Words on Paper
Photo courtesy chema.foces.
I have written this past week. I just haven’t written “publicly.” I’ve done a lot of deep thinking as well. It seems to be part of my personal creative process…these days of turning inward to think and absorb, read and ponder. What comes out on paper doesn’t really make a good blog post, at least about writing.
Getting words on paper has never been a problem for me. Now that I’ve been doing this blog thing for almost four months, it occurs to me that some part of my brain works desperately to balance the private writing with the public…the output with the input. If I ignore the balance, I end up in a three day retreat inside my head. It’s a good thing. Sometimes it just happens because I have something to learn or decide, or some writing project is building up inside me almost ready to come forth.
It is a good thing. Really. I have done a lot of reading, become inspired in other writings, separated extraneous (future?) stories out of my novel, and sat at the feet of some learned writing sages via their books on writing. I got the rough draft of a short story down that almost fits in the horror genre (so not me!), a la Twilight Zone. I was productive on several fronts, and the well feels full again.
As a result of the past four days, I feel…renewed. Stronger. More certain of what comes out of my pen, if not more certain of myself. I get vulnerable during these days, but come out stronger and a bit better defined. Then, when I sat down to go through my reader today, I found a wonderful post from Leah Piken Kolidas’ Creative Every Day blog on being open-hearted. I was energized by the serendipity. As if that wasn’t enough, Chuck Westbrook posted an idea…a challenge…that hit right in the middle of one of my thought streams…how best to help some really good posters out there when I’m still unknown myself. (I encourage you to check it out. My response was 209, so it’s potentially a big project!)
If I could predict these mini-retreats, I’d give you warning. It seems silly to post a single sentence such as “be back soon…busy thinking.” I might try it sometime…maybe.
My reader was full of bloggers’ posts that started with “sorry I haven’t posted this week…” which made me wonder if I wasn’t alone in my turning inward. I’m looking forward to the new week to find out if these bloggers, like me, have been energized and renewed by the past week.
How do you cope with the creative retreat? How often does it happen for you? Is it cyclical or predictable? Any advice from experienced bloggers out there?
