate on books. I’ve always wondered how that’s possible. Is it that I start a sentence and you complete it? Or do we each fill in a random phrase and watch a sentence magically create itself? Now I’m starting to think one does the writing and the other is the catalyst, the muse and the beta-reader all in one. And maybe through the process they keep interchanging roles. “Transforming each of them into the other” to quote Loreena Mckennit inspired bySt John of the Cross. Maybe, just maybe that's one of the important ways a book actually happens instead of remaining a thought in the mind or a sheaf of papers out away somewhere out of sight.
And maybe posting about this process is one way of collaborating with the potential audience, a way to exchange energy with the universe. To flick that power switch. And to see a book out there at last!
I often see the way people collaborate on books. I’ve always wondered how that’s possible. Is it that I start a sentence and you complete it? Or do we each fill in a random phrase and watch a sentence magically create itself? Now I’m starting to think one does the writing and the other is the catalyst, the muse and the beta-reader all in one. And maybe through the process they keep interchanging roles. “Transforming each of them into the other” to quote Loreena Mckennit inspired by
And maybe posting about this process is one way of collaborating with the potential audience, a way to exchange energy with the universe. To flick that power switch. And to see a book out there at last!
I write …. I hope
And await the readers' thoughts......
This post is so energizing and filled with optimism. Maybe that script was left incomplete so that you could complete it now enriched with experience and a more broadened multi dimensional vision. Loved this blog and the header ..Off to read more!
ReplyDeleteI feel that some works of art are like wine. They need to be "aged" for their true potential to come out. While some others remind me of a tender green coconut that springs out like a fountain at the first touch of the sickle for the weary wayfarer to drink deep and swiftly and draw its nutrients.
DeleteI feel that every creation awaits its moment of birth. Creator will be forever riddled by the mystery of how the creation seizes the reins and creates its own destiny. Think parents and children?
May the hidden gems materialise as soon as they are ready to be born. The gestation will soon end, I promise.
DeleteAsha thank you so much. I feel the energy of birthing as I read your wishes! Please keep visiting.
DeleteOr I think of "veyllai," that juncture in time which is the juxtaposition of our lives, our thoughts, our experiences with those of everyone around us...
ReplyDeleteYes that divinely ordained moment of synchronization so everything that was working in secret now shows itself working!
Delete'Most creative streams that rise in the crags of my mind, tumble into some uncharted terrain'. The exact same thing happens with me!!! I am glad that a person of your age and experience also faces the same problem and now you are trying to break out that stream to a proper pathway. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteNipun how did I not reply to this? I miss you!
DeleteThis is so well expressed. Here's to the creative room you create and can create over time, like a dance between inte inter- and intra-personel space. To energy!
ReplyDeleteA warm welcome dear Mia! You have expressed this idea as only a dancer can. I am honored to share this creative energy and this space with you <3
Delete"Titles on covers hiding secrets between their blank, unwritten pages that would come to life with a touch of new essence! Navaneeta(new essence) touched me that year in the shape of a person who unexpectedly entered my life but the books remain unrevealed. I realize now that they have written themselves somewhere and been stored, waiting for the power to be switched on and start them flowing to the outlet channels!"
ReplyDeleteI think this is true in the experience of many creative people, in art, music, literature, dance..... Over the years as a performing musician I have had to "let go of" pieces of music that I was preparing for performance for a time, either because I'd reached a point where I needed to stop working because I was getting nowhere and at other times because of time constraints or other musical commitments that needed more of my attention. I have come to learn that, though on hiatus and seemingly "out of mind," the music has percolated under the surface and evolved, that new insights and understandings will come to light when I blow the dust off and pull it out again. This has never failed to be true for in my experience. When a wise teacher once recommended that I do this I was quite skeptical, but it turned out that he was right!
I have applied this to other things as well, creative projects of all kinds. Our minds and spirits and the universe are miraculous in this way. The creative stream never stops, though we come upon blocks to letting it thrive our conscious mind. The subconscious remains in touch and keeps working and, as you say, things have written themselves and been stored, waiting for the switch to be turned on again..
I love this post.. you've said it all so eloquently and it resonates with me deeply.
"I feel that every creation awaits its moment of birth. Creator will be forever riddled by the mystery of how the creation seizes the reins and creates its own destiny. " I just love this...
Thank you for your profound comment, expressed with the elegance that only a performing musician commands. Your wisdom is rippling though me like a brook that promises to grow into a mighty river.
Delete"When a wise teacher once recommended that I do this I was quite skeptical, but it turned out that he was right!"
Thank you for being that wise teacher to me this morning.
I am in "listen mode" now, as the orchestra draws their strings together and the symphony plays.
I think the "letting go" is the key... Our creative energies seem to flow underground the way the Sarasvati river does. Sometimes the "surfacing" of those energies happens best when we give up our control of them. Then they reach the light of day through the channels that lie hidden within us. "Do your work, and then let go"--that's the wisdom we see again and again in the traditions of Hinduism and Taoism. Easy to say, hard to do!!
DeleteYes, easy to say but not so easy to do!! You've said it so well here, Kim, likening our creative energies to the Sarasvati river... and Incognita too for the orchestra/string analogy as well. I have vivid pictures in my mind, painted by your words.
DeleteThank you both for your energy and for being the conduits you are through which great creative energy reaches our 3rd dimensional plane... earth.
I am thinking we are together stumbling upon the keys that unlock our words. The new portal I
Deletehope to open in a few days is devoted to how this process can be made to happen in all of us. No little credit to you folks for helping it happen :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI hope your wishes come true and I agree with age comes experience that may that manuscript bring in abundant wisdom and come to completion :)
ReplyDeleteI cherish your good wishes dear Ruchira. Power to your words!
DeleteI know the feeling. I have over 200,000 words languishing in 5 different manuscripts... You should work on them. If you need someone to read over and provide some feedback, you know where to find me....
ReplyDeleteAh - I know you feel me as I feel you. Of course I will reach out!
Delete