writing makes me happy. learning to write better makes me happy. not having enough time to write does not make me happy. this is what I'm faced with this morning. so I'll be back later to fill the space......I'm back with a free moment that I'd like to spend here with you all for happy week. I've been playing around with the concept of story in recent months. I love to read and listen to a good story; I've always wanted to tell a good story. throughout my life, I've had multiple characters and plots take up residence in my head and make themselves comfortable. I want to move them out to the world. but in a way that they maintain the magic that is theirs. I always hold back, partly because I feel a weird connection to them and have a strange desire to keep their confidences and partly because when I've started a storytelling endeavor in the past, it comes out different than I want. the story is there, it's the craft I need to work on.
earlier this summer, I received the best compliment ever. I was talking with a friend/colleague who is brilliant (not only in her heart and humor but in her smarts...the girl's getting a judgeship any day now!). I was blabbing along and she was staring at me with a weird look. I stopped talking and she said softly, "you speak like a novel." I was floored. I almost cried. no one has ever said anything like that to me before.
I am not one to take something that I felt so profoundly and dismiss it. so I want to see what's there; to see if I can nurture this thing, this energy, into something people might like to hear or read. I'm taking two storytelling workshops at squam and have been reading a few books here and there to create a bit of scaffolding in which to dabble.
I'm open to producing, but still feel protective about my stories, so I'm going to take this nice and slow. the process of learning and fine-tuning and spending more quality time with the beautiful, tragic and amazing lives in my head and heart is making me truly happy.
p.s. the art in the background is by the lovely sabrina ward harrison. it reads "more joy and metaphor" and "trust".
