|
Elena1030 -> RE: Poetry/lyric corner... and other stuff-You can post too. (4/20/2007 7:58:15 PM)
|
quote:
Aha.... see you didn't catch that part... that was the point I questioned my ability to write anything at all. God gives you abilities you discover them... inspiratiion... and such with that at times. Lighting bolt... hitting sand. You discover the sculpture.. your ability. I questioned my abilities... if it was something I could really do... and so I was "disabled" in my writting... because the dream... of what I thought I could do was like crushed.
I got that. I did.
Beautiful example, by the way. [sm=biggrin.gif]
And I see how much you identify with that sculpture. That sculpture isn't just your writing ability—that sculpture is YOU.
quote:
What more can I say as to what you said, Elena? That's what happened. Yes its a gift... an ability that I have.... it may not be perfected...
The innate ability/potential doesn't need to be perfected. It's the skill of using that ability that needs to be honed. We call that, honing your craft.
quote:
That's just it. It is is a part of who I am... my "gift." Same as the stuff I write are a part of me... or were. Continually.... a part of me... is crying out with whatever stuff is going on... or stuff I'm unaware of... to God. I can't some how take away that ... its just there. When I'm writting... I allow that... to be apart of it. I'm not sure if you understand it or not. Things you write ... were a part of you. Some ways they still are... because they are thoughts in written form... coming from your experiences and ideas.
Yes, my poems are still "in" me...like the way memories are. But the ones I have shared with others, have a life of their own too. If I saw them as being inseparable from me, then I couldn't bear to have them criticized. My poems are separate from me, even as they have a presence in me.
quote:
We are so many things yes... but we can't separate ourselves... from our need to cry out to God... usually in some form of worship. Most of the time... I'm not writting just for me... I'm either praying or expressing something going on. usually my thoughts are toward him.
If I write a poem that is a crying-out to God, at some point, that poem because a separate thing from the initial crying-out. That initial crying-out, be it in prose form or poetry, is more of a prayer/journal entry in my mind...not a finished poem, necessarily.
Julie,
I understand what you're saying, but I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say.
No human can take away my ability to write; my artistic sense; my intellect to understand words and to learn grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and so on. Only God can take away those abilities. The aging of the body or disease could affect my ability to write... not just to physically pick up the pen or to type on a keyboard... but my brain functions.
So I've never questioned my ability. Well, at least, I don't remember a time when I questioned it. (Being academically gifted, I never questioned my intellect either.)
I do often question how that ability has performed. I question what I have written---not the inspiration behind it or the feelings or experiences---but the way I have expressed and communicated what my original artistic vision was trying to express.
I don't see the act of writing as a spontaneous gift of the Spirit. I do see inspiration---the impetus to write, the idea of what to write about---that way.
It's like throwing clay pottery: The potter gets an idea for a pot. That idea can come from God or from himself. It is up to the potter to form the clay, fire it in the kiln, and glaze the pot. The idea could be the same, but the execution each time is up to the potter. The first pot might end up being not what the potter envisioned. And if the clay is still wet, he can throw it again. The second time, the result is a little different... it's not the same exact pot, but if he is trying to "clay out" the same idea then the pot might look similar to the first one but better, in the potter's view. Or perhaps as the potter works, his idea changes.
I do believe that as I work on a poem, God is guiding me. When I write down the first draft... When I revise... When I consider if it's finished or not. And my work, when it's dedicated to Him, is a way I worship Him. Of course, not every writing session is overtly a worship time. I'm not always down on my knees or falling on my face before Him. And my poetry is not borne of those really emotional times, as much as it used to be.
What I'm saying is that you are "married" so closely to your ideas and your poems and lyrics, if someone criticize them, you leap to the conclusion that the person is attacking your writing ability. And unless the person specifically says, "You stink. You can't write," then that's not what he's saying when he is offering a critique of your poem.
Make sense?
You need at some point to be able to let your poems go and be their own creatures... You still own your feelings and ideas... but your poems are no longer unassailable then. You know?
Your poems need to be not so much your darlings, your children. You can still cherish them. But if you overprotect them, you'll never be willing to go back and revise them.
Writing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.
|
|
|
|