[-art, collections-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

drifter a

Originally uploaded by indiegogogirl.

I was immediately drawn to this photo because I’m a picker-upper of rocks. I can’t help it. I put them in my coat pocket, bring them back to the house, pile them up on windowsills. Sometimes I paint pictures of them as you can see below. Rocks are little pieces of rich history and science - geology, geography, geometry. What’s not to love? All that variety in colour, texture and shape!

Indiegogogirl has created what feels to me like an altar to and from her rocks. The subtle colour variations and the similar but unique shapes are beautifully shown in this construct. The shadowing that is going on also emphasizes the composition. And while I’m at it: the background of this image is great! The weathered wood is beautiful within itself, but it also complements the rocks without distracting from them. Here, we can see the whole sculpture —

drifter

Originally uploaded by indiegogogirl.

A while back I made a small indoor fountain that was lined with some of my rocks. The water enriches their color and smell! Unfortunately, my construction skills are spotty and my fountain kept drooping, leaving the water in places it shouldn’t be. I shoud give it another try. If I get it together I’ll definitely post a photo here for all to see. That’s what I like to get in a morning blog post: incentive!

Don’t forget to click on the images to see indiegogogirl’s flickr photostream; See more of her rock sculptures and art on her website: irockitcreations.com

Thanks, Audra!

See more articles on Collections
See all our articles on Alterations

Originally published March 2006 in the Practically Creative blog; edited slightly for re-publication

[-survey-]

9. What do you collect?

Read the rest of this entry »

[-survey-]

5. How many ____’s do you have to have before it can be called a “collection?”

Read the rest of this entry »

[-writing fiction -]

Are your stories missing the mark?
This article may help you to understand what isn’t there that needs to be.

by contributor, Russ Kremer

Many of the stories we read, including most of the good ones, follow a fairly simple formula, one that’s easy to learn — but difficult to master! We see it so often we don’t always recognize it, but many otherwise fine stories suffer by ignoring it. All we need to do is introduce a character with a goal, or some event that needs resolution. Then, build up the suspense to the climax, which is when the goal is met or avoided, or the event takes place or not. As simple as this is, executing it is another matter entirely.

The most frequently missed element is conflict. Ideally, the main character should be in conflict on every page, and the reader needs to feel it. This doesn’t mean we all have to write action thrillers. Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey, To Kill a Mockingbird all use this formula. What they avoid - and what is common in early drafts - is passivity, characters waiting around not doing anything.

It’s almost impossible to get to the conflict too quickly.

I notice in my own writing that too often it takes me several unnecessary chapters, or in the case of a short story, paragraphs, to warm up and get to the point. The reader has nothing invested in the characters or the world I’m describing when she picks up my story, and the first thing I need to do is capture her interest. I spend far too long on set-up, and the backstory of someone the reader doesn’t care about yet is boring.

When I look over my first drafts I see long stretches where nothing happens. Oh, sure, I’m describing things, but most of them have nothing to do with the character’s journey, or with resolving the dilemma I should have introduced in the beginning. It should be easy to start off by saying Ann wants to move, that Bill wants to marry Sue, that a peaceful town is threatened with fire, then write the story where we follow along and see what happens. But it isn’t as easy as it seems.

If someone in your story has a secret, and she’s asked “What’s new?” there’s tension and conflict. Will she reveal her secret or won’t she? If she has no secret and is asked the same question, there’s little to engage the reader, nothing at stake. When there’s nothing at stake, nothing that depends on the outcome, the “What’s new?” question should be removed. Nothing is answered, nothing is revealed, nothing is added.

Writers love words, descriptions, their characters. Readers have no such immediate reactions, but they want them. They want to love or hate your characters, but they need a reason. They want to see them in action, doing things, making decisions, taking the initiative. It is not always enjoyable to read about someone waiting for something to happen, for something to respond to. Sure, that’s a big part of life, but it rarely translates to a good story.

