I was working on a creative project at the weekend: dreaming up 12 postcards to send to a group of fellow adventurers in various corners of the world.
The idea was to create some postcards from Scotland as part of the mailart project Janice Cartier has organised.
Plus there’s a sub-plot of breaking through some of my own limiting beliefs about art and creativity, including my own ability to produce something vaguely ‘artistic’. I had an idea (from Janice) that I could play with words on the card:
words are art…as a writer your art would look like words….scribbled…typed..
So I started thinking last week about how I could do that: how I could start playing a bit with words when they were scribbled or differently typed to create a look on the page as well as a meaning in the mind.
I didn’t have a clear idea about how to set about this: my writing is basically either typed, fast, or a handwritten scrawl that no-one else but me would ever be able to read.
But I was willing to experiment - there is something about the way the project has been set up that makes it easy to experiment and play.
So I got myself a selection of pens, crayons and charcoal and sat down one afternoon last week in a cafe, and started to write.
Except this time it was different. I wasn’t writing fast. I was writing slow.
I wasn’t writing sentences, paragraphs, rapid thoughts and fast flowing ideas. I was writing one word, over and over.
“Source“, was the word I was playing with, but to be honest, the choice of word didn’t matter.
It was something that was happening as I wrote, really wrote, slowly, by hand, that was changing things.
It was something to do with:
- Writing slowly, and paying attention to each and every letter
- Noticing, exploring, expanding and turning upside down the meaning of the word, as I scattered the letters across the page
- Feeling the act of writing: my fingers getting inky, the smudges of charcoal, the pressure of crayon on the page
- Allowing the letters to stretch, scrawl, play: noticing that the swoops and swirls got bigger, wilder as I let myself fall further into the patterns of the letters, further away from the literal meaning
- Enjoying the flow state of experimenting for look, style, feel, without any sense of what was the ‘right way’ to do it
I had the feeling that I was learning something important about the act of writing. Its playful dimension. The look of the letters on the page. The feel of the pen moving. The crazy smudges of ink.
I was recognising how far I removed I am from that flow state, that pleasure, that creative experimental delight, when I just sit here and type, fast.
And sensing that learning, (re)learning how to write, might also mean leaving room for the possibility of writing in swoops and swirls.
Playfully. Messily. Slow.
Does changing the medium change the way you feel about writing? Have you ever found that to open up a new sense of what’s possible?
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Joanna, What an interesting experiment. I wonder what would happen if you applied the technique to an entire blog post. When I write with a pen, I tend to think more carefully about my word choice than I do at the keyboard because writing by hand is uncomfortable and I have trouble reading my handwriting. Similarly, I am an extremely clumsy text messager, so I put a great deal of though into my composition before I start pecking.
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..Don’t Let Testimonials Dictate Your Marketing Strategy =-.
Yes, I often notice, and take a moment to appreciate the feel of that chosen pen in my hand. I have probably a dozen pens that I have selected for their feel- heft, size, smoothness, the fit.
Before my times with computers began two years ago, I abhored the typewriter and did all my writing longhand. I would play with the flow of words, the placement of words on the page, the pressure on the pen’s nib. I still return to a cartridge pen for the luxury of the it, or pen and ink for a calligraphic feel, and my daily journaling wouldn’t be journaling to me if it weren’t scrawled and scratched-out, filled with dances and lunges and flitterings across the page.
Plus it is next to impossible to doodle on a typewriter. I love to doodle, even do it quite unconsciously when searching for a word or that elusive thought. It would be lovely if a keyboard could have a doodle key.
I love that you did word-art on your post-cards. It so fits you, and I’ve always felt that words were exactly that-another art medium.
.-= Bo´s last blog ..Sailboats, Evening Rest =-.
I type so horribly, I can’t help but go slow!
This weekend my special needs niece showed me her sign language skills. Amazing how words can be acted out with the hands. Your post and her signing are making me wonder about more possibilities when it comes to making words come alive.
.-= Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..Getting to know your intuition =-.
