Learnings from July 2016

Image by Element5 Digital

I'm falling in love with my process again, the less I try to fill every minute.

I time travel when I read the past.
I see into my then skin, compare it with now.
I learn about where my brain was and where it is.

I've learned that the practice of writing takes time. A long time.
That having patience and cultivating love
for the act of writing is the thing that leads to authentic depth
and realization of voice that can't be forced.
I've learned there is deep value in waiting.

There is no one way to tell a story, to structure a play.

The act of writing daily helps me know how to move my hand
through a story, an idea, a play or a thought
much more than if I wait between projects.

I've learned I have something to say.
I am an adventure.
I work hard.
I can miss things, skip things and the world carries on.
I can fail in big and small ways, that's how I learn.

For me, writing is not about seeking expertise but discovery, opening, humanity.
Vulnerability is the gateway to connection.
Everyone has a creative voice to unlock.

Listening is a difficult art that requires great patience
and ability to resist interrupting, speaking, offering advice.

I've learned that I love to use giant weather-based catastrophes in my work,
often representing some big world or personal event.
I've learned that the personal is political.
That my tendency to assume factors about people and situations
is a habit that I must continue to break.
That as a white person I have extreme advantage that is unfair,
but I can use that agency to open up space for the targeted.

I've learned that we can make something beautiful together through art,
and that I love collaborations even though they are difficult.
I've learned that writing is hard and I will always do it.