Don’t let your silly dreams
Fall in between
The crack of the bed and the wall
-My Morning Jacket, Bermuda Highway
Outside of work, within the span of a week I happily responded to requests of 3 friends to proofread their creations: a cover letter and two short stories. These are experienced writers/editors. My husband marveled. I was flattered, honored that 1) they trusted me, thought enough of me to ask and 2) gave me the opportunity … because I love, love, love to proofread and to provide feedback. I like to feel helpful. Also I get into a flow state when I engage in this activity. I am naturally buzzed for hours when I do this. It is similar to how I feel when I hit publish on a blog post, particularly if I have labored with it for lots of hours.
Because of the condensed set of requests & the intensity of the repeat satisfactory buzzes, I had an insight. It dawned on me that I devote more time to proofreads than to my own writing pursuits. I loved this feeling evoked from writing-related work. I had let my desire to write (and to learn to play the melodica fall) into my Bermuda Highway. I had a dream recently in which I was pulling wet, pretty close to dried, cement out from my mouth. I guess I should listen to the muse, the little voice on the regular so that it keeps showing up. I joined a weekly writing circle. It’s my 1st Artist’s Circle I suppose. – to help keep me accountable to myself and to scratch a creative itch. Should be good!
What little dream, maker/doer/creative idea, Dear Reader, have you let drop into the Bermuda Highway & how might you revive it? How might you turn that spark into a flame? It just takes one next step.
Thank you to Michael, Lynette, and EP, for the inspiration.
Resources:
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, Twyla Tharp
Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, Natalie Goldbert
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lammot
The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, Seth Godin
MelodicaWorld: Lessons [YouTube channel]
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