Watch it in full below.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5109415725027567998&ei=6xrySLHLNoKM-QHhx4HdDg&q=merchants+of+cool]

Can we learn to be original? Great artists are virtually unanimous in their belief that it is something that cannot be taught, and likely for just that reason, it is to be found as often among unschooled artists as those who have gone the academic route. So what is it? Hmmm. We scratch our heads. We have to think.

The biggest problem in delving into the nature and process of originality is that it seems utterly resistant to formal definition. It’s like trying to give the definition of a chair. (Go ahead and try that one!) Every time we try to put our fingers on it, we find it has shifted, moved just out of reach like some funky quantum particle. Of course, ostensive definitions are what we use. THIS is a work of great originality. THAT one over there is not. Just like you do for the chair. Of course, it's easy enough to simply say 'I've never heard/read/seen/felt anything like THIS before, therefore, it must possess significant originality. Well, it ain’t necessarily so. Could be your experience is quite limited. You have no way of knowing whether or not Stevie Ray Vaughn has achieved originality among blues players if the only other one you've ever heard is B.B. King. And it is here that we have stumbled onto what is probably the best possible guideline; experience. Those who have spent their lives, for example, deeply absorbed in the world of music, having listened in depth to many different forms, many different musicians, many different approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmonization, etc. know that the sheer number of experiences they’ve had will help them to discover ‘original’ artistry and to distinguish it from the derivative, particularly the highly derivative. (Which, sadly, constitutes by far the lion’s share of all music.) Of course, we don't all get to be musicologists. But if our culture, particularly in America, put more emphasis on the value of the artistic experience in the process of human development, we would find not only vast numbers of people joyously celebrating their own precious discoveries of originality in the arts, we would also find that same culture reaching unimaginably higher levels of potential in all its fields of endeavor. The whole thing is connected.

It is also important to note that there is no direct connection between artistic ‘talent’ or ‘ability’ and originality. It’s not about being good at what you do. The vast majority of craftsmen and craftswomen who achieve high levels of technical proficiency in their chosen artistic fields will forever remain outsiders to the sacred realm of originality. This doesn’t mean that we can’t be deeply moved by their efforts. There are so many great artists doing meaningful work; virtuoso musicians, extraordinary draftsmen, wizards with words, amazing actors, the list goes on. They live that they may communicate great things to us, and they succeed. But even in the presence of mercurial virtuosity we are seldom apt to find originality. It’s a different animal. The distinction here is between ‘the accomplished’ and ‘the unique.’ ‘The unique’ is the higher entity. It signals a place to which only this one gifted individual can take us. Such realms are lofty indeed.

This, then, is the salient point with regard to having any kind of advanced conception of originality in the arts and sciences. Simply put, it's like this; if you immerse yourself in the world of human creativity, your experience of living life at this time on this planet will have been profoundly maximized. If you squander all your time on your sales ledgers, it will have been just as profoundly minimized. And as far as we know, we only get to do this once. So it's all about how high we think humankind ought to be capable of soaring, and whether or not we choose to become living examples. One thing is certain. If we all learn to step back from the trivial and uninspired hours that the world always forces upon us on some level, and learn to be in the moment with a great work of art, we will have learned how to be magicians. We can stop time. We can snatch a fleeting glimpse into the eternal unity of the universe in which we live. Indeed, we may become as gods from just such moments.

Allan Holdsworth
A True Original

Get off the plane, take the ferry, then take the complimentary shuttle to the Royal York right beside Union Station - you're downtown less than 30 minutes after you land. Interesting and appealing to business people flying in and out of Toronto for meetings.

There's more to Porter than the flight to city centre - it's a comfortable airline that actually cares about their customers. I've flown (and will continue to fly) Porter over four times. Unlike Air Canada and West Jet, Porter does not charge you for food, it's complimentary. So is the booze. And it's about the same price as flying West Jet. Porter is also aesthetically pleasing, the uniforms are great (designed by Pink Tartan's Kimberly Mimran) and the in-flight magazine (Re: Porter) is targeting the proper market. I actually want to read the content because it relates to my interests. The design is quite neat too. Even the food packaging is quite interesting - and although it's a fairly small meal, it's enough for the short trips that Porter makes. The flight from Toronto to Ottawa for example is 45 minutes and I will still be given a sandwich that contains a desert inside for that short trip. Air Canada won't even offer me nuts anymore, and they are way more expensive.

Although Porter does not fly everywhere, they do go to most major cities including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, New York and in November, Chicago. They are really targetting the yuppies with this airline. Porter also has the option of gate check, so you don't need to grab your luggage at the belt, you can pick it up the second you step off the plane.

WAIT, there's more! At city centre airport in Toronto, you have access to iMac's with free internet, reading material and snacks courtesy of Porter. Yes this includes booze, pop, chips, cappucino's, coffee and more. The lounge actually looks like a lounge, leather chairs and cute tables fill the waiting area.

How can they afford all this, right?

Someone once asked this question precisely as I was thinking it: how does Porter manage to provide all these perks with the rising fuel costs? The happy employee (haven't encountered a grumpy one yet), answered, "we like to keep our customers happy and we feel that will keep them coming back." Fair enough, I believe so to, because I will keep coming back. Although it is the safest form of transportation, flying is not an easy experience, even when the trip is short. Porter is trying to make the experience an enjoyable one and they've done their homework by correctly studying their target market. The company is stylish, fashionable and original, I think the creator is a cool hunter. So Fly Porter, you won't regret it. Promise.

image source: http://www.airwaysmag.com/channel/images/magazine/2007_december/porter_website_a.jpg

Here is some yuppie vocabulary they mention, my comments are in italics.

