free associating in your creative practice
It’s all happening.
I remember when I was in college and I was first introduced to writing exercises. For some reason, I don't think we ever did them in high school. And if we did, it certainly didn't leave an impression on me one way or the other. But, when I was in my sophomore year in college I had this absolutely amazing poetry professor. The first class I took from him was modern American poetry, and I was instantly transfixed by his joy and passion for writing. No one could take a class from him and not be inspired. Think Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, but my professor had black hair and a beard like Walt Whitman, who coincidently was his favorite poet.
The next class I had with him was poetry writing where we used to do these amazing writing exercise to help generate ideas and basically just loosen you up. As a very (if not exclusively) right-brained person, I just loved the complete lack of structure and the freedom. In one of the exercises you would write for a short period of time, and you were not supposed to stop or lift your pen/pencil for the duration. Then, another exercise that was called clustering was where you would write different words and circle them and then draw lines to connect them. After you were finished with that then you would focus on one of the words and continue to circle it without lifting your pen/pencil until you came up with a sentence. The other exercise I remember, which was probably my favorite one was where my professor would project a slide, with a screen and everything (yep, I'm Gen-X) and then you would write in the same way I described with the first exercise, without stopping. While I loved all of the exercises, and I'm sure that there probably were more, as a visual person, this one was my favorite. In fact, I actually created a novella from the slide exercise which I then used as part of my submission which got me accepted to my grad school creative writing program.
These writing exercises have followed me throughout all of my creative practices in life. It's not that I use them specifically anymore, but they gave me the tools early on to learn how to play and not take myself too seriously. Whether you're writing a story, painting, sewing, no matter what, it's important to just start. Take that first step, no matter what, even if you're unsure of yourself or the process, and especially if you don't know how it will turn out.
Things of note this week
- I finally listed new items in my online shop.
- I finished a crochet tank.
- I'm halfway through Swann's Way
- My elderberry is flowering.
- I mailed a quilt I made for my cousin's new baby
- I had a Three Stooges moment with my son on a walk where I wasn't paying attention, and I fell down in the street and smashed my right ring finger. Grateful that it wasn't broken, but it's been awkward for a couple of days.
- I had a phone interview for a new art project that I did.
What happened after I wrote this newsletter
On Saturday, after my family and I were coming home from a pride festival with friends, we came upon a fatal accident. A young bicyclist was hit by a car and we drove past not long after it happened. They were lying in the middle of the road. It was heart wrenching and traumatizing. A reminder of how things can change in an instant and the fragility of life. I cried yesterday and I cried today, and I'm quite sure that the experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Hug the ones you love, dear reader and tell them you love them often.
xo, Christa
Thanks for reading-I’m glad you’re here.