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Monday, August 30, 2010

A Full Mind and a Blank Writing Slate

“The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.”—Vladimir Nabokov
My writing slate today is blank for this blog. A chapter I’m writing consumes my creativity and my mind. One quote “Birds fly because they think they can” started my creative process churning. The first 250 words of the chapter practically wrote themselves and then—nothing. Research about the specific bird featured in this chapter generated no creative ideas. Not one. Even the Bible verses seem obtuse. Yet, like talons gripping its prey, the topic refused to release me from its grip.

I wondered, How do I employ this bird’s spiritual and physical characteristics in a fresh way to apply a spiritual truth? Much of what I researched or read about the bird in question sounded trite or dull, at least to me.

I began by re-saving my research into a new document. I highlighted fascinating ideas or thoughts that grabbed my heart and deleted uninteresting information. Then I listed seven possible talking points. In the dark of the night, one talking point woke me up with a spiritual application that amazed me.

At times clarifying an idea into thoughts into writable prose moves forward at glacial speed and other times it speeds along at Mach 1, faster than the speed of typing fingers. If only we could patent Mach 1 Ink that penetrates our mind at the speed of light.

Contest Winner: Reba won the copy of Susan May Warren's latest book, Licensed for Trouble.

3 comments:

Beth K. Vogt said...

Write. Stop and ponder. Write. Stop and ponder. Sometimes that is the rhythm of the writing process. And sometimes it is more stop and ponder than write, isn't it?
Can't wait to see what's on that page!

Jeanne Takenaka said...

Scoti,
As a "newbie" writer, I appreciated your words. It was also interesting to me to read how you process and purpose to keep the writing moving forward. May God continue to fill your mind and heart with His spiritual truths and ideas!

Unknown said...

Jeanne, I'm still slugging my way through the chapter and managed to crank out 800 words that I feel pretty good about. Even though the chapter was not finished, I figured out the flow. I sent what I wrote to my critique group. If you are in a critique group, that's a great place to brainstorm ideas, when the going gets tough.