• Pickled (that's parquet, not herring)
• Mesquite (Quizno's has Mesquite chicken)
• Networking (Can anyone say social networking? Yuppies started it the good old fashioned way)
• Postmodernism (as a Communications major this word was prevalent in all textbooks, it's also very much associated with hipsters nowadays)
• Computer literate (most of the world's population is now - thanks to those yuppies)
• Performance piece
• Timeshifting
• Offering Prospectus
• Varietal (countless decisions)
• Dhurrie (ethnicity and exotic - so in right now its reaching mass production)
• Interfacing (has nothing to do with sewing)
• Wraparound mortgage
• Sports medicine
• Fiddlehead (as in fern)
• State of the Art
• Bi-coastal
• Bits and Bytes
• Freesia
• World Class
• Amniocentesis
• Cookware (don't even use the word pot or pan)
• User friendly (hehehe the Internet)
• Orthotics
• Minimalism
• Free Radical

We can also thank yuppies for gentrification, lofts, higher salaries on Wall Street (Canada's case Bay Street), foreign anything, independent women, career driven women, women getting pregnant at 35, Burberry trenchcoats, squash, tennis, the Walkman, wearing running shoes to work and carrying your leather pumps in a designer bag, designer briefcases, pin stripe suits, facial creams, pasta becoming more popular, Architectural Digest and various other design magazines, and oh so much more.

image source: http://fireballsandtsunami.com/images/photos/060601-yuppiehandbook01.jpg

As I said before, there are so many ideas out in the world already that it is terribly hard to have a pure, original thought these days. So where does one draw the line between copying someone else's work as a whole and using some parts of it to merge with other parts to create something new? Could we not say that Andy Warhol was appropriating the Campbell's Soup image when he made screenprints of the cans in 1968? ( As an aside, it is interesting to note that I know the name Andy Warhol, but I do not know the name of the person who first designed the label for Campbell's Soup.) 

Chris Tyrell in his article uses the example of non-native carvers who carve using the language of the Kwakiutl style. They were taught by a First Nations artist. Their work was not directly copied, but it was very similar. I agree with Mr. Tyrell who said these carvings should not be sold or exhibited. This is just like how I was encouraged in art school to copy the 'Masters' as a tool for learning, but I would never sell or exhibit my copy of a Picasso. Yet there are artists who show their copies of historical art, such as Lucy Hogg's show at the Vancouver Art Gallery many years ago. I quite liked her paintings. But how close to appropriation are her interpretations of famous paintings? How far does one have to change the original, before their new work can be seen as original?

Then there is the whole debate over cultural appropriation? I have been witness to many heated discussions about non-natives using First Nations imagery. Is it okay that the French Impressionists looked to Japanese prints for inspiration? Or Picasso looked to African masks? Modern art would look a lot different if we never had those mergings of cultures. Emily Carr's copies of First Nation designs are displayed in the Vancouver Art Gallery on a regular basis. Her paintings I believe are quite original in style, but what about her ceramic pieces that directly copy First Nation designs? Is this appropriation? They are in a gallery because the artist is now famous. But what if I were to produce something similar?

So many questions pop into my head about appropriation. I have barely touched on it in these few paragraphs. This will be an ongoing issue for me to address in my own art as I try to create something new, but also reference the work of others, because I can't help but be inspired by them.

Thanks to each one of you for your support – those who have only joined recently, as well as my longstanding subscribers, who have been here from the early days. I hope that your journey with me has been as rewarding and enriching as mine has been.

Departing Thoughts On Creativity
I have loved writing these newsletters; they have given me the opportunity to focus deeply on the nature of creativity universally – not just as it applies to me. I have always believed that we are all innately creative beings. What I have learnt is that while we think of creativity as an individual expression, there are fundamental basics and truths we can all use to find that which is unique to us. And that doing so is both a daunting commitment and an extremely exciting journey of discovery.

I’d like to leave you with some words that have been influential in my life for some years:

“We each have an infinite supply of love and happiness within us. We have been accustomed to thinking that we have to get something from outside us in order to be happy, but in truth it works the other way: we must learn to contact our inner source of happiness and satisfaction and flow it outward to share with others – not because it is virtuous to do so, but because it feels really good! Once we tune into it we just naturally want to share it because that is the essential nature of love, and we are all loving beings.” - Shakti Gawain, “Creative Visualization”

When we get our creative juices flowing, they nourish not only our inner worlds, but our interactions with the rest of the world as well. Discovering, using and experiencing our creativity – through words, images, music, cooking, dancing or whatever expression comes naturally – is a step towards a richer lives for ourselves. By increasing our inner wealth, we naturally have more to share, and our outer worlds become richer, too.

Taking ownership of our challenges and opportunities, and knowing that we can face them creatively, turns our lives into what I think of as an interactive game. Knowing that we have choices, and that allowing ourselves to fail also allows us to grow, gives us the freedom we need to experiment with life. And a sense of humour is a great defense against all the things we just don’t have control over J

Wishing you all experimental, entertaining and enriching lives, and the ability to spot open doors when they appear!

What I love about it is how developed all the characters are, such as Nancy, Doug, Uncle Andy, Shane and Celia to name a few. It reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite - although there was no plot, the characters pieced together a great film. In the case of Weeds, there is a plot, a big one, and I don't see this show getting canceled anytime soon, it's too damn good.

