Tag: Julia Cameron

If you write it . . .

One of my all-time favorite movies is Field of Dreams (1989; Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee 1990). Baseball, Iowa, James Earl Jones, Shoeless Joe, dreams, hopes, tears . . . sigh. I first watched Field of Dreams in a lecture hall my freshman year of college on dollar movie night. I remember hiding my face as I left the “theater,” embarrassed and red and puffy and emotionally drained. To this day, twenty-three years later, I can’t watch the movie and not cry at the ending. It’s physically impossible. In fact, Joe and I take a bus trip down to Baltimore every September to see the Yankees play the Orioles, and the man who runs the bus trip always plays a baseball DVD for the two-hour or so ride down. My husband, Joe, cringes when Bus Trip Man pops in Field of Dreams because he knows I’ll be a mess. Joe sees the opening and rolls his eyes and plugs himself into his iPod. He can’t understand how I can cry at the ending of a movie I’ve seen a billion times.

[Just as an aside, I deleted from this space an entire paragraph on Titanic because it really has nothing to do with my point of this post, which I do plan on getting to shortly. I can’t talk about sap or movies (two of my favorite things) without landing on Titanic. But I’ll save that for another post and try to get to my point. My blogging chops are out of practice, I guess. Focus, Jess.  Focus!]

“If you build it, he will come.” In the movie Ray (Kevin Costner), somewhat recklessly risks his family’s farm and livelihood by listening to the voices in his head urging him to transform his corn field into a baseball field. “Ease his pain.” “Go the distance.” “People will come.” Ray’s brother-in-law, the angry voice of reason, urges him to get a grip and sell the farm or the family will be bankrupt. Ray doesn’t listen. He trusts the voices in his head. He doesn’t have to sell the farm because “people will come.”

So what would happen if Ray hadn’t listened to the voices? If he caved to the fear and planted crops instead of a baseball diamond, or sold the farm? Not only would it make for a crap-ass movie, but in the fantasy world of Field of Dreams the people wouldn’t come and Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other “Black Sox” would be up in heaven, instead of in Iowa entertaining the masses.

What made me think of this movie, and its famous line:  “If you build it, he will come.” Welllll, I was looking for writing inspiration and like a magnet my hand found Julia Cameron and The Right to Write, one of my go-to inspirational writing books. In the chapter titled “Making It,” Ms. Cameron writes of how commitment triggers positive opportunities. “First we must commit,” she says, “then the universe follows the direction pointed by our commitment.” Synchronicity.  She goes on:

We commit, then the Universe commits. We are the cause, the Universe delivers the effect. We act internally and the Universe acts externally.

***

I believe that if one of us cares enough to write something, someone else will care enough to read it. We are all in this together, I believe, and our writing and reading one another is a powerful comfort to us all.

The universe is not, to my eye, a cruel and capricious place. I believe that our desire to write is a deep-seated human drive to communicate and that it is answered by an equally powerful human drive to be communicated to. In other words, for ever writer there is a reader– or many readers.

Thus, if you write it, he/she/they will come. What do you think? Do you think that for every writer there is a reader? Do you believe that the universe “follows the direction pointed by our commitment?”

I sort of do. I believe that effort and commitment are enough to guarantee success. Of course, my definition of success may be different than yours. In my mind, the fact that you are reading this blog post that I wrote is “success.” I put it out there, you are reading it, and something that I’m saying hopefully matters to you. I love the idea that for every writer, there’s a reader.

Ray knew his plan to ditch the corn field for a baseball diamond was nuts. He knew it was impractical and didn’t make sense, but he followed his instincts and his dream and with the support of his wife, he did it anyway . . . oh my god, my eyes are tearing. . . I better wrap this up . . .  Ray committed and the Universe provided . . . and then his dad . . . sniff sniff . . . I can’t . . .

While I grab a tissue, I’m curious. What do you think of JC’s words? If you believe that the Universe will provide you a reader, does the effort and time and vulnerability necessary to write become any less scary?

If you write it, they will come. Yes? No? Feel free to discuss. Or not. Just throwing it out there.

I leave you with a Field of Dreams quote, but first, in case you were wondering, Driving Miss Daisy won the Best Picture Academy Award the year FOD was nominated. Also, according to Wikipedia, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were spectators at the Red Sox game in the film. How did I miss that? I guess I’ll have to watch again! (Joe will be thrilled, haha). Onto the quote:

Terence Mann (James Earl Jones):  Ray, people will come Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say. It’s only $20 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

(Quote:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/quotes)

 

On Being in the Mood…

Do you ever find that you are not in the mood to write? That you’d rather just sit and veg out, or sleep, or stare at a blank wall? That you’d rather do anything other than fire up the laptop? Do you have days where writing or blogging seem like a gargantuan effort and you feel paralyzed?

In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron explains:

Being in the mood to write, like being in the mood to make love, is a luxury that isn’t necessary in a long-term relationship.  Just as the first caress can lead to a change of heart, the first sentence, however tentative and awkward, can lead to a desire to go just a little further.  All of us have a sex drive.  All of us have a drive to write.

