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Bacterium: Flow Found Through Change

Bacterium relates to writing because completed pieces begin one small change at a time.
Sometimes the action of pulling out an old manuscript and using another genre to express the content can breathe new life into a project.

Small Burst with Bacterium Creates Change

Bacterium, the singular reference of bacteria, creates change. It is concerned in fermentation and putrefaction, the production of disease, the fixing of atmospheric nitrogen. It is from the Greek, backtron, walking stick. I am immediately drawn to fermentation (my father made kraut when I was a child and had me dance in the crock to Polka music) and walking stick (they are used by many elderly folks). Bacterium breaks down the old and brings about the new

Shifting the State of a Project

This random choice was interesting. Minute species create change a single bacterium at a time. The breakdown in a solid state becomes a liquid state. Then, it changes from a liquid to a gaseous state. If this occurs with living organisms, then I can apply it to creativity and writing, too. The best projects can go bad overnight. Or, if a piece of work is exposed to critique too soon, it can be seemingly destroyed. A manuscript on a jump drive that’s tossed in a desk drawer and forgotten. The mention of the project can bring angry tears that turn to sighs of the lost project.  Sometimes forgiveness helps. See https://wewriteitright.com/self-forgiveness-editing-gets-personal/ 

Bacterium’s Message

Bacterium’s message is mystical: “Trust the process.” Bring out an old essay that was rejected several times. It may hold a chapbook’s worth of prose poems. A flash-fiction piece that never jelled might become a 10 minute play. When something seems to have dissolved overnight, shelve it. Jot a note to look at it in a week. Or, cull through old files for works that were heavily critiqued in an academic setting. Simply circle the most vibrant words in the piece and begin anew with a free-write. Begin the journey anew. The walking stick metaphor goes well here.

Your Turn

What works do you have housed in your word processing app that may have the beginnings of new projects? Consider taking the time to play with form and free-write about it in your journal.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Lion’s Courage Leads to Flow

Beyond Rough & Gruff, Lion’s Courage Connects Flow

The Cowardly Lion seeks courage from the Wizard. We know from the small slap of the paw from Dorothy that Lion has problems. He bursts into tears after her stern reprimand during their initial meeting. He is rough and gruff, but the bluster is just a smokescreen to hide behind.

The Cowardly Lion finds his courage while covering his friends; back.

The Courage to Change

The Cowardly Lion, we learn, is sleep deprived. How many of us can relate to the cat’s frayed nerves?  His bullying hard-talk is used to intimidate others, but it only goes so far. His aggression is checked by Dorothy, who then offers him to join the group. She even helps him dry his tears as he relates to the group his inability to sleep. He is ready to change his ways by asking for help from the Wizard.

The King of Courage

While awaiting to get in to see the Wizard, the group carries out a coronation ceremony of The Cowardly Lion. We know that lions are already the king of the forest. And he sings, in vaudeville style, about the benefits of being king. He would have class ranking above queens, dukes, and princes. His robes would not be indoor-outdoor carpeting, but satin. And he would command the respect of all the forest creatures, including both land and sea dwellers. Lion reigns with a cracked planter that takes the place of a crown. He yearns to have the guts to carry forth in this regal fashion – if only he had the nerve to lead. His role-playing finally leads to the flow he needs to lead with self-confidence. The foreshadow finds the Cowardly Lion in the leadership position, which is all the way in the back of the pack. He grows flow by protecting others.

Your Turn

What are your fears regarding creativity and writing? Make a list of them in your journal. A common fear is misspelling words. If that might be one of yours, stop judging your early work. Write freely. Courage will help you flow to your own opinions on subjects. Corrections can be made later. Simply write through a fear by facing it head on like the Cowardly Lion did when meeting the Wizard. You, too, can address your fears. You’lll never know until you try!

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Follow Rainbow to Flow

Flow Found in Rainbow’s Delight

Consider a rainbow when you want to enter flow. The colors allure dreamers and active artists alike. The colors bend in unison. And, they come to the same end. Rainbows offer so many possibilities to enter flow. Let’s look at this a little closer.

Flow found in rainbows
Follow the rainbow to find flow.

