Saturday, September 25, 2004
Back to basics
Image found on the Internet and all rights belong to its owner.
Back in college I took several martial arts classes. I remembered the sensai (teacher) saying on the first day to always remember--and practice--the basics which consisted of stances, some punches, blocks, and kicks. I've return to that state with my writing and have been reading extensively Thursday and Friday night.
What? Reading?
One of the books I'm reading is Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. She writes in one section about "composting", of allowing one's experiences "to sift through our consciousness". While she was addressing all of one's experiences in life, I further added to my "compost" heap why I wanted to write. And that meant reading and lots of it.
I, Claudius. The Jade Enchantress. The Bulterian Jihad. Comic books. Manga. Role-playing games. Blogs. These, and many other written media, I've been devouring with all my speed-reading abilities. The Word is my Muse's fuel and building block for how can one write without reading? I've read of authors who state they've stopped reading when they write. I've read their works and can tell from the drop in quality. My opinion? They've become authors (celebrities), forgetting they were writers (actors) once.
They forgot the basics.
Countdown: one day before blog change....
