Writing resources, advice, prompts, and some links to good writing.
Friday, May 21, 2004Open to observe
Tom Montag posted some interesting thoughts on writing and on observing life in his "Some Notes on This Habit of Writing":
The world is full of its million surprises.
Part of my success as a chronicler of my time and place is due to the fact that I'm open to what comes to me, to the extent that I'm able to resist having expectations. Insisting on what you expect to see will blind you to the gifts of serendipity. As soon as you start thinking the world is a certain way, it will be different than that.
That could be said about life in general.
For as long as I can remember I've had a tendency to be so stuck in my own head that I often fail to stop and observe, to just look and listen and see what happens. I'm not sure why this is, maybe it's a natural introversion or being born sensitive so that protecting myself from unexpected jolts from my environment became habitual. But over the years, I've gotten used to and even welcoming of those unexpected jolts. For instance, where thunderstorms used to send me hiding in the basement as a child, I find them very exciting to watch and experience (safely, of course) as an adult. Meeting new people as a child meant mutely clinging to my mother whereas today in my work as a freelance writer I meet new clients and do phone interviews with strangers all the time without a second thought.
But learning to get out of my head and to be open to observe in my daily life takes conscious effort. The habit of writing is a great way to practice this -- after all, what am I going to blog about if I don't look around and observe and think about things?! I'm smart enough to know that the incessant ramblings in my head are not what anyone wants to read about. It's even boring for me to write about. No, I must do as Rebecca Blood recommended (and Tom Montag echoes): "Pay attention. Notice little things… Listen. Listen harder." In other words, be open to the world's million surprises, its gifts of serendipity.