The scenarios are hilarious, especially the ones that have to do with characters like Andy, Celia and Doug. It shows how adults act like children and how children are more aware and mature than the adults (Shane). The producers are not afraid to address important issues and are transparent on their views regarding the US army's invasion on Iraq and Christian fundamentalism.

I'm hooked on this show. Right now I'm watching season 3 and hope to finish it off before I get a job (and have no more time). So what I'm saying is, watch this show, it's original (c'mon a white suburban widow drug dealer? hilarious!) and you'll be laughing the whole way through. You won't be wasting your time with it, unlike some other shows on television these days, honest.

Image source: http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/weeds-season-3-orig.jpg

This is the quest of every blogger, artist, writer, and human being in general: to create/express/discover something original and of worth to the world. I definetely have a strong desire for that in my heart.

Let's get to my point on un-original individuals. In my mind, I find referring to existentialism to explain daily occurrences is also un-original, but I will resort to Kierkegaard's writings on this topic because I feel it is relevant. According to existentialism, we are always being pressured by outside sources (society) to become what we are. In order to remain authentic, we must remain true to our own desires. Original self expression is only possible when it is free from societal commissions. Un-original self expression is not about what we really like but what the other sources believe we should like, hence the existence of pop culture, a mash up of what we are supposed to like.

Here are some signs that your friends and colleagues are un-original:

1. Claiming that Biggie and Tupac are the pioneers of hip-hop - have they forgotten about Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash, NWA???
2. Most of life's answers are found in Tupac's lyrics - even if your friends have never lived in something called a "ghetto" or "the hood", they continue to refer to Tupac songs to explain bits about their life. Life's hard in the 'burbs ain't it?
3. They can sing along to absolutely any song (good or bad) that plays on popular radio stations - and they can actually manage to sit through the entire thing and enjoy it.
4. Dane Cook is funny - I can't believe I just wrote something so incredibly un-true.
5. Movies with actors like Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba, Dane Cook and various others known for traits other than talent, are their favourites - I would rather do something else with 2 hours of my life, thanks.
6. Proclaiming that Tiesto is amazing, hands down - more like blood to my ears. Excuse me as I pick up my white button down shirt and head to Ibiza.
7. Sex and the City provides the answers to their life and they live vicariously through the show - pathetic. Sure, NYC is the land of sex, but that show is so fake, it's sad how seriously people take it. Take it for what it is, FICTION.
8. Reading Vogue (American), InStyle, Glamour and Cosmopolitan to keep up with the latest in fashion and lifestyle - celebrities are not models nor should they be. Anna Wintour needs to start calling up modeling agencies and using models in there because I can't remember the last time I saw one on the cover. And if anyone claims Cosmo is a legitimate guide to fashion, then clearly someone has no idea what fashion is. Go read something with great editorials like Dazed and Confused, V, Another Magazine, etc.
9. Hollister, Abercrombie and American Eagle clothing - just add those white necklaces you get on vacation in the Caribbean to a polo shirt with a popped collar and you are set to hit the club scene frat boy. Get dressed up like you're about to audition for some reality show whose casting headline was "douches needed" and you might just get cast.
10. They watch "The Hills" and other terrible shows produced by MTV - I just don't understand why someone would want to do that to themselves.
11. In the Summer of 2007, their favourite song was "Hey There Delilah" - This song was so emo I actually felt like cutting myself.
    
12. They bought the latest Coldplay album - ugh, Chris Martin is so annoying, how is this music?
    
13. Alongside their 20+ picture albums on facebook, some of them are called "Randoms", "The Girls", "Ladies Night", "Friends", or "Cancun (Part 1 of 9)" - be more obvious por favor
14. Their only experience across the border has been drunk hook-ups in either Cancun, Cuba or the Dominican Republic - that was cool...as your senior high school grad trip.
    
15. Even when they have the chance to go somewhere other than down South, they go back to the resort that they remember as "fun drunken debauchery and hooking up." - it is possible to go to South America for reasons other than getting drunk and hooking up, like building homes and learning about the country's culture.

There are so many other signs of un-originality, but I'll add them throughout time. For now, feel free to send your own.

So, I decided to analyze who I am, what I do, how I feel, and what I intend to do with this blog.

To start, I thought of who I am...I am a teenage girl who wishes she could become a little child once again, and utterly despises the idea of getting older. So out came the title of a book: Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up.

Then I thought of my friends...to keep this short, they're weird. In fact, as with everyone else, I'm sure, my whole world is sort of wierd, so from there came another book title: Alice in Wonderland

So, put them together, and what do you get? Well, at first, I thought of Alice in Neverland. Cool, right? Yeah, I thought so too...

I thought I was being oh so original, so hip, so...whatever. But the I did some Google-ing, and I discovered not just an album with the same have but another blog by some guy named Alistair called "Alice in Never Never Land" (And it looks like his blog's been up and running since around 2007, so, you know, no contest...). Yeah. Bummer, eh?

So, I decided to let it go, and try "Peter Pan in Wonderland". And you know what I found? Nothing! (Well, except for some confused people who thought the place with the pirates, indians and Lost Boys was actually called "Wonderland")

And that is the thrilling story of how my blog got its name. Taa daa!

A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.   -G.K. Chesterton

Look for a story.  Stories have the power to change lives. 