I like to use a fountain pen to write because I (fondly) tell myself that a great pen and real ink will magically make the writing process so wonderful that my handwriting will improve. And yet, it never really does! My good typing skills have a hidden achilles heel in that they’re vital for modern communication, yet are absolutely killing my handwriting!
.-= -Deb´s last blog ..Guest Post Alert =-.
Joanna,
I kept a hand written journal for years, but now I find it very hard to hand write something creative (like a post). I can play with words or write down ideas, but I always end up on the computer when I want to put it all together.
As I’m typing this, I just realized why. When I’m writing creatively, I talk out my ideas. Therefore, using the the computer (and typing) allows me to keep up with my voice.
Thanks for this interesting post:~)
.-= Sara Healy´s last blog ..Story Photo: What’s the name? =-.
Twitter: joannapaterson
says:
Brad I’m not sure I could do this for a whole blog post… but I think I probably could for some of the punch lines or key messages… the bits I really want to drive home. Interesting that you’d think more carefully to hand write… I certainly found I was being a lot more conscious and deliberate when it came to finishing off the set of 12 cards, because I didn’t want to have to redo them all! Discomfort can be a good teacher it seems…
Bo, what a poetic description of the journalling process! I particularly loved this bit “dances and lunges and flutterings across the page”. I guess we will have a doodle key on the keyboard some day… but you know I don’t think it’ll have quite the same effect
Lori you do have such a knack of hitting the nail on the head! “making words come alive” is what it’s about for sure
-Deb I tried that one too, and it does help, a bit, but it’s still barely legible and I still find myself going too fast. It was only when I was trying to create an image rather than write a word that I found myself slowing down and writing in a different way. Absolutely agree with you about the achilles heel - makes you wonder if handwritten notes will die out altogether in the next 20 years or so?
Sara I know what you mean - I enjoy typing because I can do it fast, and can keep up with myself, even my thoughts (sometimes) which go even faster than talking
I am finding though that thinking about selecting just one or two words to write ‘properly’ is making me more deliberate in my selection and word choice. It’s almost like I’m writing to think / talk on paper first (by typing) then selecting from that to find the words I want to focus on, play with, allow to shimmer…
That is such an interesting exercise.. I feel inspired to spend some time doing it myself. A few years ago I had an idea (which I never followed through) about creating ‘Words of Art’ where I would take a canvas and some oils and create an artwork of a favourite quote/phrase/word… this post reminded me of that. I love looking at things from a different angle, discovering a new perspective, a new way of expressing something “old”.
.
p.s. don’t know why my last comment is showing my last blog entry as WS: Trip to Feilong Shan - not mine, don’t know how that appeared!?
All the time. It’s the reason why I prefer writing with pen and pencil instead of the computer sometimes. There’s a sensual feel of watching your ideas flow out from your brain through your hand, and seeing the ideas take form on paper.
It literally feels like an act of creation, and it’s a very intimate and in some cases, sensual experience. For me, watching my words take form forces me to an extent to be careful of the words I choose, because they have a much stronger impact that way. It also slows me down to watch the details appear in a story and in a scene. There’s no rushing to reach the next chapter or plot; instead there’s a sense of watching the room and scene come to life as you stop to look around.
.-= Naoko´s last blog ..Loving you means… =-.
This is remarkably evocative for me, Joanna, on all sorts of levels. But then your postings generally are!
Just recently I discovered disposable fountain pens and am using one, with the intention of buying a ‘proper’ one (my lovely gold one was stolen about 15 years ago) if I enjoy the experience. And I am.
Having the right pen in my hand and smooth paper to write on adds significantly to my experience of writing. Until very recently I found it hard to type straight onto my PC, preferring to use do it by hand first. ( Though I have to say that Windows Live Writer is enormously liberating for we multi-platform bloggers, and has enabled me to feel much more able to type my words straight in.)
As an aside, a strong memory which your posting evoked was from 19 years ago when, as a mature student, I went to college to study for my undergraduate degree. I had the opportunity to take some art modules from the teacher training programme which ran in parallel to my degree. It was a brave step, given that my last experince of art had been with torn-off sugar paper and mud-coloured paint at school. I remember vividly being given pure, bright acrylic paints and lovely paper, then just starting to daube. I luxuriated in the sheer joy of having the time, the space, the opportunity, the materials and permission to experiment. I was irritated with my neighbour in the art room who wanted to chat whilst I wanted to play, to lose myself in the process, in the moment.
