Photo-A-Day: June

"The principles of true art are not to portray, but to evoke." --Jerzy Kosinski

I don't know about you but June came and went so fast, I'm still trying to process it all. Faces and places and  time all whizzed by. Thankfully another month of a photo each day helped record some of the highlights.

There were the special family visits and gatherings of course. And then, toward the end of the month came a different kind of highlight.You see, hubby and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary June 24. To mark the milestone, we retraced our steps to where we first met--and took a trip to Chicago.

Back all those many years ago we were college students and, coming separately from our respective schools, we had headed to Chicago for an education convention. Hubby traveled by bus, I arrived in a carpool of other students. We "bumped" into each other that first night and the rest, as they say is history. Some of the highlights of those days included walks in Grant Park, a play at the Blackstone Theater, and a subway ride to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game.

Well, we thought, what better way to celebrate our 40th than to re-enact some of those things? That's how we found ourselves on a bus (we're such sentimentalists) one day last week. Once in Chicago, we stayed in a hotel next to the old Blackstone Theater (now the site of a college), walked through the lobby of the hotel where we met, meandered through Grant Park, and once more rode the subway to Wrigley Field and took in a Cubs game, sitting in the same section and eating Cracker Jacks just like we did all those years ago. Which, looking back, doesn't seem so long ago after all. Those just starting out cannot comprehend just how fast those years do go by. Believe me.

We also went to Chicago's Institute of Art and to Millennium Park. We marveled at what we remembered and laughed at our confusion over how things had changed. It was a memorable trip--short but packed full of experiences and maybe just a couple of blisters (we did a monumental amount of walking). And that's another thing, the way architecture, patterns, colors and designs caught my eye. I credit that to the practice of taking a photo-a-day all these months.


Emotions worked their way into the experience, too--often swinging up and down in joyful, nostalgic, surprised, anticipatory, anxious, appreciative, reflective moods. Made me, as a writer, want to capture it all. Yep, I filled my writer's bag (or journal as the case may be) with images and ideas, characters and settings, sensory and structural details. Faces emoting, places evoking. The month of June gave me lots of material. Have a peek...

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A Quiet Pause

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the 

end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" --Mary Anne Rademacher-Hershey

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Restart the Engine: Revving up the R's

"Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by." --Carl Sandburg

Confession time: I've not been reading much. I've not been writing much.

A marathoner runs. A musician makes music. An artist creates. A writer reads. A writer writes.

For sure, there are times of allowances. Times of necessity. The unexpected. Loved ones in hospitals, nurturing times, reaching out times. Being available. Assisting. Caring. A writer after all is a real person and family member first. This past week was such a time over this way, and I'm glad I could be where I was to help.

But now...what? Well, it's time. Time to reevaluate. Time to reassess. Time to ramp up the reading, and reset the writing goals. Reach out the hands and recover the time when it runs by. Time to revisit the joy.

Summer may be all about recreation, reunions, relaxing, recharging. It's also a time (can you hear the engine starting up??) to:

Regroup.
Re-up.
Re-commit.
Restart.
Rebound.
Re-invest.
Re-ignite.
Re-create.

That's what I'll be doing this week, revving up the r's...

What about you--how's the summer writing going for you? Or not...

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Making Memories

"Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things." --Pierce Harris, Atlanta Journal

Last week was one of those special weeks. A memorable week. A memory-making week. Our son and his family were here for a few days from Spain, and boy, did we pack in the activities.

Grandson Nicholas is now two years old. The last time we saw him was almost a year ago. What a joy to spend time with him and learn what he likes (first of all, FRUIT, and then all things transportation, i.e. buses, trains, planes, cars, trucks). With this visit we also had the precious opportunity to gather together all three of our beautiful grandchildren, and their parents, and watch the cousins interact. Treasured moments built one upon another as the days went by.

                       

There was garden time with Grandpa, play time (including throwing rocks in the creek), and occasionally a touch of sleepy time.

 

There was Cincinnati's Krohn Conservatory's butterfly show, lots of story times, a picnic...

 

...and "Ride-the-Ducks," a touring activity on an amphibious vehicle that not only splashes into the Ohio River showing travelers all kinds of upclose and personal sights, like the spectacular John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (prototype of New York's Brooklyn Bridge, circa1866) and the Bengal's football/Red's baseball stadiums, but also putters along the streets of historical Covington, KY and over the bridge to downtown Cincinnati. Along the way a young tour guide entertained all with highlights of the area's landmarks.

                         

Finally, there was the Racing-to-Read 5K Race/Walk, sponsored by the Kenton Co.KY library system, which benefited Childhood Literacy Efforts (what better cause for a writer/reader to support??). The guys ran, the gals walked, and, I might add, all had pretty good finish times.