For years now I have been scratching out notes every chance I get.  As a result, I have a dumpster full of notes I carry around with me every where I move.  People often ask me when they catch me writing away, What are you doing?---especially when I scribble all over the palm of my hand because I don't have a notepad handy.  I've borrowed more scratch paper than an average household uses in a life-time. 

I'm constantly on the lookout for a good story.  

I have read wonderfully written books that are entirely unsatisfactory to me because I do not believe that the author was writing a story. The author was writing a book. There is a great difference.   -Kaitlyn Ramsey        

I'd say we get too hung up on finding the story, as if it were hiding---when there are countless stories waiting to be told if we'd only open our eyes and see them. 

One of modern day literature's most prolific and genius writers died on the twelth of September---he was 46 years young.  David Foster Wallace was tormented for nearly twenty years by depression and ended his pain by hanging himself at his home in Claremont, California---only to be found by his wife of four years.  Tragic story.  The NY Times described Wallace as a writer [who] mapped the mythic and the mundane.  I'd like to think of myself in those terms, a writer who unwraps incredible insights within the most ordinary of circumstances. 

To often however, it's the extraordinary we either botch up or shrink down to bite sized pieces.  

Wallace was a crafty storyteller, and it was largely his hunger for finding a story that set him heads and shoulders above his peers.  He is quoted as saying, We're not keen on the idea of the story sharing its valence with the reader.  And maybe that helps to explain our hesitancy to use story in our writing.  We'd rather spout off our opinions about a story or write a dissertation about the lessons to be learned from a story---rather than simply tell a story.  

Are we are afraid our readers may take it the wrong way?  You may remember that people misunderstood Jesus, but he didn't throw in the towel on the art of storytelling.  I've had several folks give me a hard time about sharing stories that extol the wonders of God's grace---they've said I'm giving people the wrong idea and that people will abuse grace if you share it too much.  We share it too little really, people will abuse anything they want to abuse.  So I won't stop talking about grace just because a few religious types get all bent out of shape. 

We need to tell our stories despite the naysayers.          

Tune out the noise and get found in your writing.  You have to listen to write anything of value.  

Getting quiet is imperative when it comes to listening.  And great writers have learned the science of not only listening well---but of listening to the sounds that count.  Wonder and beauty and mystery aren't always hanging out in the broad day light.  We have to peek around in the shadows, the margins, and the back rooms if we are going to uncover it.  It's nearly impossible to develop any kind of narrative when you are steeped up to your eyeballs in the details of every day living.  You have to unplug.  Go sit out in a field if you have to.  

If any man wish to write in clear style, let him first be clear in his thoughts; if any would write in noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.    -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ernest Hemingway's friend and long time fishing partner, Gregorio Fuentes, had this to say about Hemingway's inspiration for one of his most famous works (The Old Man and the Sea)---When we went to sea, we found the old man and the sea. We found him adrift on a little boat with a big fish tied there... 

It is imperative that we find our own sea, whatever it may be.

We must learn to crowd everything that distracts us.

Devote yourself to your holy must.  If writing isn't flowing through your veins and taking up space in your brain---it isn't for you.  Get out while the gettin' is good and do yourself a favor.  Save yourself the thankless hours invested and the gray hairs and the endless pots of coffee and the sleepless nights.  Find your passion---what you excel at, what you can't live without.  And if you are gonna stick it out as a writer, some good questions to ask yourself are obvious ones: What will I write about?  What is it that I have written about that has most enlivened me?  What is it that I most wish to say and if I don't say it, will most regret not having done so? 

Write about those things.

Just like an uncaged bird has little capacity in his life for anything that doesn't include flying---so it is for the serious writer when it comes to writing.  Good writing is rarely the byproduct of a mere hobby. 

You can have so many irons in the fire that you can't keep any hot. 

One desire has been the ruling passion of my life.  One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and soul.  And sooner should I seek escape from the sacred necessity that is laid upon me, let the breath of life fail me...   -Abraham Kuyper

Can we say that writing is a sacred necessity for us---a holy must?

Let me close this short series of posts by stating that what I have shared certainly didn't come to me on my own---I have much credit to pass along but wouldn't even begin to know where to start.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

Be humble enough to be teachable.  You don't know it all.  You may be as gifted as anyone and you might work your tail off when it comes to preparation---but even you can be better.

It never ceases to startle me when a fellow writer can tell (with such ease) the rest of us how much we stink.  There's nothing like a haughty writer who wants to show off his acumen while showing up someone who may not be as far along.  Disgusting I tell you.  Insecurity sure breeds ugliness.  So few of us lend a hand to one another, but we sure are quick to step over one another.  Why can't we be in this together?  Surely there's room for the both of our contributions.  You don't have to like or appreciate my style or content---but we can respect one another.  

The older I get the more I realize the validity of the fact that the less I know, the smarter I become.  I don't write fiction, but that's not to say I can't learn from someone who writes the stuff.  As I study writers who are and were the best in class I am only challenged to raise my own game.  

I've found the really tricky discipline to writing is trying to play without getting overcome by insecurity or vanity or ego.   -David Foster Wallace 

There is a story that goes something like this—This guy’s strolling down the street when he stumbles and falls into a manhole with walls so steep he can’t get out.  A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, Hey you, can you help me out?  The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.  Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up, Father, I’m down in this hole.  Can you help me out?  The priest writes a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on.  Then a friend walks by and the guy excitedly shouts up, Hey, Joe, it’s me.  Can you help me out?  And the friend jumps in the hole.  The guy says, Are you nuts?  Now we’re both down here.  The friend says, Yeah, but I’ve been down here before—and I know the way out. 

