photo by ryuuji
As I write this post on a portable keyboard, staying at a flat in London with no internet, I’m becoming sharply aware of how a blog’s flow can be perfectly suited to the flow of life on the move. The willingness to allow ideas and impressions to unfold as they arrive, knowing that they can be reshaped and reconsidered as they enter new contexts and later times. This also made me keenly aware that I am still sometimes scared to allow Essential Prose to move forward in this way. I haven’t updated the blog in nearly two weeks, because every time I began a post, I was too overwhelmed by how much I wanted to say and how little time I had — and so I ended up writing nothing.
I’m reminded of how important it is to accept uncertainty if we want to learn from it — to allow thoughts and ideas to unfold on the page, instead of only simmering inside my mind. To expose them to the eyes and breath of other people, to test the edges of my own mind as the ideas give birth to voice.
In the spirit of respecting this process of unfolding, I’m consciously deciding to allow myself to practice brevity while blogging during this trip. By allowing myself to not say “everything,” I hope that I’ll allow certain details — the small pictures — more time and space to expand. You’ll likely see a mix of posts short and long over the next several weeks — some will be written by me, and some will be guest posts that I’m very excited to share with you. I’m hoping that this trip will allow Essential Prose to try new modes of expression, as my own senses are filled with places new and old.
How do you balance the big picture and the small picture?
How do you think brevity and uncertainty can be allowed, without risking being superficial or neglectful?
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“I’m reminded of how important it is to accept uncertainty if we want to learn from it — to allow thoughts and ideas to unfold on the page….”
While most would argue that a blog post should be planned from beginning to end (at least the main points to be made) before being put to paper, I often find myself throwing down a thought, then connecting it to another, and another, and then finally in the uncertainty of anything, build something wholly unexpected. And then, almost recklessly and against what I’ve been told, I hit publish.
Granted, I think the approach tends more to my own learning than that of my readers, but is nonetheless liberating.
Hello Z,
Your post says everything it needs to say. Medium picture is the way to go!
I always write brief posts. Who says they have to be long? Many blog posts on-line are so long, I start to lose interest in the middle and skip to the bottom.
Good writing is good writing. Blog posts engage me if they have one underlying theme.
I write all my posts live. I open my heart to what’s going on around me and write from that place. My writing flows like a river.
Staying open is the key. If you’re closed down, the words cannot find a way out of you.
Muse thx,
Giulietta the Muse
Asking a good question is a fantastic contribution. Questions point us in a direction – they are not merely empty. Since we fill up meaning anyway, questioning is often as valid of a contribution as making a more complete, thoughtful statement. What could possibly be totally “complete” anyway? Would you want a complete statement?
You’ll see from my blog, that when I do write a “complete” post, it’s a bit of a show-stopper. It’s as though I’ve said it all…there is no need to respond. A short post allows further contributions and responses – so for a blog that is much better.
In fact, I have some “virtual questions” that I keep tucked into my back pocket that have become a source of meaning even though they will never be completely answered. Such as, “How do I find and make meaning for myself?”
Being able to describe and articulate your random impressions as you are having them is a fantastic contribution. Then it allows readers to take the raw material you’ve provided and put it together in any sort of arrangement we prefer. Revealing the process of how you do this yourself is also interesting. It’s when we talk about what we know best – our own story – that we become the most interesting. The personal becomes the universal as it is revealed. The skill of selecting what to reveal and how you reveal it – that is the art.
‘How do you balance the big picture and the small picture?’
Great question Zoe.
I’d say.. the answers are generally within the smaller picture. A smaller system often has similar working components that resemble those which also function within larger systems, like a fractal or the way ants look like people if you were to see NYC from a 20 foot building. Thus, small pictures are found within larger frames.
And simple answers are found within larger questions.
~creative blessings…annelies
http://www.conduitforchange.com
I often find comfort in being seemingly lost in the big picture, for when I look closely.. really closely at the smaller picture or the smaller frame I can find solution and often an answer to a larger problem. Systems, whether they are grand or tiny quite often mimic each other, like a fractal, thus providing comfort and simple guidance to life’s most complex situations.
creative blessings…annelies
@ Ryan – True, sometimes it feels like it contributes more to our own learning than to that of our readers… but I find that reading blog posts in which bloggers reveal what they do not know — and invite us to wonder about it — can be extremely stimulating for me as a reader, too. It also seems to make for less predictable writing styles too (like yours!).
@ Giulietta – Cool that you do all your blog posts live — that really takes advantage of the medium! A mix of big picture and small picture seems to do the trick
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@ Franis – Wow, I love how you’ve framed this. What you wrote about completeness really rings true — it makes me uneasy to see blog posts that use a tone that implies it’s “the final word” … and I try to avoid that in my own writing.
@ Annelies – Thanks for visiting. It does seem true that small pictures allow us to delve deeply, as the big picture can seem so overwhelming. I like your imagery of fractals…
You keep writing and I’ll keep reading. I’ve already enjoyed the stuff that has left your head and made it to the keyboard. With your seemingly good heart and well-placed words, you do what seems right and should others think it neglectful or superficial, then maybe that is theirs to work through (which is OK too).
Make a few home runs and a few silly outs and I’m pretty sure that the bleachers will remain full.
.-= Dave Thurston´s last blog ..Red&Gray – A Getaway =-.
@ Dave – Thanks for all your kind words! You really touch on that quiet feeling that every post needs to be amazing… which makes me less likely to create often.
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