We went to the mall with my aunt today. I haven't been in a mall in a while, and it seems that each visit is worse than the last. Our culture is not a passive culture -- it's a jump-on-you-and-beat-you-up-with-a-club culture. All the stores sell all the same clothes, all the clothes cover less than they show, and all the songs are about sex and are played way too loud. And all the pictures? They all say the same thing: you have to look like this. You're a failure if you don't look like this. If you can't fit into these clothes, there's something wrong with you. If you do have a nice body, you should show it off. It's abominable. The culture appears set on making the 95% of us who don't look like models feel absolutely miserable (and disgusted).
On the plus side, though...cute new shoes! (It's been a while since I had any of those.)
I'm going to start reading Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle. I'm very interested to see what it's like, since I've been a fan of her books for years and happen to be a writer (and a Christian) myself.
Peeking into The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron again has given me a revelation. The reason this break from writing has lasted forever is because I don't need just a break: a need a full-scale recovery operation. I need to go back to basics, ditching all my lofty goals and plans in order to simply rehabilitate my creative side. In other words, I need to play. So that's what I've been doing this week, and I've discovered something interesting: my creative self is still there. It just afraid of things like "Oh, that doesn't count. You didn't even finish it," or, "Goodness, you will look like a complete numbskull if you write the story that way."
So right now, me and my creative self are mostly hanging out in coffee shops that don't exist and giving cute imaginary cats names like Lord Ivywood.
Oh, and apparently I made several people very happy by inventing the word snickergiggles.
Anyone attempting to claim that my brain is in any way ordinary shall be tossed out on their ear for obstinately ignoring the obvious.
"But words are things, and a small drop of ink / Falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces / That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think." ~Lord Byron
Smiles.
ReplyDeleteLove your thoughts! Amen to the culture slide; well-put.
LOVE your redefining and
reconnecting with your ceative self--giving yourself the permission and time to do that. Yay! I'll love hearing what you discover.
Can't wait to do some more writing chat! :-) Those are two good books and will fill your well again.
Blessings, my friend!
merp merp that's why I don't shop at all those "trend" stores. The clothing quality in them is actually pretty cheap too. (puts head on desk) that's why I never get any new clothes.....Ooh. I liked Wrinkle in Time, but I never got around to reading any other L'Engle books. Hope you like the book!
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