Learn from the masters---they have wisdom to impart. 

Incorporate your every day life into your writing.  Without experience we have nothing to give our readers. 

My favorite person in the bible is David---with Jesus as the lone exception.  I relate with David on several fronts, but my partiality concerning David comes down to this: He is real, raw, unpackaged and he lived life wide open.  He's what I consider to be an every day guy---and that despite his being a king, a giant-killer, and a man after God's own heart (that, according to God).  And despite all of that, David's story is about his ordinary life---his time in hiding, his time on the run, his time as the hunted, his time with his kids, his time with friends, his time in battle, his time in prayer, and his time in bed with another man's wife.  David lived an expansive life and in turn he was able to write fully (take a peek at the Psalms if you don't think so). 

David's personal journey was a story at every turn.

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.   -Augustine

Our own lives are books in a sense and those of us who do not live our lives only have blank pages with nothing to write on them.

Pay close attention to your life.

Make honesty your policy.  Being transparent with our readers takes work---it can be like pulling teeth for some of us.  One of the things I most respect about the writers I follow is their willingness to let their hair down.  The point isn't to be self-depreciating (although it works for some)---the idea here is to tell on yourself from time to time. 

I know a number of pastors, I have met a good many and sat under the ministry of several.  My favorite, Dr. Richard Alberta (Brighton Michigan), is a bit of a know-it-all, but he can sure let the cat out of the bag on a dime when it comes to what he is really like.  And due to this transparency and willingness to be vulnerable, you just can't help but appreciate him all over again every time he lets you in on another secret of his. 

Now, don't mistake what I am trying to express here as the equivalent of airing out all of your dirty laundry.  That is not what I am promoting.

There is something else which has the power to awaken us to the truth. It is the works of writers of genius. They give us, in the guise of fiction, something equivalent to the actual density of the real, that density which life offers us every day but which we are unable to grasp because we are amusing ourselves with lies.   -Simone Weil 

Tell the story as it is, not as you wish it were. 

We do our readers an injustice by not leveling with them and by portraying a make believe world if you ask me.  If it is relief from the pressures and stresses of life that we can provide for our readers for a moment or two, as well as some perspective---we will have reached our goal in some regards.  But if it is escape from reality we offer---we give them no hope at all.   

Don’t tone down your writing in the name of God—the bible isn’t a sanitized book for goodness sakes!  I am not suggesting you be crass or vulgar, but I am saying we need more transparent writers today.  And while we are on the topic of honesty---don't take yourself too seriously. 

Be sure you can demonstrate some genuine humility if you want to be any kind of a reputable and respectable writer.  

Be bold and speak truth---even when it stings to do so.

More to come in part 5.

grown by the same sun

sheltered by the same roof

will our days remember to be unique?

Write everyday, line by line. Page by page. Hour by hour. Do it despite fear, for above all else, beyond imagination and skill. What the world asks of you is courage. Courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty. Study thoughtfully, but write boldly. Then like the hero in the fable, your dance will dazzle the world.   -Robert McKee 

Use your God given imagination.  Jesus had an imagination.  Just a casual glance at his countless parables and constant use of imagery bears this out.  Jesus spoke the language of the people he hung out with.  I figure the least I can do is follow his example if I am going to talk about him. 

Merriam-Webster defines imagination as the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses.  Being imaginative requires stepping outside of the box and drawing a picture our readers can identify with.  If we hope to gain an audience it begins by being unique.  I write about Jesus and every once in a while a reader will comment to me that they find my writing unchurchy and not awful religious.  In other words---I don't strike them as typical or predictable.  Well, I try darn hard not to be either.  I spent a few years on staff at a church and I went to as straight-laced of a bible school for my training as you will find.  It's taken work to exterminate the Christianeze from my vocabulary.  My readers can do without the shalt not's and beseech thee's---modern day English is permissible.  

Now, some might accuse me of watering down an ancient message or of tinkering with timeless truths---let them say so.  They might even call me a heretic for being halfway innovative.   An ageless message isn't made any less potent by being made contemporary.  We can be creative and faithful.  We can talk about salvation without speaking in King James.  We don't have to alter Jesus to be relevant.  I just refuse to re-tell the stories using tired and worn out religious lingo and jargon.  And no, Velvet Elvis isn't on my list of book favorites (not even close---I found the book extremely disappointing actually).

An author should never conceive himself as bringing into existence beauty or wisdom which did not exist before, but simply and solely as trying to embody in terms of his own art some reflection of eternal Beauty and Wisdom.   -C.S. Lewis, Christianity and Literature

Imagination can be confused with being inconclusive.  For my fellow writers who are Christians, this can be something we fear---not giving the right answers.  Well, I would submit that it's less answers we need to give and more of Jesus we need to lift up.  We can be imaginative while not becoming wishy-washy.  It's okay to not spell every last detail out---Jesus was fond of making his listeners do a little thinking.

Be imaginative and refuse to fall into familiar ruts.

Imagine before you sit down to write.  

Courage is not recklessness.  Being courageous means getting outside of yourself but somehow remaining within.  