To return to your question. Yes, for me the medium makes all the difference. Natalie Goldberg (I think?) would have us write on anything, any old scrap of paper, and of course, when needs must…
But here’s heaven: dappled shade, soft grass, a stream, my Ergolife Chair, then a fountain pen together with my precious red, leather-bound journal and my muse, of course. And next time, I’ll open myself to the possibility of slow, messy, playful. *shiver of excitement*
.-= Jan Scott´s last blog ..sad =-.
Twitter: karenswim
says:
Joanna, what a profound piece. It’s interesting that your word choice was “source” as for me it brought up tapping into the true source for our writing, that internal creative compass from where the words flow. So often we (or at least I do) focus on the output - the end result. The tools are an instrument but serve to disconnect me in a way. I have to work on my art project, well work on letting go enough to actually create and send.
Your post really has me looking forward to playing.
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Is Your Brand the Man in the Mirror? =-.
If one is looking for an inspirational source, then I have always seen it to come from surroundings. Have you ever wondered that most of the time we are stuck up with this monitor facing us. Writer are creative by nature but the rush of things just makes us miss out so many things lurking around in their full bloom.
.-= write a writing´s last blog ..Elements of a Good Thesis Statement =-.
Hi Joanna. This is an experiment I definitely want to try. It seems to me that you learned: writing should be experimental and FUN
Karen
Being a computer junkie I used Wordle in my own postcard project. Given that Wordle takes out little words like articles it made for an interesting conglomeration of works - losing meaning but holding a sense of each scene description I ran through the website.
Can’t wait to see yours!
Cheers,
Alex
.-= Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog ..Not Getting Started: Introducing (the rest of) the New Lab Rats =-.
Hi Joanna. I love the idea of this exercise. When I was younger, I used to do this with names of musical groups; trying to come up with a visible image that conveyed them, like a logo or something. I miss journalling and I’ve found it difficult to go back to it after being accustomed to typing.
.-= Davina´s last blog ..On the Edge of Being =-.
Twitter: joannapaterson
says:
kathleen you sound like me, ideas which don’t get followed through (yet)
That does sound like a wonderful idea, and something I might play with too as I experiment with words, writing and creativity.
Sorry about the problem with the comment luv plug in, I’ve no idea why or how it happened but I’ve taken the link away again
Naoko wow, thank you for sharing that, and reminding me, us, about the physicality of the act of creation. I also value your comment about being careful with the words you use. That was one of the learning points I had too, reminding me of my own motto, ‘because our words count’, yet I forgot to include it in the post. (Yes, I appreciate the irony
) Slowing down and being mindful with our writing is very powerful. I enjoyed so much learning about how you do this, thank you.
Jan my goodness, the response to this post is sending shivers up and down my spine too. Thank you for sharing those different experiences. And for this line
“I luxuriated in the sheer joy of having the time, the space, the opportunity, the materials and permission to experiment”
Oh yes, oh yes, let’s drink to that
Twitter: joannapaterson
says:
Karen you’re so right, the word was important, and I was downplaying it a bit in the post. source featured heavily in my piece, and was also the inspiration for it… when i felt close to that source I was able to let go of my barriers and fears and express what I was thinking and feeling, and what I wanted to communicate with you all.
I hope you enjoy letting go, creating and sending… you know I will love whatever it is that you send
amna yes, I agree, nearly all of my inspiration comes from being outside, connecting in some way, however small or simple, with nature
Karen yes, absolutely… writing should be experimental and fun
Twitter: joannapaterson
says:
Alex I got that feeling very much from your postcard… the wordle version held a vivid sense of the scene… and made me want to read it
Davina I’m realising that I need to do some journalling, and some experimentation with different forms of creativity too. Typing can only take us so far… I hope you find the time and space to do some experimenting too
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