                           

Too soon time wound down. After a family breakfast together, we arrived at the airport.

So, what might be said about a week of packing it all in? May I suggest a few random thoughts?

Soak up the opportunities. Sprinkle with generous amounts of fun and love. Savor. Splash with generous hugs. Gather. Fill. Overflow. Cherish. Appreciate. Anticipate the next visit. It's what making memories is all about. 

Who knows what treasures the children might have stored away? I know I stored up bunches!

Hope you find yourself in the midst of memorable and memory-making weeks this summer, too :-) Such is the essence of family, friendship, meaningful times. And, of course--if eyes, ears and hearts remain open--a wellspring for the writer's imagination might be discovered as well.

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Photo-A-Day: May

"Particularize (v.): to mention particularly or individually; treat in detail; specify; give details."

Here we are, the completion of another month, and I have May's gallery of a photo-a-day to share. Funny how each month seems to zero in on a different "focus."

I tied this month into the word particularize. For one, I've always liked the way that word sounds. (We all have our favorite word, don't we?) And also because I decided to look for a specific detail--particularize if you will--as I went along. And you'll see what that detail is below.

But first, a little glimpse into why detail, or particularizing, is important in writing:

"If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on one point it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the reader is to be specific, definite, and concrete. The greatest writers...are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter." --Strunk and White, The Elements of Style

"Fictional reality requires strong specification, rendering, dramatization. The basis of all this is detail, and the best of detail is implicative, in motion, and appealing to the senses." --Oakley Hall, The Art and Craft of Novel Writing.

"The writer of fiction--and I include in this all the works of the imagination, poetry,plays, realistic novels, fantasy--may never tell; he must show, and show through the five senses...The beginning writer finds this difficult. I have to repeat and repeat: fiction is built on the concrete...One must particularize; show do not tell." --Madeleine L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet

"A scene will not be vivid if the writer gives too few details to stir and guide the reader's imagination; neither will it be vivid if the language the writer uses is abstract instead of concrete." --John Gardner, The Art of Fiction

"In stories, as in life, we must sometimes stop everything that's going on. Stop and observe. For storytellers this represents a kind of crossover into visual art because here we paint word pictures, or snap photographs in phrases. --Steven Taylor Goldsberry, The Writer's Book of Wisdom

(Of course there's a caveat here, as Goldsberry adds, "By all means, include description, but never allow it to slow your narrative." But that's a topic for another time...)

With all that said, I decided to look at a specific detail this time around, and the detail was...color. As you scroll down and take a peek at the gallery, you'll see that each row of four pictures focuses on the same color. The color was determined by what photo I snapped in the first of the row. Imagine limiting yourself to finding the next three photos in the same color family. It was a challenge, but a fun challenge--it forced me to be more observant each day.

Themes: Lemon, Cherry, Blueberry, Butterscotch,Vanilla, Pinkalicious, Persimmon, Aquamarine Ice. Can you find the corresponding row?

Thanks for stopping by and viewing my gallery this month!

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Duck, Duck, Goose: Left Brain vs. Right Take 2

"Here is the key to natural writing: the melodies must come first." 

                                                                   --Gabriele Lusser Rico, Writing the Natural Way

They played Duck, Duck, Goose, the little ones, at Angelica's 4th birthday party the other day. Remember this game? The designated child runs around the circle of other children who are seated on the ground. "Duck, duck...duck, duck..." she says as she taps each child on the head in order around the group. "Duck, duck... GOOSE!" On cue, the one tapped at that point jumps up (or is supposed to!) and chases the first, trying to catch her before she can reach her original spot and sit down fast. If child #2 fails to tag child #1, then child #2 is now it. And another cycle of "Duck, duck...duck, duck...GOOSE" begins again.

The day was beautiful and sunny. The guests so much fun. And the activities continued through the afternoon--with a pinata, crafts, birthday cake (of course) and the opening of gifts. All exciting stuff  for kids and adults alike (until, that is, overstimulation kicks in and everyone crashes).

And yet, it is the Duck, Duck, Goose game that has stayed with me. I think maybe because I'm still on this left brain/right brain kick that I explored in my last post (here) and can't quite let go of yet. What am I seeing? I'm seeing:

Duck (tap), Duck (tap), Duck (tap)...Logical. Analytical. Objective.
GOOSE!...Intuitive. Thoughtful. Subjective.
Duck (tap), Duck (tap), Duck (tap)...Linear. Sequential. Rational.
GOOSE!...Creative. Random. Patterns.
Duck (tap), Duck (tap), Duck (tap)...Clear-cut. Piece-by-piece. Editor.
GOOSE!...Insights. Originality. Discovery.