Being different just to be different or being wild just to get attention isn't to be mistaken for being creative/imaginative---recklessness isn't to be confused with courage.  A writer who makes any kind of impact has to be courageous.  It takes guts to speak the truth, make folks laugh, and speak to hearts. Writer's who never risk never amount to anything.  Be prepared to get a rejection notice, or a thousand of them.  Your toes are gonna get stepped on and maybe even your neck.  If you can't develop thick skin it's gonna be a painful ride.  From Herman Melville to Edgar Allen Poe, legendary authors have continually had their greatest works shot down before they ever got off the ground.  Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) received the following love letter in response to her work---The girl does not, it seems to me, have a special perception on feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level. 

You can't roll over and cry Uncle! the first time you get your feelings hurt---instead, roll up your sleeves and go back to the drawing board.

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.   -Babe Ruth

Courage isn't the absence of fear Twain once quipped. 

I'd say courage is going anyways.

Originality or bust.  I'd venture to guess that Frederick Buechner never set out to become the next G.K. Chesterton.

There has already been one Shakespeare---no one needs another.  All someone has to do is go pick up one of his classics if they want to read the best when it comes to Shakespeare.  You can't compete with an original.  You can merely be one.  I have several writers I admire tremendously and even those I emulate in a sort of way, but to attempt to imitate any other writer is my undoing.  Frauds are found out eventually.  No one much cares for a copy-cat anyways---I mean a single Michael Jackson was plenty enough.  Michael Jordan you say?---as cool as a second MJ might have been, another one would have been overkill. 

To learn from others and follow some principles that others have passed along is fine and dandy, it can serve most helpful.  I have spent over a decade in sales.  My own father is one of the best sales professionals I have ever met.  I also did time in sales management, so I have seen a few seasoned pros. 

What I have noticed about my dad over the years is that he is not afraid to be himself.  He refuses to be any one else---he's made being the best he can be, his craft if you will.  And he can be a little odd (I like to say that normal is a setting on your dryer).  He grows tomatoes outside his office window by the entrance to the store he works at (something no one else he works with would dare think of doing).  He wears some ties that make his shirts scream in disgust.  The knit stocking caps he wears to work during the winter couldn't make the Farm and Fleet annual catalog.  And to top it off, he can't spell two words correctly in a row.  But one thing my dad is if he is anything: Original.  His customers love him and have continued to drive across town to see him year after year, decade after decade.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.  -Galatians 6:4-5, The Message Bible   

I find that I write my most striking and unconventional stuff when I am simply and unapologetically me.  Some people may find me as interesting as a mid-term exam, I have learned to accept that.  I'm not about to start trying to be anyone else to gain some token approval.

Refuse to try and be someone you are not.

Be you and don't apologize.

More to come in part 4.

You would think the community that is convinced that its origin is in the Word made flesh that finds its text for living in the written word, that constantly uses words in preaching and teaching, would hold writers in high esteem...      

But all of you know, to your chagrin, that with very few exceptions, it doesn’t happen.   -Eugene H. Peterson

You are an artist, not a grave digger.  Digging graves can't take all that much creativity really.  Being a writer demands it. 

You can't expect to capture let alone mesmerize a single reader without a fair share of the stuff that makes life, let alone story---interesting.  And if it is an audience you want to reach, well, you'll need more than a teaspoon full.  I enjoy watercolors and have purchased an original or two over the years.  One of my teenage daughters is a pretty gifted painter.  I am no painter myself, but I undertand the basics.  A good painter uses variation---colors, depths, and tones to set the mood.  More or less---expression.  A talented painter has a mess of colors all over the place and uses them all at once. 

We live among a generation that is bombarded virtually every waking second in one way or another with textures and visuals of every shape, flavor, and size.  We may not compete with Hollywood when it comes to special effects---but we can be smart.  We don't have to be drab.  The world is full of words, and throwing together some snazzy lines or assembling a couple crazy paragraphs isn't going to cut it.  That's the simple task.  We need to be forever creative. 

You have to be creative for more than a moment---it takes more than stringing a few electric words together to write a good piece.  You can lose your reader faster than you ever got her. Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull shared the following a couple weeks back with the Harvard Business Review---and while he shared it about the roll creativity plays in a motion picture studio involving hundreds of creators, how much more we should heed the advice as one single writer (Pixar is no small player when it comes to creative films---i.e., Toy Story). 

Creativity must be present at every level of every artistic and technical part of the organization. The leaders sort through a mass of ideas to find the ones that fit into a coherent whole—that support the story—which is a very difficult task. It’s like an archaeological dig where you don’t know what you’re looking for or whether you will even find anything. The process is downright scary.     

Being creative as a writer is your life-line---and as Donald Miller puts it, you have the freedom to do so.

It's not enough to make it a priority to relate with your reader---you have to be artistic as well. 

Make every word count.  Words should pack a punch, soften a blow, and do everything in between.  You have to select the right ones if you want to land your message.  The witty Mark Twain---Use the right word, not it's second cousin, and, The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.  

Any pretender can write a little.  It takes a contender to go twelve rounds.  Grabbing the attention of a few readers is swell, but the question is---Can you keep it once you earn it?  Can you say something that continues to resonate---something that is useful, meaningful, moving, unique, and even beautiful in it's own way?  

...I started to sense that words not only convey something, but are something; that words have color, depth, texture of their own, and the power to evoke vastly more than they mean; that words can be used not merely to make things clear, make things vivid, make things interesting and whatever else, but to make things happen inside the one who reads them and hears them.   -Frederick Buechner, The Sacred Journey (p.68)   

The words you choose matter.

