Considering the art of being an author, it has been said (and I believe it, have even feel it when being ‘in the zone’) that the words must come from the soul. Of course the soul never went to grammar school or took writing classes, and for sure it is not any kind of ‘Little Miss Tidy. ”It’ (since it may not have a gender, for now the soul is an ‘it’) only wants to express ‘itself’ in some way – or in a lot of ways. I like that. It means there is no definite test to determine when the soul is or isn’t expressing. We will feel it in our own way.
An urge to put something into writing is a soul activity. This means that I should not look for any perfection in the task, and perfection is certainly expected of potential writers. But we must resist. The soul has no time for tidiness or perfection. When things are too tidy it means that no authentic living is happening. When you watch a child ‘in full play mode’ there is pure life happening and not much thought to tidiness. Watching a child over any length of time is like watching a crazy soul story unfolding. Notice how much we adults are attracted to that soul-like freedom!
I have always enjoyed listening to story tellers and have not felt any compulsion to put in corrections when they wandered off the beaten path of ‘good syntax’ in their delivery. But when story-tellers begin to put their stories on the page, things change…our culture wants a degree of excellence that would garner the most return in the marketplace. The marketplace. Sounds like a burden, a place with walls. My pen feels heavier already, thinking about being tied to any book or program of ‘how to be a successful writer.’
I want to be a writer. Why? Not because I think I have something the world is waiting to read, (except when I do think that!) but because I have a fantasy that my few words would spark others to set aside their self-imposed limitations (limitations that I am still struggling with in my own writing) and pick up a pen and paper. Holding a pen and looking at a clean sheet of paper seems to generate something inside that cannot be explained except by one word…Essence. Think about that.
What matters is that we write, or dance, or paint, or build. There is no opportune time in which to begin, and there is never a ‘too late to do so’ point in our lives. If this senior can do it, then why not you…and you…and you?
Rich