A Writer’s Rites

Curving back upon My own Nature, I create again and again.
Bhagavad-Gita

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Things I read while waiting for inspiration…

This, however, all poets believe: that whoever pricks up his ears as he lies in the grass or on lonely slopes will find something about those things that are between heaven and earth. And when they feel tender sentiments stirring, the poets always fancy that nature herself is in love with them; and that she is creeping to their ears to tell them secrets and amorous flatteries; and of this they brag and boast before all mortals.

Alas, there are so many things between heaven and earth of which only the poets have dreamed.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Second Part

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Today is cool and damp and dreary here, but about an hour ago I read a piece by Jill Terry that made everything feel a lot more aestival and shiny. So much so that I printed it out and tucked it in my “keeper” file; it’s something I’ll want to read again from time to time.

Here’s a small sample from Elijah Cole:

He was filled with excitement the moment I woke him, and couldn’t wait to tell me about his dream. He saw Sadie (piggy) last night – played with her, pet her – and she was healthy, happy and glad to see him. She licked his hand and he could feel her warm tongue, wet with doggie slobber and her sleek back fur smooth as silk – suddenly his grief was gone.

He’d told me just two days ago, between tearful sobs that he was having a hard time remembering her, the way she was before she got sick. Now he remembers – and although he still misses her, he knows she’s better there than here.

We were brushing our teeth, side-by-side when I felt the urge to share. “You know what dreams are, don’t you?” he looked at me but didn’t answer, toothbrush frozen in place, waiting for me to continue, as he knew immediately this was going to be good.

Want to make yourself feel good inside for the rest of the day? Take a couple of minutes and read all of Jill’s post. You’ll be glad you did.

art courtesy of adoremy.com

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The written word is weak. Many people prefer life to it. Life gets your blood going, and it smells good. Writing is mere writing, literature is mere. It appeals only to the subtlest senses–the imagination’s vision, and the imagination’s hearing–and the moral sense, and the intellect. This writing that you do, that so thrills you, that so rocks you and exhilarates you, as if you were dancing next to the band, is barely audible to anyone else. The reader’s ear must adjust down from the loud life to the subtle, imaginary sounds of the written word. An ordinary reader picking up a book can’t yet hear a thing; it will take half an hour to pick up the writing’s modulations, its up and downs and louds and softs.

AnnieDillard
The Writing Life, ©1989

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“Stelle” from “Stella Sings Kitaro”
(Domo Records)

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George Orwell, in his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language, offered these 5 rules for effective writing.

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.

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