Refuse to save the china for a special occasion.  A grave mistake we make is holding back.  You have one chance to make an intitial big splash---don't make it a thump.  The piece you write today might be your break tomorrow, don't make it your death notice. 

Come out at the onset and write your best stuff.  If you don't use the china now you may never get the opportunity again.

When you write--–explode--–fly apart--–disintegrate! Then give time enough to think, cut, rework, and rewrite.   -Ray Bradbury

If you have the ability to hit it out of the park---don't wait till the next time you come up up the plate.  The game could be done and over by your next turn up to bat.  There is absolutely no crazy reason (let alone sane one) to skip putting your best foot forward right out of the gate.  Your title, opening line, first paragraph---they need to arrest something within your reader.  If you can't make an impressive first impression to begin with you certainly won't get a second chance.  How many television programs have you passed on because you weren't pulled in?  You just flipped the channel and found something more interesting (I am dating myself here).  How many movies have you had to see because the trailer reached out and grabbed you?---colossal flop or not. 

An extraordinary opening lets your reader know you mean business.  Give your reader permission to take your writing seriously by taking it seriously yourself (not to be mistaken for taking yourself seriously).  You don't go to a dance to sit, unless you aren't a dancer---what's the point of going?  If you aren't going to take off the gloves, masks, and anything else you need to take off to write something worthy of your readers time---save it.

Write like you mean it---put it in the right field seats.

Start strong and finish well.    

More to come in part 3.

You have creative license---you have freedom.

When I was a ninety-eight pound junior higher I decided I'd try my hand at writing.  I was already a pretty decent baseball player by that time and had a firm handle on public speaking, so I figured writing might be up my alley.  My young writing career was short-circuited by my freshman year in high school and I can't quite tell you why other than the fact that I was pretty much a derelict student.

I now think I have a hint as to why I dropped out so easily after taking journalism and getting involved with the squirrely yearbook club---I found writing as formal, dull, dry, and boring as the stingy-legalistic church I was drug to Sunday after Sunday.  It wasn't fun.  It had no sex appeal.  The rules sucked the life out of it for me.  At least in sports you could be creative and stay within the rules.  

To me, writing was for students who had no zest and no drive---I didn't get it.  

Writing was downright dreadful.  

Writing, and more specifically---creative writing---has become of interest to me again.  I have spent the last several years toying around with ideas for a book and I blog like a freak.  For weeks now I have been tossing around this post and it hasn't been a lack of time that has hindered me---I just have been too lazy to carve out the time necessary for this (although, this post needed to ruminate for more than an afternoon).  Of late, I have taken in a little Eugene Peterson (which is quite customary), I am currently reading Frederick Buechner's Sacred Journey for the second time, and the other day I listened to Donald Miller on the desperate need for employing great story/narrative---all three writers, legends in my mind.

Needless to say, I have been building a case as I have been reading---and listening to my own thoughts as to what it is I wish to say in regards to some of my takes on what constitutes a good piece of writing.

When given the choice---take the narrow road.  I was rummaging through a blog tonight about writing and I was struck by the author's zeal for Stephen King's material as well as for Stephen King the writer.  King had made such a lasting impression on the blogger (Maclean Patrick), that I got the feeling he was gearing up to launch a new fan website.  Patrick more or less praised King's keen ability to flesh out a story and bring it to life, and he was going on about King's ability to properly break the rules and be most effective in doing so (I suppose it stands to reason that the best rule-breakers are those who know a fair amount about the rules to begin with). 

Patrick concludes, Study the craft and then break the norm, make it your art-form and I bet you would develop into a unique writer of your own.  Sound advice I'd say.

...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

-Robert Frost

Great writers, like great leaders---must go it alone if they want to go at all.  And if you want to be a writer you better plan on missing out on a few things---cause you will. 

It can be a lonely occupation.

Find out what makes your readers tick.  I write with those in mind who may feel just a little like I do much of the time---patronized, marginalized, disenfranchised, and ostracized, shoved aside, looked past, forgotten, and even demonized by various segments of greater organized religion.  Be it that my schooling was second tier (if not third), I have been everything from rebelious Nazarene to zealous charismatic to loyal Presbyterian, my time in the pastorate ended swiftly as I sensed a need to provide for my own family and I have struggled to forgive myself for not trusting God more---or that I have played the prodigal times two and never have been able to make up for it, nor do I try.  I have seen myself as the consummate outsider, and frankly, I have been treated like one at times (but don't feel sorry for me, I have treated others worse).  I write to let others know that it's okay to feel a certain way---Jesus takes us in irregardless.

I relate with folks a lot better who are more apt to remember their morning coffee than they are to remember their 6am prayer ritual.  You could easily say I am from the wrong side of the tracks spiritually according to a good number of folks I have met at church over the years. 

Lewis has taught me a style of approach that I try to follow in my own writings. To quote William James, “… in the metaphysical and religious sphere, articulate reasons are cogent for us only when our inarticulate feelings of reality have already been impressed in favor of the same conclusion.” In other words, we rarely accept a logical argument unless it fits an intuitive sense of reality. The writer’s challenge is to nurture that intuitive sense—as Lewis had done for me with his space trilogy before I encountered his apologetics. Lewis himself converted to Christianity only after sensing that it corresponded to his deepest longings, his Sehnsucht.

