A writer writes everyday, or so the adage goes. Certainly, I remember all of my writing teachers in college and graduate school hammering this idea home and with every sermon, I can remember thinking (especially at the beginning of the semester when I am hopeful, fresh, and rested) that writing everyday seems easy to accomplish. So why is it so hard? And why do I care about doing it everyday, anyways? Let's just say I'm feeling a need to really anchor into some daily practices. And writing is one of them. Dancing is the other.
Throughout my adult life, writing in a journal was the standard way of getting stuff down. It wasn't that I wrote everyday but I had some brief successes with journal writing both forced (for a class) and on my own. Contents: usually, the journals had uninteresting ideas about dance making, art in general and its relation to my life at the time, poetry writing (usually bad poetry writing) or whatever else is going on in my life that made its way to a page for some reason. But then it would just sort of halt. I know I am not alone with the half-finished journals that live in a box somewhere. This writing practice (like so many other practices I have wanted to be faithful to) fizzles out.
So why do I want to have a more enduring relationship with writing? This summer has seen some more academic writing on my part so maybe that has prompted a new attention and relationship to writing. Or maybe the existence of this blog is instigating my rant here? Is that what a blog does? Replaces the overpriced journal I have carted around in my bag for years and years and years, always fearing I'll lose it, or worse, my cousin Alexis will read it again like she did when I was 10 and our families were at the beach together and she stole my diary and read all about my crush on a boy from school named Kevin and then teased me relentlessly about this?!?! (deep breath) Or is it that I see the blog as a really functional way to start something larger? Like, uh, a daily writing practice? Originally, this blog's first intended theme was writing about Impulstanz and the artistic questions that are emerging while I am a student and audience member here. I say the 'intended theme' because I find this blog becoming something I want to nurture more. Impulstanz is great but it will be over for me very soon. So how do I take what happened last week and make it linger, transform, and inspire a wealth of future ideas with important questions and considerations that I will flesh out in other art-related writings? I mean, really- who reads blogs anyways? Maybe this blog is a draft for something in print?
But back to the journal for a second (which sits beside me as I type, looking at me forlornly) I think I need to tell it to take a seat on the bench and be happy in its second string role. The second string is not undervalued, I will tell it. It is a noble role, certainly. The laptop has its issues and I can't use it ALL the time. Buck up, moleskin journal, you'll get your due.
So what have I written? My colleague and friend Rian Bowie in the English Dept. at Wake and I co-wrote a paper about bringing our students in her African American Poetry course and my Dance Composition course together last semester for a joint-assignment. We submitted it to JODE after several extensive edits in June/July. I also wrote a performance review about a show here in Vienna and plan to write another before I leave. I have been faithfully writing little commentaries about our trip on the family blog. I mention these not to keep tabs (well, not really). These writing projects are momentum builders, small brush strokes in a large wall-size painting (or a series of paintings for an entire show) that I have to complete. I think what I'm getting at is the importance of the dailiness of writing. These papers happened because I was writing material for them consecutively, consistently, with dedication, etc. I wasn't writing good stuff but I was writing in a way that made me realize at least how long I still had to go before these pieces were presentable. I think this 3 week experience of Vienna is teaching me that everyday I must be actively writing...
...and oh yeah actively DANCING. Everyday I must commit to a movement practice too! Even if its just a little, it has to be daily.
So since I'm writing now- what are the stipulations of these dailinesses? Even if it is not worthy of another reader, it is everyday. Even if it is not spectacular, or inspiring or connected to something larger that I am working on it is everyday. Even if it is not something tidy, or complete. Even if it is nonsensical. But everyday, there is a goal: a movement practice and a writing practice. These events do not have to follow one another. They do not need to happen in the same place or way every time (how can they, for god sake?! I marvel at people who get up and write for hours every morning when they wake up at the same desk.
As I'm proselytizing here about my daily practices, some questions emerge. How long do I have to write and dance everyday? Does the writing and dancing have to reflect each other consistently? How do I record both? In this blog? How much do I edit both practices?
An important reminder: it's one thing to THINK about writing or moving everyday but that won't get me points. "Put your money where you mouth is, Tsoules". (That’s what Jeffrey would say). So I have to go move now. I already wrote for the day.
I guess this blog post is a confession.
And it is a deal I am making - with myself, and whoever else reads this.
No comments:
Post a Comment