Category Archives: Writing
Life Is A Canvas
Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it.
Danny Kaye
My friend, Jason Marchi has this has a tagline, a signature at the end of his emails. It reminds me of another quote he introduced to me through Ray Bradbury:
Writing a rough draft is like throwing up on a page.
Jason and I have known each other for over twenty years, having first met during an eight week writer’s workshop in 1989. We’ve been friends ever since.
Being a writer first; ALWAYS, I clearly resonate with Bradbury’s quote. When I was writing fiction, several years ago I spent six weeks writing a first draft novel. I wrote ten pages a day, and it was just like the Bradbury quote.
It REALLY was like throwing up on a page. The words and thoughts literally poured out of me. There were times when I was writing where I didn’t even know what was coming out of my fingers as I typed. I was in the flow. That’s such an amazing place to be and I was talking to Jason about this the other day telling him that I FINALLY have that feeling back now that I’m writing my blog. It is so gratifying to have that feeling return to me.
However, being the optimist that I am I can’t help but also connect with Danny Kaye’s quote.
Life IS a great big canvas. We must throw all the paint we can. What other way is there to live your life?
How do you know what will stick unless we do everything?
How do you we know what to do with our lives unless we experiment?
How do we know what works and what doesn’t unless we use the scientific method?
The answer is we don’t.
Go out there.
Do your thing.
Find your gift.
And when you’ve discovered your gift, keep exploring. Remember my last column:
We All Have More Time where I spoke of Grandma Moses? I’m sure she thought she found her own gift long before she discovered she was supposed to be an artist.
Don’t give up if you haven’t found your calling yet. Keep throwing that paint. Be like one of my favorite artists, Pollock. Throw as much paint as possible. Something will stick and you’ll look back at your canvas and say much like my friend at Sea Green Natural did:
Holy cow! It was in front of me this whole time.
Remember:
Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
Like this:
Books as Inspiration
Bonita Kay Summers writes a blog called The Intuitive Perspective; and she recently posted a column Books for Practical Enlightenment. Seeing as I’m such a vociferous reader myself, I jumped all over the column and wanted to offer my view on using books not just to better ourselves but also as inspiration for my own blog.
I’ve blogged previously bout some of these books, but as with everything It can sometimes be helpful to revisit some of our old friends. As most of you who have been following me for sometime are aware, since I began writing this blog, my spirituality has become stronger and I look to more faith based books now then I have in the past.
I think one of my favorite authors in this field now is:
Timothy Keller
Having now read a few of his books I found him very refreshing. One of the things I look for when reading books in this genre is someone who doesn’t preach to you, someone who when you read you don’t feel like rolling your eyes and feeling uncomfortable, like they are invoking God in a way that some televangelists do. Don’t quite know if you understand what I’m getting at, but I DO know that you understand it when you see or hear it. Timothy Keller doesn’t do this. His books are spiritual without being religious. If you want to check him out, I recommend:
The Prodigal God
and
King’s Cross
Another author I discovered and the one book that left a huge impression on me last year was:
Rob Bell
His book:
Inspiration For My Blog:
I use several books as “Get Me Started” vehicles when I need quotes to move my blog forward. These resources have yet to let me down. Those who have been here awhile will recognize the titles but will not have seen them collected in a list:
1. Letting Everything Become Your Teacher
2. Change Your Life! A Little Book of Big Ideas
3. God Always Has A Plan B
4. A Book Of Bliss, Thoughts To Make You Smile
5. Inspiration For A Lifetime
Okay. So what do all of these books have in common? They all have short quotes, thoughts to inspire, thoughts to help you move forward. I come to these books when I want to find something to write about. I naturally have many resources I use for my blog but books still are at the top of my list. Seeing that my day job is at my local library this should come as no surprise.
Other Books That Inspire:
The Ultimate Gift
My Name is Memory
Siddhartha
The Alchemist
Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Tunnel Vision
As you see, books inspire me in many ways. They’ve always been an important part of my life and I read everything. I’ve said it here before and it bears repeating:
I’m so fortunate to have been able to bring my love of books and reading into my career and I can only thank the Divine/God for guiding me to the career I so wanted.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
Like this:
Divine Creativity
An Overflowing Faith. The reason I’m giving this background is so you’ll understand how deeply I feel about my spirituality and my faith, how much it is a part of who I am.
I am my faith!
I am my spirituality! I don’t broadcast it to the world in general because I understand that not everyone is in the same place. It is an extremely important part of my life however.
My creativity is a direct result of my spirituality. I sincerely believe I have a Divine Conduit and when I’m in The Flow, I’m convinced it’s God/Source/The Divine working through me. It’s why I write this blog. I’d like to think this blog is my way of repaying the gift I was bestowed with when I incarnated this time. God knew I was going to need all the faith I he could give so he opened me up and gave me his greatest gift.
My creativity is a direct result of that gift.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
