An Unfinished Work (Blogging Elsewhere)

“A work of creation is a work of love, and that love is the most ruthless of all the passions, sparing neither itself, nor its object, nor the obstacles that stand in its way.” ~ Dorothy Sayers, The Mind of the Maker

A month or so ago, I joined a group of friends and Julie's blog Greener Trees to work our way through Dorothy Sayers' The Mind of the Maker. This was my second time reading the book (in a year! I never do that), and I definitely got so much more out of it this time. I'm grateful for wise friends who delight in wonder, beauty, and creativity and are willing to tackle this dense, rich work together.

Anyway, Julie invited some of us to share thoughts from a week's reading, and this week it's my turn! If you feel so inclined to read it, my post "An Unfinished Work" is now up at Greener Trees.

While you're at it, check out some more wonderful thoughts from the first four weeks of our study. Like I said, I have smart friends. And they have good things to say.

To lift a line from Sayers, "The universe is not a finished work." It's a story still in the making, with a loving Author determined to see it through to the end.


PS: If you found your way here by way of the guest post or some link or tweet... welcome! :)

What's going on?

So I'm writing things, but not here. In the interest of putting something on the blog, here's a little link dump of things I've been up to, for anyone that might be interested.

• The new Andrew Peterson album Light for the Lost Boy releases in a little over a month, and I'm reviewing it for JFH. This geeks me out terribly. Also this record is currently blowing my mind and breaking my heart. It's that good. I can't wait for you to hear it. In the meantime, here's a teaser preview I wrote. And for a little peek behind the scenes of one of my favorite tracks (the one that made me yell out loud the first time I heard it), here's an older Rabbit Room post about the making of the record.
  
• In other music news, check out Under the Radar's list of the Best Albums of the First Half of 2012 and Must-Download Songs of 2012A. Better yet, you can hear some of the best tracks on Episode #193 of the UTR podcast. I got to contribute as a member of the Critic's Panel. This also geeks me out terribly.
  
• Usually, when I fall out of one kind of writing, it's because I'm retreating into another. So while things have been slow at Divinest Sense, I've had a few updates to my sorta secret poetry Tumblr. If that's your thing and you haven't been there in a while, please go have a peek at the new stuff.
  
• And instead of putting this link dump together, I was supposed to be writing a guest post for my friend Julie's blog Greener Trees. A small group of us have been discussing Dorothy Sayers' book The Mind of the Maker this summer, and it's my turn to write about it. Eep! Whether you've read the book or not, I encourage you to go check out some of the recent postings and insights there. I'm grateful to have such wise friends that think theology and creativity make for good summer reading. :)

So there's an update. What's going on with you?

"To the lonely sea and sky"

Summer is for the ocean, high adventure, and feeling a little nerdy excited reading about it.


This was in my inbox today, courtesy of Poets.org. I remember reading it years ago in some class somewhere, but I'd forgotten about it until now.


Enjoy!





Sea Fever
by John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking,

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

Practicing Out Loud

I'm a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my art. Okay, maybe more than a little bit. But aren't most of us?

This is less true in other areas of my life. Rules are made to be loosely interpreted. (the speed limit is really 5 mph over the sign, right?) The inside of my car is a wreck half the time. (the other half being when I can't stand it anymore and throw everything in a bag) My beloved book collection is so unorganized I sometimes discover things I forgot I had. (Hey, Oliver Twist! Who knew?)

But writing, ahh... that's another thing. I fuss and I fret and I read it about 50 times, looking for grammar errors and punctuation and mixed metaphors. Letting go is such a struggle. It's even worse with poetry, because there, in perhaps more than any other form of writing, everything hinges on the right words, the right rhythm, the right line breaks and feeling.

The other day, I was flipping through one of my notebooks, the one I take to the occasional writing class or seminar I happen to find, and rediscovered a little advice from a workshop I attended a few months ago. When asked how you know when a poem is done and ready, Ilya Kaminsky gave this advice: "It's not. It's ready when you're tired of working on it."

(Read that again, but with a Russian accent and a good sense of humor. It was wonderful.)

It reminded me a little bit too of a post on Jeff Goins' blog advising writers to practice, not just secretly, in notebook scribbles and dreams, but boldly, out loud, free to mess up and keep learning:

"Real writers practice... I’m not talking about rehearsal. I’m talking about doing what musicians and boxers and lion tamers all do in order to get ready for their work. To become awesome at their crafts.  

They practice in public  

In other words, they perform. They go to work. Get stuff done. They stop stalling and playing around and actually do the stuff."

That's a blow to my perfectionistic pride if I ever saw one. Practice in public? Yeah, that's terrifying.

It's also so incredibly freeing and healthy.

One way I've attempted to practice out loud was joining a Twitter poetry chat hosted by TweetSpeak Poetry a couple weeks ago, a sort of poetry jam where prompts were given and 13 writers tossed lines and fragments into the chat, riffing on each other's ideas.

