Look out the window

Friday, November 18, 2005

Look out the window Current mood: mellow You know, it's interesting what a mind-game writing can be. I'll think to myself, "I should write in my blog tonight"- but then I'll realize I haven't the faintest idea what I want to write about. I don't want to laundry-list everything I did today, and I don't want to run on in sappy cliches about the boys and how great they are (and they ARE great). I want my writing to be an exercise in thinking broadly, sort of like remembering to stop staring at the computer screen every once in awhile and look way out the window instead. So I'll think to myself that I need to think of a good topic, and then I'll be able to go from there. But it's not true. That's sort of like saying that I'll decide what I'll see out the window, and only then should I look out the window to see what's there. Which is ridiculous, of course- you stretch your vision looking outside to see what you can see. Even if it's the same old view, it's always fresh and new in some way. The trick is to look and really see what's there- not to look and see what I decided to expect. Sure, there's the wall of the building next door. But see how that shadow sort of looks like a troll? And look at the way the sunlight is all honey-colored, and oh- there's a mockingbird on the gutter- see? So, rather than deciding on a topic and only then beginning to write, sometimes I just start typing and a topic comes to me. Sometimes I "see" something that leaves me feeling like my brain stood up and stretched a little before sitting back down to work on mundane tasks. (And sometimes I don't- sometimes I can't seem to focus on the right place- it happens to the best of us). But the point is that trying too hard to do it "right" often means I don't do it at all. SO, just sit down, start typing, look here, look there, try to find the right focus and what you end up with might be good, or it might be crap. Either way you've stopped and looked out the window for a moment. Chances are you saw something you wouldn't have seen otherwise- and that's a step in the right direction.