My favorite kind of writing to do is to stay in a moment, an iridescent, intensely imagistic moment, kind of like the ones Sari Fordham puts together (see my last post).
I haven't been writing much of my own stuff lately, and partly its because I'm busy at work, but I'm wondering if it's also because I haven't been experiencing many iridescent imagistic moments. I'm in New York, its hustly and exciting and hard to pause in; I'm racing around wearing out shoes and then shopping for replacements; there are so many friends to spend time with.
But I also deal with depression, and it's been pervasive lately, not enough to fell me or keep me from working at my job, but enough to put a thin film over everything. It takes away the intensity and momentousness of life, which, of course, affects the intensity of my moments.
If you're not sure what I mean, let's talk Twilight---the book series about teenagers and vampires. Twilight is so popular because brings back memories of those heady teenage days when hormones and looming adulthood and the newness of things made life tremendously intense; that time when if that boy would only touch my hand in the dark movie theater EVERYTHING WOULD BE PERFECT, and if he doesn't I'LL DIE, when everything mattered SO MUCH and NOTHING WOULD EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.
I don't think I could handle feeling like that again(!), but I would like to inch towards it and feel some really good moments. And then I would like to capture them on paper. So here's to that happening very soon.
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I think that my intensely imagistic moments come whil listening to music. I've never been an artisan as much as a patron of anything creative, so I guess its appropriate that my own realizations of momentousness come from appreciating other people's work.
ReplyDeleteSitting on a plane flying above canyons over Utah while listening to Fever Ray's Coconut will really get you to realize how in the moment and real things are. Same as those random moments stuck in traffic when Quick Canal (Atlas Sound...so amazing) comes on and you realize while staring out to the sunset that 'holy shit, this (meaning everything) is awesome' - - and that in that moment right there, everything just seems to come together. Then the light changes and you go to head off to trader joe's for foreman-grill-salmon-for-one, smiling the whole time. I hope you can wipe that film away soon - there are some really really good moments out there to be awed by. I have no idea if that makes any sense at all, but thats probably the reason why I don't talk about my traffic epiphanies with my friends.
I think writing while "in the moment" produces intense works; highly dramatic and raw.
ReplyDeleteBut writing by "looking back at a moment" often produces stories that are quiet, thoughtful and I find myself enjoying those too.
Anyway, I hope you find those good moments. =)
Kane
Thanks, Kane! I agree---the mood one is in has a huge effect on the tone of one's writing. Sometimes when I go back to working on a particular piece of writing I have to get back in the mood I was in earlier by reading something with a similar tone or just kind of taking a moment for a mental shift.
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