“Again!”
Every time we skated by the coach and skater, the word echoed in our ears. Over and over, the young skater practiced a spin, controlling her movements and then, when she had finished, checking the ice to see how far she had moved from her original position. I took ice skating lessons too when I was young, though not nearly to the level of this athlete. So I know the level of precision it took to spin in that one spot, barely moving inches as she twirled. This can only come with practice; and a lot of it. As the new year starts I have been thinking a lot about what I want for my writing this year. To finish writing a new book is my biggest goal. But, added to that, I want to improve my craft as I do so. The problem I have found though is that the idea of perfection overwhelms me. Corrections seem never ending. And as I self-edit I find mistakes or improvements everywhere and become dejected. What is it, I wonder, that this young skater has that I don’t? What allows her to accept the coaching, internalize the feedback, and try again without psyching herself out? Perhaps this is why I never lasted as a skater. Then again, I would hope that these many years later I would have the maturity that I didn’t back then. This maturity (along with many of my writer friends) reminds me that the surest way to overcome my self-inflicted cage is through the method known as “BIC HOK” – Butt in chair, hands on keyboard. There is no other way to escape my own fears of failure but to just do it… … Again and again and again.
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“I’m not sure what imagination has to do with health…”
I’m watching the Rose Parade as I write this and feeling very ready to mute the sound. The announcers are driving me crazy… saying the most inane things imaginable. Perhaps they partied too hard last night, but they seem really grumpy. One of the floats, by Kaiser Permanente, was: “Oh, the healthy things you can do:” A beautiful float with all sorts of ways of being well. Included in this was imagine. Their take on this- “Maybe you can imagine you’re not sick.” It was pretty clear they missed the point, but then I guess you need some imagination in order to get it. After that they saw a beautiful float with landmarks from around the world. They described the Eiffel Tower as made from coffee beans; they’re comment, “It would be more appropriate if it were made from tobacco.”The last time I was in France, though, I saw many more people sipping amazing coffee than smoking. Happy 2013, France. Today starts 2013… a year that promises many good things so I am going to turn off the parade (where they are showing a gimmick of two people getting married on top of one of the floats) and get started enjoying my first day of the new year! Happy 2013. I wish everyone a year filled with wonderful imagination, lots of coffee and every good thing you could wish for but one; so that in 2014 you have something left to strive for. Deanne |
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June 2020
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