Just as bad, is when the conflict is introduced, but then ignored. We did not hear anything about Juliet’s shopping excursions before her dates with Romeo (although I’d imagine she and he both were concerned about their appearance). It may have been interesting, may have contained some great descriptions, but it wouldn’t have added anything necessary to the story. It would not have advanced the plot, and that’s another common error. If a scene can be removed without having to re-write huge chunks of the story, it isn’t necessary.

Readers are being asked to spend their precious spare time in the world we’ve created. If dawdle along, refusing to get to and stick to the point, they’ll spend their time elsewhere. If, however, the beginning is gripping, the characters are growing, the plot is advancing, they just might keep reading to see what happens next or even, how the conflict is finally resolved.

© 2005 - 2007 Russ Kremer all rights reserved

Check out another of Russ’s writing articles, Necessary Things.

About the author: Russ lives and writes in LA. He has had several works of short fiction and non-fiction published. He is a yearly participant and winner of NaNoWriMo where he’s well-known by newbies as a guy who knows a lot about writing. He began the “older, but not the official, NaNoEdMo website” - a group for all year ’round editing support, writerly exchanges and feedback which can be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nanoedmo/. His website: half-dozen.net. His blog: crenallated flotsam

Originally published in the July 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: space and spaces

[-essay, parenting-]

What do yoga, Carlos Castañeda and being a loving, effective parent have to do with knowing who and where and what you are? Read this great essay to find out.

Playing the edge, finding one’s spot and being one’s true self

by guest essayist, Joe McCarthy

I recently attended a four-class parenting seminar on Love and Logic, wonderfully facilitated by Cindy Horst. The three “rules” of Love and Logic are:

1. Take care of yourself by setting limits in a loving way
2. Give choices whenever it’s reasonable.
3. Let empathy and consequences do the teaching.

Throughout the classes, parents were encouraged to stretch to allow children to experience more consequences directly, enabling them to fail early and often, rather than being protected or rescued from those consequences. There is much to be gained by moving out of our comfort zone, but stopping short of real pain. Cindy notes that the Love and Logic principles can be used not only by parents interacting with their children, but in school and the workplace as well.

I see these principles as applying equally well to my interactions with my self.

This notion of stretching to the edge of our comfort zone reminded me of the concept of “playing the edge” that Erich Schiffman describes in his wonderful book “Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness”. Reviewing the highlighted passages in my copy of the book revealed close alignment with some of the concepts taught by Don Miguel Ruiz in “The Four Agreements” and by Don Juan (via Carlos Castañeda) in “The Teachings of Don Juan”. I’ll include some relevant passages below.

On “playing the edge” (from Erich Schiffman’s book):

A large part of the art and skill in yoga lies in sensing just how far to move into a stretch … This place in the stretch is called your “edge.” The body’s edge in yoga is the place just before pain, but not the pain itself … Sensing where your edges are and learning to hold the body there with awareness, moving with its often subtle shifts, can be called “playing the edge.”

One of the things you learn in yoga is to enjoy working with intensity. Intensity is simply more “energy” at any given moment, more feeling … Yoga can teach you to enjoy and learn from a broader range of experience. It will encourage you to seek out and process more intensity … Skill in yoga involves creating the perfect amount of intensity — not too much, not too little.

The real key to depth in postures is going slowly, making sure you have thoroughly opened your early edges … Proceed slowly, edge by edge and gate by gate … Respect your tight edges. Work with them sensitively. Lure them to greater openness.

Never be in a place you don’t want to be. If you do not like it, change it. Adjust. Find the degree of stretch you can totally immerse yourself in … Never fight yourself.

This last part reminds me of Don Juan’s notion of finding one’s spot (via Carlos Castañeda’s book):

Finally he told me that there was a way, and proceeded to create a problem. He pointed out that I was very tired sitting on the floor, and that the proper thing to do was to find a “spot” (sitto) on the floor where I could sit without fatigue. I had been sitting with my knees up against my chest and my arms locked around my calves. When he said I was tired, I realized that my back ached and that I was quite exhausted.