And later in the chapter, which is aptly titled “Mood”:

Doing it all the time, whether or not we are in the mood, gives us ownership of our writing ability.  It takes it out of the realm of conjuring where we stand on the rock of isolation, begging the winds for inspiration, and it makes it something as do-able as picking up a hammer and pounding a nail.  Writing may be an art, but it is certainly a craft.  It is a simple and workable thing that can be as steady and reliable as a chore– does that ruin the romance?

There are days when I love the blank screen and the blinking cursor, and there are days when I feel it taunting me. I find that as Ms. Cameron suggests, typing out one sentence can bring me to the story and get me going, even though that first sentence feels a lot more like work than romance.  Still, sometimes those few barfed up words are enough to put me into that writing trance.

Do you know the trance of which I speak?  Have you ever been writing, with no idea of the time or your surroundings, and then revisit your physical being and realize you are breathing deep, long, yoga-like breaths?  Or look at the clock and discover that an hour has passed which felt like mere minutes? Or check your word count and realize you banged out 800 words without effort?

It happens like that for me. It’s existentially delightful.

Whether or not you start off “in the mood,” the littlest effort can put you right into that trance where you transform from that harried parent, disgruntled worker, and busy earthly creature into “Writer.”  Which I, as someone who loves to write, think may be one of the best feelings in the world.

Thanks for reading.  If you are interested, here’s a link to my previous post discussing Julia Cameron’s wonderful book.  Keep writing 🙂

Lovers on the Run

As a working mom of a special needs child, I often struggle with time issues. I try my best to give work my full attention during the daytime hours, and my kids and husband my full attention during the hours after work and on weekends (with the exception of my twice a week yoga classes).

Although I’ve been told that I don’t have enough time for myself, I think this arrangement is fair to all parties. I don’t want to spend my time with my husband and kids engrossed in my laptop, or tapping on the iPad, so I try to save those activities until “Me Time.” However, on some nights, by the time “Me Time” rolls around I’m exhausted.  I hear my bed calling me, begging me to come get warm under the down comforter, and rest my tired body on the blissful perfectness that is our king-sized Tempur-Pedic mattress.

Most nights I can resist the call to sleep, because I know that I won’t have another opportunity to write until the next night. Also, who knows what the next night will bring? Maybe a kid will get sick or have issues falling asleep, or someone will call wanting to talk. Life happens, at all hours of the day and night, so I try to take advantage of every spare moment possible.

The following quote is from Julia Cameron’s book The Right to Write, a wonderful book from a wonderful author, given to me by a wonderful friend.

If we learn to write from the sheer love of writing, there is always enough time, but time must be stolen like a quick kiss between lovers on the run.

I circled this passage as I read the book. Writing is my “lover on the run.” We meet up after I put the kids to sleep, whenever possible, and we make the short time we have together worth every second.

Ms. Cameron goes on to write:

The trick to finding writing time, then, is to write from love and not with an eye to product. Don’t try to write something perfect; just write. Don’t try to write the whole megillah; just start the whole megillah. Yes, it is daunting to think of finding time to write an entire novel, but it is not so daunting to think of finding time to write a paragraph, even a sentence. And paragraphs, made of sentences, are what novels are really made of.

I love this advice. Instead of saying, “I don’t have time to do it all,” say, “I do have time to do some. Even if it’s not perfect.” A bunch of “some’s” eventually will turn into an “all,” and before you know it, you’ve managed to accomplish something you’ve desired–in my case, barf out a couple of novels in dire need of editing.  But still. I did it. I did it while reminding myself that the pages wouldn’t be perfect, and by proceeding paragraph by paragraph, hour by hour.  I thought about quitting, and spent some time in television mode and reading mode, but eventually persevered and got the first drafts done.

Later, Ms. Cameron advises:

The trick to finding writing time is to make writing time in the life you’ve already got. That’s where you’ve got leverage. Stop imagining some other life as a “real” writer’s life. Key West sunsets do not make a writer’s life. Trust funds do not fund the flow of ideas. All lives are writers’ lives because all of us are writers.

I see truth in these words.  Whenever we say “we can’t” because of X, Y, or Z, we close the door and block out something that can enrich our lives. Yeah, maybe we can’t write for eight hours every day, or spend the days playing tennis, or reading, or whatever it is we would like to do because we have to work. Maybe we can’t hang out with our friends every night, or sit in front of the television to watch a marathon of Lifetime movies because we have to take care of the kids. Maybe we can’t see a personal trainer or go to the gym as often as we’d prefer because we haven’t the cash or the time. But even though we can’t do these things to the extent we would like, having an “all or nothing” attitude isn’t the answer.

Make time in the life you’ve already got, Ms. Cameron says. That’s what I try to do with my writing- make time in the life I’ve got. Because I know that carving out time to write makes me feel happy and gives me a sense of personal satisfaction which trickles out to all aspects of my life.

I hope you all carve out time in your lives- minutes, hours, whatever you can manage- to do something you love. It’s worth the effort– and that Tempur-Pedic will still be there when you are ready to rest!