Feeding Off One Another

The lightning spark of thought generated in the solitary mind awakens its likeness in another mind.’

— Thomas Carlyle

Last night I experienced one of the best musical values in the Twin Cities. for a mere $12, I got to see three extrodinary local bands in one place. Savage Aural Hotbed, Felonious Bosch, and Sendero Flamenco were all playing friday Night at the Loring Theater in Minneapolis.

Sendero Flamenco was a trio with 2 flamenco guitarists, and a flamenco dancer/percussionist. Not only did the dancer respond to the guitars, but the guitars responded to the dancer. After they perfeormer for about 45 minutes, the next band came on stage.

Felonious Bosch incorporates, rock, folk, jazz, and traditional music in a very unique way that will almost remind you of something you've heard before, eventhough they are quite unique. In true chameleon fashion, they blend effortlessly as they invite Sendero Flamenco back out to join them for a song. Later, the next transition comes when Savage Aural Hotbed appears and starts making music out of things you'll find at the mechanics.

By the end of the night, all three bands are playing together as if they are one entity, which, at least for the night, they are.

It's been a long time since I've actually written with another writer, but taking time to appreciate different styles is importtant to help you grow as a writer, and as a reader as well. While writers obviously don't want to copy one another, we find seeds in one anothers work all the time, cultivate them in new ways and let them grow into something that is completely our own.

One of the great things about being a writer is although writers do compete with one another, we tend to wish each other the best. One writer doing well will only make another better. So when we hold ourselves to a high standard, we make other writers better at the same time. And that's a good thing. Because in the end, we all get what we need.

Do You Still Love to Write?

There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind has achieved the second.
Logan Pearsall Smith

Over the past few days I've been restructuring my website, trying to get it to reflect how I want to present myself as a writer and also find a way to draw traffic. The whole SEO thing is a constant learning experience, but I am learning. I still have a lot of tweaking, but I've got the structure mostly down-- at least for now. Now it's back to writing articles, and blogs, and whatever else I find the time and inspiration to write.

One of my new goals is to better utilize my website, my blog, and my writing Facebook page, which I have now linked to Twitter. Part of that means making regular updates, and despite this blog being called "Write of the Day" I've not done well with it.

And so, I am hunting for quotes on writing, inspiration, goals, and posting on my site's home page, as well as Facebook and Twitter-- and here.

Inspirational quotes make excellent writing prompts, which should help me produce a consistent blog that hopefully people get something from. And so I take to heart the words of Logan Pearsal Smith. To go for what I want, and then enjoy it.

For a long time, I was adament about only writing fiction and poetry -- that's what I loved to write, and I didn't want to sell out by writing articles or ads or blogs-- but those types of writing are growing on me, and the more I practice them, the more I enjoy them. I find I'm enjoying a lot of the busy work, like web design and tightening my grip on the whole social networking thing. But I'm learning. Perhaps that is the best thing. I'm always learning, which was not something I could always say when I spent my days in a cubicle.

Lately, my creative writing has been limited to the occasional poem. It's been a while since I've written and original story, or worked on a novel. The part of writing I love the most is taking a back seat right now, and there are times it makes me a little sad.

But it is there. When the time and circumstances position themselves-- or rather, I position them, I will be able to spend more time on balancing the parts of writing I love a little, with those I love a lot.

It reminds me of another quote, "If you can't be with the one you love, Honey, love the one you're with." By embracing where we are and what we are doing, yet looking towards the next step we keep ourselves content in what we do without getting bitter.

I spent many years making my living in less than thrilling ways, stealing my words in the early mornings, evenings, and weekends. But during that time, I don't think I could have written things that weren't necessarily my idea. I had to learn through life that writing isn't just about my expression of myself, but it's also about forming a sense of cooperation with others, be it through networking, marketing, or writing.

Sometimes, being older and wiser really can be a good thing. Our lives move in waves, and sometimes all we can do is ride them. But if we learn to enjoy the surf we position ourselves to have a little more fun whenever the next one comes along.

Overserved- Picking your Pace in Writing and Elsewhere

I went to a restaurant with my daughter earlier this evening. We were seated quickly, the server tried to take our order before we could even open the menu, much less peruse it. Had we wanted to talk about anything serious it would've been impossible because she was back at the table almost constantly. In one of the few moments when she wasn't at our table, someone else-- the manager I presume-- came and asked if there was anything we needed.

While on the surface, this is good, it felt like overkill. It seemed like we were being rushed through the whole experience, rushed to order, rushed to eat, rushed to leave.

There are times when haste makes sense, when there is a lobby full of patrons waiting to be seated, and servers need to propel each group through their meal so the next group can sit down. But this was not the case. It was just the two of us, and there were plenty of empty tables.

The experience, or rather the way that I interpretted it, was probably brought on by the servers general anxiousness that come through although she tried to hide it, and the fact I was coming off a bit of a frenzied day myself. Which was why I wanted to sit down and have a slow relaxing meal in the first place.

In the servers defense, I do recognize that finding the right pace to serve customers has to be a challenge. I've had the opposite problem as well, when it took forever to refill glasses, no one bothered to ask if the food was okay, and it took forever to bring the check. Service at the other end of the spectrum has caused me to miss busses and has otherwise thrown plans off kilter, so I guess in the grand scheme of things being overserved is preferable.

Restaurant servers aren't the only ones who need to concern themselves with pacing. Writers need to pay attention to this as well. When a story moves to slowly it starts to feel stale, and the reader winds up spending their energy trying to stay alert to finish it. When it moves too fast, it's hard for the reader to really experience the characters and nuances of they story. A story that moves too fast can give the reader the same rushed feeling that I had at the restaurant, and it may be a while before they decide to come back to your work.