I waited for him to explain what he meant by a “spot,” but he made no overt attempt to elucidate the point. I thought that perhaps he meant that I should change positions, so I got up and sat closer to him. He protested my movement and clearly emphasized that a spot meant a place where a man could feel naturally happy and strong. He patted the place where he sat and said it was his own spot, adding that he had posed a riddle I had to solve by myself without any further deliberation.

Finally, re-reading the opening chapter of Schiffmann’s book reminded of the concept of mitote in Ruiz’ book:

Your mind is a dream where a thousand people talk at the same time and no one understands each other. Everything you believe about yourself and the world, all the concepts and programming you have in your mind, are all the mitote. We cannot see who we truly are; we risk to be alive and express what we really are.

Schiffman addresses this issue of who we are - and who we are not - and suggests that yoga can provide a way to discover and experience our true selves:

Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are … From very early on, a fundamental conflict was introduced into our psyches revolving around this basic and most important issue: Who am I, really? And because we were not encouraged to find out for ourselves, we believed what other people told us. The result is that we feel guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, and confused about who we are. We feel judged … [Yoga teaches you to] turn your attention inward and focus on yourself. Focus on what it feels like to be you. Experience you.

One of the things I like about Love and Logic is that it encourages children to be who they really are. Rather than trying so hard to control children, the program points to a path through which children can more naturally unfold to be their true selves, with gentle guidance and support from their parents. This approach resonates with me, and I will try to apply it as best I can. And, regardless of how this affects my children, I plan to get up extra early tomorrow to have more time to find my spot, play my edge … and experience being me.

about the author:
Joe McCarthy’s mission is to help people relate to one another. He has played the edges of academia and industry, and is currently moving out of his comfort zone and opening up to the intensity of a new entrepreneurial path aligned with this mission. More about Joe’s entrepreneurial aspirations can be found at interrelativity.com; other dimensions of his journey can be found on his blog: gumption.typepad.com. This article is a slightly revised version of this one originally published on his blog.

illustration from the yellow woman series by nancy sm waldman © 2005 - 2007 all rights reserved

Published with the permission of the author in the April 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: inspiration

-essay, inspiration-

by guest essayist, Quinn D. Corte

Inspiration follows all of us around like a stray puppy, barking excitedly at the quirkiest times, begging us to come and play. Whether we notice her depends on our willingness to embrace creativity.

That gentle scratching of a familiar paw on my jeans has made me who I am. For me, inspiration is in such diverse treats as redwood trees, old ballet shoes, and Kevin Spacey. Inspiration has been behind most of my major life decisions, but it also makes me dance at inappropriate times and sketch people with interesting noses while riding the bus.

As children, we don’t ignore the dog frolicking in our shadows. Inspiration plays fetch with us, giving us boundless imaginations. It makes us refuse to go to bed at night and rejoice at waking up each morning. Show and tell is fascinating and one visit to the space center turns us into astronauts.

As we grow up, it’s easy to forget about that puppy at our heels. Life bustles around us, responsibilities beckon, and Inspiration lags, discouraged, a few paces behind. Adults may not as readily light up at the discovery of an interesting leaf or a new box of sharpened crayons. How much more fun life would be if we let Inspiration pounce on us and lick our faces more often!

Getting inspired is an active process. We don’t hear Inspiration whimpering unless she’s always in the back of our minds, right on the edge of consciousness. In order to let her work her magic, we must keep our senses on the surface, ready to intercept anything that may change our lives. We must remember that dog may be hiding behind the sofa, snuggling on the end of our bed when we wake up, or sniffing around the backyard.

Embracing the ubiquity of Inspiration is a conscious choice. It shouldn’t be scary or difficult and definitely doesn’t have to inhibit our daily routine. She sits loyally at our feet, ready to wag her tail with first eye contact. She is a creative companion who can use anything from a juicy nectarine to a rain-splattered window to conjure hidden artistic energy inside our spirits. A simple scratch behind the ears of Inspiration is a fulfilling and easy way to add creativity and beauty to our difficult lives.

I feel comfort in knowing Inspiration is chasing butterflies at my side, always in my dreams and within my reach … every day of my life.

© 2005- 2007; Quinn D. Corte, all rights reserved

- Originally published in the April 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: Inspiration