It freaked. me. out. At first, anyway. Finally, after lurking for some time, I dashed off a quick line and threw it out there. Before long, I was caught in the little word-storm, and watching beautiful things happen. Everyone was so talented and the work was so beautifully raw, and when I finally worked up the nerve to offer something, it was such a rush.

It was practicing out loud. And very good for the soul.

Twelve stunning poems were later woven from all of that, which you can read here and here. I took a few bits and wrote my own piece, "Hum." It's astonishing to see such beauty born of chaos, but perhaps that's the nature of creation.

All this to say... find a way to practice out loud this week. Whatever your craft is, whatever scares you, do it. And then, perhaps, come back and let me know how it goes.

There is art inside you, and the world is waiting for it.

{Guest Post} Tattooed Mermaids and ADD

Doing something a little different with the guest post this month... please welcome Aj Luck! She's a dear writer friend with stories to tell, and I'm so happy to introduce you to her today! (And given the subject of her story, I'll keep the intro short. Enjoy.)

Earlier this year I was given an official diagnosis of A D D.

I suppose it should come as no shock to me, yet it did.

I mean, I have always been easily distracted, unfocused and flippant throughout my life.

I AM CLASSIC- TEXTBOOK- SQUIRREL - ADD QUEEN!!

Seriously!

I’d find a project, get amped up, start it, then eventually get discouraged, distracted or battle fear of failure (as well as fear of success) and enevitably QUIT. Later, I would go on to something else and sadly repeat the pattern over and over and over again....

The consequence of this is me struggling my entire life with depression, low self-esteem, frustration and anxiety.

I have tried so hard to "figure out" what I was SUPPOSED to do with my life all the while ignoring what I loved to do.

I looked to people to define me, approve me and sustain me.

That never works by the way.

I have always loved to write, but fear kept me from really stepping out of my comfort zone. I would dabble with one toe in but was never able to commit to jumping off the pier into the ocean. I never believed I was good enough... just being.... me. Again...

F E A R of rejection.

So, I decided I needed to be like some of the more successful writers. I read their books, blogs, magazine articles and podcasts.

Then I tried to mimic them. Something inside of me died. I got discouraged because it never turned out right. Something was off.

I was forgetting to be... me. I was hiding behind insecurity. I was burying my gifts and talents. I was regurgitating someone else's efforts.

I had what I call the George Mc Fly syndrome.

"What if I try really hard and they don't like it, what if they say it's no good. I just don't think I could handle that kind of rejection!"

Now on top of everything else... I was...

-gasp- LABELED!

I had ADD!

:(

My doctor, whom I love and trust, knew I was starting to mentally to shut down.

She spoke up.

“It’s ok!” she said.

"Do you REALLY think I have A D D?"

Laughing a little, she sighed "absolutely."

It was times like this, the uncomfortable ones, that I would rather hide, curl up with my journal or a good book instead of facing something that made me uneasy.

In fact, my journal was exactly what I wanted at that very moment. I didn't want to necessarily make an entry... more of the fact it was, and is, my security blanket. In my journal, I can be me -- no boundaries, no judgments, no perceptions to try and live up to.

Then softly she offered these words to me:

"Some people see ADD/ ADHD as a curse, but really it is a gift."

I looked up at her with a raised curious eyebrow but said nothing.

She continued, “This was God's way of giving us a creative license to think outside of the box. To look beyond the box, analyze it, see a solution, a storyline, an inspiraton, a mansion -- anything but JUST a box.

We are the Creatives in the Kingdom. We NEED the ADD. It helps us dream deeper, love more, reach further and impact greater -- only in ways that to the rest of the world may seem weird or strange.

So, instead of being discouraged for being labeled as different, I now embrace it, treasuring the gift God has entrusted me with.

I now look at my desires, my giftings and my talents and see them as the puzzle pieces that complete who I was meant to be all along.

Yes, to some we may be wired different, think different, talk different, dream different, write different, draw different, sing different etc...but that is because we ARE DIFFERENT... and I could not imagine wanting to be any other way.

Besides, wouldn't the world be a better place with more tattooed mermaids?!

I think so too!!

Let’s dive into our oceans and make a splash that can be felt around the world!

It's okay...stand up, stand out and be the YOU that GOD created YOU to BE!!

Until next time,

See ya on the Random Side,

Aj Luck

Aj Luck is an author, blogger, bookworm, wife and mommy. She loves to write children's books, spiritual thrillers and inspirational books. She also has a dedicated blog geared to encouraging and helping women who have suffered / struggle with abuse. www.shatteredperspectives.com  

In her spare time she can be found nursing cold Diet Cokes and searching for awesome bargains in nearby thrift stores. She resides in Florida with her hubby, son, 2 dogs and the biggest diva of a siamese cat ever. You can email her at aj@shatteredperspectives.com, follow her on Twitter @ajluck, and visit her Randomness of Luck blog at www.randomnessofluck.com