Mary Lou Carney, author and senior editor of Guideposts magazine once described the difference this way: "Be aware you have sequential thinking and you have random thinking. Sequential thinking reminds you to buy stamps. It lets you put your files in order. Your random thinking is what lets you do divergent thinking--lets you think of wild,crazy things." (Hmmm, children's games, anyone?) "And," she contends, "It's a fine line between having the sequential keep you on track professionally, but indulging in the random. I'm telling you that it's the random that will set you apart."

Gabriele Lusser Rico, in the book, Writing the Natural Way, Using Right-Brain Techniques to Release Your Expressive Powers, describes the two aspects of creative thought this way: "I have adopted the terms Sign mind and Design mind," she writes, "because they characterize one of the most fundamental distinctions between the working of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Research has shown that the left hemisphere, or Sign mind, is largely occupied with the rational, logical representations of reality and with parts and logical sequences. It has the capacity of ordering thought into communicable syntactic form--the way words are put together to form sentences. It acts as critic, censor, and error corrector.

"By contrast, the right hemisphere, or Design mind, thinks in complex images; it patterns whatever it encounters, including language, which, instead of clearcut signs, become designs...Moreover, the thought pattern characteristic of the right brain lends itself to the formation of original ideas, insights, discoveries. We might describe it as the kind of thought prevalent in early childhood, when everything is new and everything has meaning." (Ah, children again!)

Rico adds: "I might say that your Design mind attends to the melody of life, whereas your Sign mind attends to the notes that compose the melodies." Thus her key to natural writing: "The melodies must come first."

There we go. In order for our writing to sing, we need to activate the right side of our brains. So, though the duck has it's work to do, we also need to let the goose free to do her work, too.

Here's to the goose in all of us :-)

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From a Squirrel's Eye View: Left-Brain vs. Right

"Creativity is that marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition." --Max Ernst

I  had turned to my left that morning while on my walk, having spotted a cardinal. I fixed the camera on the designated subject, analyzing what a great shot the splash of red would be against the green. Logic told me I was in a good spot. Reason tried to convince me the bird would stay long enough for me to snap the picture. Numbering the seconds while I set the best setting, I shifted--and the bird flew away. Sighing, I turned to my right.

And instinctively (intuitively) I realized the better shot was on the other side--this squirrel, a lively creature as inquisitive about me as I was of him. What a character he was. Fun to watch--and a great example of the value of being in the right place at the right time. Random. Colorful. Full of expression and feeling. Just look at that face! And, I might add, doing quite the balancing act.

Left-brain versus right. The concept of left-brain or right-brain dominance was developed from research conducted by Roger W. Sperry in the late 1960s. (He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work, in 1981.) Generally-speaking, a person who is left-brained is said to be more logical, analytical, and objective, while a person who is right-brained is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful and subjective.

"In general," this from the online article Left vs. Right, Which Side Are You On?, "the left and right hemispheres of your brain process information in different ways. We tend to process information using our dominant side." Examples of contrasting forms of processing include: linear vs. holistic, sequential vs. random, symbolic vs. concrete, logical vs. intuitive, verbal vs. nonverbal, and reality-based vs. fantasy-oriented.

And: "The left side of the brain processes information in a linear manner. It processes from part to whole. It takes takes pieces, lines them up, and arranges them in logical order; then it draws conclusions. The right-brain, however, processes from whole to parts, holistically. It starts with the answer. It sees the big picture first, not the details."

Is it better to be right-brained rather than left? Not necessarily. "Though right-brain or non-verbal thinking is often regarded as more 'creative', there is no right or wrong here; it's merely two different ways of thinking." (Marion Boddy-Evans, About.com). "However, the learning and thinking process is enhanced when both sides of the brain participate in a balanced manner. This means strengthening your less dominant hemisphere of the brain." (Left vs. Right, again.)

I am definitely a left-brain thinker. Spelling (it involves sequencing) comes easy to me. I make lots and lots (did I mention lots?) of lists and when I complete a task, I enjoy checking it off (linear thinking). I've been known to keep master schedules and records of daily plans. Yep, the left side is definitely more developed than the right. Yet I'd like to be more balanced and tap into the right side of things, too. Maybe even see things from a squirrel's eye view, you think?

What are some activities that might help do this? Consider: writing prompts, word association, poetry, photography, freewriting, journaling, clustering, brainstorming, collages.

Anything you might add to my (right-side, not left) list?

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