Ruminations on a Beach Walk

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago. I am full of gratitude as I walk the beach on this beautiful morn. The thoughts of the lying, corruption and greed that is so disturbingly inherent in today’s society have deserted me. Thank God. In the bring sunshine, all around me are millions of seashells, some still clinging to the bright green seaweed that the ocean just ejected. It is a sobering thought that each one of these little seashells had a life and thus has a story.

Writing Ideas Flow When We Change our Venue

Almost immediately writing ideas began to flow. Thoughts of times in the past when writing was hard remind me that a change of venue, for me the best is the ocean, woke my muse. I came to a rock jetty and decided I’d risk painful knees and walk out to the end. If you’ve never walked a jetty, you might not know how carefully you have to choose each boulder you are going to make your next step on before you step. Sometimes there isn’t an easy way to proceed and you have to scramble down one boulder and back up another one before you can go on to the next boulder.

Is it really Writer’s Block or Something Else?

Isn’t this a lot like writing? Sometimes the words flow and then there are the times when stymied on how to get to the next word you’re stopped in your tracks. I don’t believe in writer’s block. I think sometimes writers become lazy and don’t want to do the work of finding the right next word so they procrastinate and soon find themselves out of a good writing habit. The only thing to do is write your way back.

I suggest changing your venue. Of course, not everyone has an ocean nearby to run away to, hence my gratitude. Other places will wake up your muse. For me it is always water. If you cannot get to the ocean for that rhythmic tidal flow of water, look for the nearest lake. Some writers might find the mountains inspiring.

Walk yourself into a Story

Walking is also a great way to set aside the mundane events of life and bring the creative thoughts forward. Walking is not only good exercise, but there is something about the rhythm of putting one foot after another that also reaches our creative depths. It is good to bring along a small pad and a pencil to record those thoughts as they come.

As I walk the beach, I’m watching a flock of sandpipers running back and forth with the flow of the tide, digging out and eating the little crabs. Immediately I wonder is it possible that we humans look like these little sandpipers to some creatures who might be watching us from outer space? AHA there might be a story in that thought.

Plodder, Planner, Plunger – Which are You?

What kind of writer are you? Faced with a writing project, how you advance, is determined by your character traits. I’m a planner. On longer writings, I make an outline but for shorter pieces, I only need to have an idea of my main focus and important points that show that focus. That’s when I’m comfortable.  I know some writers say planning takes away the creativity. They plunge right in without knowing where they are going.

Patterns of behavior signify our unique personalities. It is especially valuable for writers to understand how personality patterns direct their decision-making. A writer’s character is behind every word written and that is a thought that occasionally stops some writers in their tracks. Writers placated by certain personality traits are comfortable only within narrow perimeters and are less often willing to move into new writing arenas. 

The Paradox

Successful writers deal with becoming so popular in one genre that they find it difficult to change what has been the status quo of their writing. They feel it is too large a risk of losing some of their readers if they try something new. Without being willing to stretch and grow in new directions and developing new paradigms, a writer becomes bored, boring and stale.

Learning More about our Personality Traits

Building a writing career that is fulfilling to the writer as well as the reader takes introspection on the part of the writer. It behooves a writer to practice self-analysis to ascertain the best way to marry your personality traits with your writing career. Are you spontaneous or do you like routine. If you are the former, you will need to find ways to feed your muse but if you are the latter, you will want to affix a time of time to write every day. Are you extroverted or introverted? Knowing might determine whether you would be comfortable in a writing group. Understanding how your traits affect your writing allows you the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and do something you are not comfortable doing.

                                                                       Jung's Theory

As a writer/teacher, I have studied Jung’s theories regarding our psyches operating on two levels – the conscious and the unconscious. We may be conscious of some of our personality traits but it takes serious analysis to uncover what might be going on at the unconscious level. Just think that might be exactly where the best writing happens.

There are those that say personality traits cannot change. We are who we are and that’s that.  I wholehearted disagree with that notion. I feel sorry for the many individuals who live out their lives in denial of the fact that working on changing parts of their personality that are holding them back would give them a richer, fuller life. This is, of course, quite true for writers.  Planning, plodding or plunging are all fine ways to operate a writing career if the writer is happy with the results.

Which are you