Catching a Dream<\/p>\n
Writing is the act of arranging and rearranging\u00a0twenty-six letters to put words and ideas on a blank page \u2013 with somebpunctuation thrown in for emphasis. Your array of letters are at the ready in\u00a0your virtual tool box. Your screen is a vision board that reminds you where you\u2019ve\u00a0been, where you are, where you’re going and where you want to end up. Your\u00a0ideas are beacons that light up the path and your mind is a stovetop with pots\u00a0simmering on every burner, vying for your attention.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re inspired, the pots boil over faster\u00a0than your hands can skim across the computer keys. Like a planchette gliding\u00a0soundlessly over a Ouija board, your fingers take on a mind of their own. You\u00a0get so immersed in The Zone, you lose time and place as you set out to create\u00a0something that didn\u2019t exist before. It\u2019s like chasing a dream, catching it, and\u00a0finding a way to seize it and hold it firmly in your grasp.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re not inspired, your dream flies away\u00a0and it takes a world of patience and grit to stay focused and try to bring it\u00a0back. You hope and pray for the writing muse to grace you with her presence. It
could take a long time or she may show up in a minute. Or not at all. Like a\u00a0hummingbird flitting, sipping sweet nectar from scarlet poppies and purple\u00a0petunias and taking off again, the muse is here one minute, gone the next. But\u00a0whether or not she comes and however long she stays, your job is the same \u2013 to\u00a0keep on writing.<\/p>\n
Like any form of art, writing can be a pleasure or\u00a0an impossible task. It can be rewarding, something to anticipate with zeal, or\u00a0it can be painful, something to dread. It\u2019s all in the way you think about it.
You look at the computer screen, the canvas, your dancing shoes, your piece of\u00a0music, your journal or your guitar. And then you dig in. When you start moving,\u00a0even though you\u2019re not sure where you\u2019re going or how to get there, you can be\u00a0proud that you began. If you stick with it, you\u2019ll most likely find the\u00a0inspiration you\u2019re looking for. If you run away, you won\u2019t find much of\u00a0anything except guilt and disappointment.<\/p>\n
This morning, I sat down at my computer and my cat\u00a0took her usual place between the screen and the keyboard, her furry head\u00a0hitting the keys and driving me crazy. I felt disconnected. I had no idea what\u00a0I was going to write and my inner critic got busy. You\u2019ve written close to four\u00a0hundred blogs, one a week, it said. What makes you think you still have\u00a0something to say? You haven\u2019t skipped one week so why not take a break?<\/p>\n
Then I remembered why I keep going. It helps me feel\u00a0connected. It helps me process my life. It occupies the place in my mind where\u00a0I make up stories that nourish me. I remember that not unlike my dedication to\u00a0my ballet training, I made a commitment to do this whether or not I felt\u00a0inspired. Part of being a teacher is being a role model and when I tell my\u00a0students that a lack of inspiration is not a good excuse to avoid writing, I\u00a0have to do what I ask of them.<\/p>\n
Staying true to yourself and your promises open\u00a0doors that you never knew were there. How you approach your work and how much
you value your personal expression are what\u2019s at stake here. It\u2019s not about\u00a0finding a clever turn of phrase. It\u2019s not about how many big words you use and\u00a0how smart and intellectual you sound. When you stop trying to write and you\u00a0start telling your story, you\u2019re being you, wholeheartedly and authentically. There\u2019s\u00a0no use in trying to sound like someone you admire. It won\u2019t work. \u00a0<\/p>\n
One of my favorite authors, Robert B. Parker, wrote\u00a040 Spencer detective novels among many other series of books. His economy of
words was unequalled and when he died on 2010, the family okayed a man, Ace\u00a0Atkins, to keep writing the novels. I was sad when Parker died and excited to\u00a0see how the other author would find Parker\u2019s voice. I read one of his books and\u00a0I ended up disappointed. Mr. Atkins was a good writer but a certain zest was\u00a0missing. Only Robert Parker could write like Robert Parker.<\/p>\n
Deeming your work as wonderful or terrible is not\u00a0your job. It\u2019s nobody\u2019s job. When other people criticize you or your artistic\u00a0expression or when you do it to yourself, it means nothing. As you sit down to\u00a0write, it doesn\u2019t matter why you’re doing it or how long you sit. All you have\u00a0to do is look inside, feel what\u2019s there and courageously put it on the page. No\u00a0matter what it is. When you unburden your heart, you begin to feel lighter,\u00a0easier and less confused. When you stop judging yourself as an artist and start
appreciating yourself as a human being, your creativity will soar and you\u2019ll\u00a0find home, a rare commodity these days. If you need a jumping off point, think\u00a0about the following.<\/p>\n
Writing prompt: What inspires you?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Catching a Dream Writing is the act of arranging and rearranging\u00a0twenty-six letters to put words and ideas on a blank page \u2013 with somebpunctuation thrown in for emphasis. Your array of letters are at the ready in\u00a0your virtual tool box. Your screen is a vision board that reminds you where you\u2019ve\u00a0been, where you are, where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2661,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions\/2661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}