Comparisons between creativity and procreativity are legion. Here are my Top 10:
When I began writing fiction, I wrote. Words came into my head, and I typed them on the screen. Even as I began to learn how little I knew about novel-writing, my concerns were limited to grammar and craft. Big-picture issues such as genre or marketing weren’t on my radar.
Eventually, the time comes when most writers need to categorize their book, if not their writing style. After all, it’s hard to target your niche (and consequently sell books) if no one, including you, knows what it is you write.
The title reads, “Top 10 Ways Music Helps Me Write,” but you could substitute the creative activity of your choice: painting, sculpting, or even more rote activities. I’ve written about the music related to the creation of Stay With Me. Music has an uncanny way of altering mood and spirit. I’ve found that the right music can help me cope on the most trying days, elevating frustration and drudgery with lightness and good humor.
I couldn’t resist this piano picture, mostly because it looks like every piano I’ve owned – missing a few ivories and , ahem, well-loved.
An excerpt from my short story submission to Tuscany Press is featured on its blog. “Nova,” written last winter, was inspired by the death of my former pastor. (July 6, 2015)
“He closed his eyes, hoping to relax in the arms of his Father, but no amount of external peace could quiet his soul. It irritated, like a pebble in his shoe. With every step forward it rankled and distracted until he gave up and succumbed to sleep.”
[Update: Tuscany Press is no longer in operation.]
In my Catholic grade school, we played what was known simply as “The Religion Game.” Short explanation: it involved a person guessing a religious terms using clues provided by teammates. One of the vocabulary terms committed to memory was ejaculation.
Ejaculation: a short prayer meant to be memorized and repeated throughout the day
In those pre-pubescent days, before its utterance would elicit a round of giggles and snickers, this five-syllable word had the potential to propel a team into the winner’s circle. In the ensuing years, the use of these little prayers fell by the wayside. Continue reading
10 Minute Novelists
Why I Write (June 24, 2015)
“I emerged from that experience with a horrible first draft but a concrete means of transferring the stories that flickered like movies in my mind into coherent, concrete products.”
CatholicFiction.net
Review of Wounded Healer by Jay Gage (June, 2015)
“The story is well-written and satisfying with enough twists to hold the reader’s interest. Its ending affirms our humanity and the reality that our lives can change drastically in an instant. God is in control; humans are not.”
Guest post today at 10 Minute Novelists in which I wade out into the philosophical waters that may well be over my head.
Beauty, Truth, and the Power to Transcend (June 10, 2015)
“Writers assemble letters into an inexhaustible number of unique arrangements to create truth and beauty, and in doing so, touch upon something so innate, so universal, that it brings life to the deepest stirrings of our souls.”
Photo by JPPI on morguefile.com.
Since Common Core Standards require the teaching of legible writing in only kindergarten and first grade, the possibility of cursive writing becoming extinct has spawned discussion about its value.
As a child, I remember the eager anticipation of learning cursive. It was as if I were being introduced to a secret language, one known only to adults and older children. In my mind, it was second only to using invisible ink. Continue reading
