A Commitment to Creativity

As the search for an agent continues, the Muses don't stop whispering in my ear. I could of course buy earplugs, but something tells me that's not going to be enough. It never is. Expression. I need to channel the creativity into something and that something has just come around the corner in the form of 'Asian Daily Paintings'.

What is Asian Daily Paintings? It's an initiative set forward by Elsie Evans and myself to get a gathering of local and expat artists together and paint on a daily base. There are several rewards, the most obvious one is a collection of art, which we can then sell to the public or decorate our house with, but it goes further. Discipline, commitment, practice and the rhythm of creativity are the rewards that follow in a venture like this. Also it is nice to get local exposure and who knows what can come from that, right? Maybe a staff member of a hotel sees the art and suggests it to her boss, who then wants to contract the artist for an assignment. Or a random browse on the Internet by a journalist leads to curiosity enough to write an article about it. Maybe a friend of a friend who sees one of the paintings at his place decides to Google the artist and sees other creative projects (like Sesame Maps or Aelemental) he is doing.

The exposure and sale of art are of course great, but by-products of what's really important: the joy and fun in creating something spontaneous. Direct results. Not too much planning or thought - after all, you have to do one a day. Right now it takes me under an hour to paint a piece. I'm starting easy with a series called 'Glyphs'. They are 30cm x 30cm (sometimes larger, but as an exception to the rule) white canvases with a black abstract symbol painted on to it accompanied by one color.

It hearkens back to my university years when I used to doodle. While I listened to one monologue or another I would let my hand wander and scribble a few swirly lines, which I would then connect and 'flesh out'. An object or image of a concept would somehow always appear, which I would then give more character by adding a few color enhancements. I came up with dozens in my time, but of course they all got thrown out in my big move to Africa in 2002.

Now I'm redefining my creative expressions. Not with a young adult novel or scavenger maps for traveling kids (both pending representation). Not with 'i2u', my pro bono community IT work (which is pending backup with a web site and other promotional material). No, I'm going with painting. Besides...I still have 23 hours left in the day to do the rest, right?

Plotting Forward the Asian Way

Sawadee Krap.

That's how you say 'hello' in Thailand. I don't know much Thai, but that is one of the things I have learned in the two years the Claxtons have been in Thailand. One would have thought I would have picked up more Thai by now. But that's not the only thing I should have picked up. I should have taken a cue of how they drive and styled my writing after it.

What do I mean? Allow me to explain. I firmly believe (convinced by many a writer's manual/podcast/blog out there) that once the plot is done, you should just start writing. Don't look back, just keep going, ignoring inconsistencies you know are in the story, characters that say or do things that don't necessarily mesh with what you had in mind for them and, yes, even syntax errors. In fact, had I learned that, the previous sentence would have looked like this:

'Don't loko back just keep going, ignring inconsistenceis you know are int he story, caracters that say or do thigns that dont necesarily mesh with what you had in mind for them and yes even sntax erors.'

After all - the computer is friendly enough to throw red dotted underlines all over the screen, so I can correct it afterwards. And even after that: someone has to make the editor later feel good about herself.

My point being is that when writing, the only guarantee to get to the first draft is to just keep tapping at that keyboard. And I have yet to master that. And that is if I even GET to writing in the first place. The setting up of this blog alone cost me the better part of the day yesterday! Not too mention I'm trying to lose weight (I weighed 204 pounds/93 kilo - converting that by the way cost me another 30 seconds), shop for groceries, have lunch breaks, coffee breaks, rest breaks and pee breaks!!! How am I ever going to get past chapter 15 like that?

There is focused light at the end of the activity crowded tunnel though. I meditate. It helps me focus. Period. I feel that it's a good investment of time if it allows me to ignore reading e-mail until lunch time, stop directionless surfing the Internet and getting mired down in n-th generation linked webpages that nowhere resemble the topic I originally started out on. Ten minutes of calming my hyper-active mind down and ten minutes of active listening to my breath produces a day worth of focused concentration on tickling the plastic cobblestones to story heaven.

(I know...I'm not a poet - but I don't care to go back and edit the sentence - SEE? it works!)

So when I am in the zone, that is how they drive in Asia. They look forward, and maybe just a little to the left or right, but never backwards (the rearview mirror is to gaze with humor at the panic stricken foreigners in the back, who think this ride might be their last). But it works. They all do it, so looking 100% forward eliminates the need for the driver in front of him to split his attention to 50% forward and 50% backward.

Well, technically it's maybe 90% forward and 10% to the sides (never is good to drive onto the sidewalk and squish people). Which is what I am doing. I'll write forward 90% ignoring all that went before trusting on the road to take me where I want and the momentum of the vehicle to propel me forward. This blog then is the sidewalk on each side - a guideline to make sure I stay on track.

Gotta go! My Muses are on the horn!