Rainbows Bend all Colors

When rainbows bend they are not selective. The green bends as well as the yellow. Or blue. And if you see moods in relation to color, it helps to view rainbows availability. Look at the simple correlation between color and mood:

  • yellow can be sunny, happy, optimistic
  • orange can be silly, funny, lively
  • green can be invigorating, productive, prolific
  • blue can be sad, depressed, or even seen as secure
  • purple can be mystical, and often seen as royal
  • red can be anger, rage, or fully energized

We can be in any range of moods and still enter flow – just as these colors all line up and use the same curve in unison. When we take a heartbeat to notice this observation, then we can allow ourselves to get to work. Regardless of how the day is playing out, we can still enter flow exactly as we are. No more excuses. Just head into the creative curve.

The Boundless Possibilities of Rainbows

Gently as a lullaby, rainbows can transport us. Dorothy sings in the opening scenes of her desire to be transported over the rainbow. We can travel rainbows – or our creativity – and find our own adventures by allowing ourselves to enter flow. Who knows what kind of writing project might take shape – an editorial, an essay, a stage play, or a novel – as we follow our instincts.

Your Turn to Follow the Rainbow

Think about the offer a rainbow makes to you. Regardless of your mood, it asks you to create something colorful. One word at a time. Try writing about the mood you are in and see it through the color that corresponds to your mood. Write for 15 minutes. See where it leads you!

Here’s to growing YOUR flow,

Marisa

 

 

 

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Risk and Reward: Being a Beginner Boosts Creativity

Enter Creative Flow by Starting Anew

When your words leap from the page to the stage it creates courage.

Sometimes to get to a greater level of creativity, you take risks to find rewards. And I speak from a newfound love of script writing. I just retuned from the 41st International Women’s Writing Guild’s (IWWG) Summer Conference. A member since 2009, I have missed only once to serve as a bridesmaid in my youngest sister’s wedding. This year I went way, way out on a literary limb – a big risk for this poet, essayist, and professional business writer – to create, workshop, and stage my first 10 minute play.

 Surrendering to Reality

It is hard not to act like the proverbial kid in a candy store at this gorgeous writers’ conference. I crammed my pockets of time – all five sessions – with courses to feast upon all week. Or so I thought.  From a Pose and Pen yoga opener to a food-inspired workshop that spilled into the afternoon offerings of script writing for both stage and screen, and a final mixed-media and writing art class. I wanted it all. The first two days of the script writing classes were brain stormers. But when I began writing for the stage, I stepped out of the banquet line.  My schedule collapsed down to writing, editing, and revising the play. Blame it on exhaustion. I thought I could go full tilt, even participating in the evening open mic reading and going out afterwards with friends, then write when I got back to my room. However, my hopes took a cryptic turn when my keyboard hand placement was off and the play’s title read “G:PE” instead of “FLOW”. So I decided to begin in earnest after I slept a few hours.

Risk taking is a surefire way to promote creativity.
The Nuts and Bolts of Beginnership

What I learned from play veteran, Kelly DuMar, was script basics, which I applied at warp speed. I shortened the dialogue sequences to make the exchanges more natural. I agreed to the placement of a main character fainted on a chair instead of flat on the floor as it occurred in the actual event. Detailed stage directions got turned into further dialogue. And after workshopping the piece, I didn’t fight the Truman Capotesque move to kill my darlings – silent stock characters – by the instructor. I succeeded in this entire exercise, because I remembered that I was a student and as such was learning to create something radically different from what I typically wrote.

And With the Risk Came the Reward

To see my words leap off the page and take the form of a woman, a student, a dying man on a subway station floor, and a seated group of five instructors whose lessons carried beyond the classroom, left me awestruck. And to hear the audience’s applause as the experimental work came to an end was likened to an alarm clock. It jolted a slumbering part of my creative self. I was ready to venture forth and write and edit more of the same. The reward eluded the risk of failure. And it resonated deeply in my bones that this task had somehow brought me home.

Now It’s Your Turn!

What type of writing have you been putting off? I encourage you to step onto the stage of your heart’s desire and experiment with words. Try your hand at a personal essay. Or compose a poem using a traditional form for framework such as a haiku or a villanelle. Here’s to your creativity when taking on a risk to find your own reward!

Until next time,

Marisa