Lewis’s background of atheism and doubt gave him a lifelong understanding of and compassion for readers who would not accept his words. He had engaged in a gallant tug of war with God, only to find that the God on the other end of the rope was entirely different from what he had imagined. Likewise, I had to overcome an image of God marred by an angry and legalistic church. I fought hard against a cosmic bully only to discover a God of grace and mercy.   -Philip Yancey in Christianity Today (How C.S. Lewis shaped my faith and writing) 

And if you have read any amount of Yancey, you know he writes from this vantage point.  It is tough to connect with those you least understand.  Write from a position of commonality---i.e., a place of brokenness (and strangely the weakness here is instead a strength).  

If you can't reach your audience, you won't reach a fly.

More to come in part 2.

Today I am using the Tarot of Imagination which is one of my favourite story decks. The artist, Ferenc Pintér, has an immediately recognizable style. I like artists like that.

My husband and I were discussing the infamous British artist Damien Hurst this morning. Neither of us respect his work because he makes millions, yet we could not look at a sculpture of an animal preserved in formaldehyde, and recognize it as his. It's a pickled cow with symbolic doodads and gold leaf. Take it out of a chi-chi art gallery or Sotheby's art marketing milieu and would people recognize it as **his** artwork? Nope.

The Tarot of Imagination is subtitled "Fragments of perception" which is wild.

THE DEVIL XV

Speaking of cloven hooves. . . .Satan gives the age old finger to the world and watches carefully for reaction. The world withers all around but he lives and changes cloaked in passion, temptation, originality, carnality. Odd that originality, which I think of as an extremely positive thing, can here be associated with The Devil.

It depends on what source and impact your originality has. Serial killers, liars, sadists, pedophiles, and artists can all be original, but if the world withers from their dark eye and twisted fingers, then originality becomes an eternally devilish hell.

From The Book of Silk today. . . .

"Documents of this period mention 'kinkob', a term adapted from a Chinese word, 'chin', designating gold-woven silk."

Tied in with The Devil, the maxim "All that glitters is not gold" comes to mind. It's odd how we tend as humans to tune out little homilies like this. We hear them so often and become disdainful. I didn't start out to mention art or artists, but I pulled out Ferenc Pintér's art and gasped with delight, and the dichotomy of originality reared up.

I get discouraged in my own art quite frequently, particularly when sensationalism makes millions and I don't sell a fresh and lively original necklace, or when another artist tells me I shouldn't outline an illustration when I already have, because that's my style, but there is also a story in that today.

When it becomes evident that not only is the conversation based on something read on the internet, but also isn't appropriately credited, one suddenly not only feels down on the conversation itself, but also finds oneself doubting previous wit from the same individual.  Given that this bloke has long been a source of amusement to us all, well, calling his wit into question is a pretty depressing thing.

And there's no way this was some sort of bizarre coincidence.

He was discussing Cracked's "8 Classic Movies That Got Away With Gaping Plot Holes" - except he only brought up 4 movies.  We got home before we moved onto the rest.  However, he touched on each one in the exact same order that it came up in the article, as well as quoting verbatim many of the jokes.

In fairness, Cracked does a lot of articles, and they're all mostly-entertaining, but ... dammit.  Bloke was one of my favourite witty folks we run with, and now being unable to take any of his wit as genuine, I'm crushed.  Every time he's being clever, I can't help but wonder where he got it from, whether or not it's just something that I've not seen yet.

As an artist I have trouble coming up with original ideas, and I am far from being alone in this. Society values original ideas precisely because they are not easily achieved. Even for the purposes of writing this I am not wholly original: I turn to the web to find quotations on the subject, to use the thoughts of others as fuel for my own.

"We are all born originals - why is it so many of us die copies?" Edward Young. Ever look at a 4 year old's crayon drawing and see the work of a genius? Or are you the type of person who tells the child their cat should have 4 legs not 2, and the grass should be green, not purple? Beatrix Potter once said "Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality." In our post industrial world conformity seems to be more prevalent than originality. Do not most people choose the route of sameness rather than originality often because they fear being ridiculed, shunned, cast out of the collective group? We are taught everything, from what clothes to wear to what lifetime goals we should achieve.

During our current information age is it even harder to have original ideas? "Many a man fails as an original thinker simply because his memory is too good." Friedrich Nietzsche. We see so much of what others have done our own minds are clogged. No doubt we got to this point in history by taking the ideas of others and building on them, but I can't help feeling defeated when I think I have an original idea only to find on the internet many others who have it too.

So after my discovery of unintentional copying last week I went and wrote new lines, and the rest of my song is still original as far as I know. It still brings me joy, and I hope others will enjoy it too. For now that's what matters, because in a world where so much has already been said and done "originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself." James Stephen. If many others think what I create is fresh and new, and if it stirs some emotion in them, then I am satisfied that my job as an artist has been well done.

                        Why yet I live to say “This thing’s to do…”  (Act 4:4, 46-47)

            In act four, scene four in his soliloquy, Hamlet finally questions himself as a prince and the government as a whole.  By saying “why yet I live to say “This thing’s to do,” Hamlet asks himself why he has to do something he does not agree with, namely, fighting over nothing.  The only reason why he would do this is because it is his duty and expectation as a prince to do so.  I believe that nobody truly does what he or she wants to do because they are afraid to stand up to what society thinks.  Because of this, freedom is, in a way, a lie we live as Americans.

            Rollo May, a famous existential psychologist, said, “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.”  On the same subject, he also said, “If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, then you will have betrayed yourself.”  Hamlet feels the same way about the decisions he makes as the Prince of Denmark. 

            I feel that society is going nowhere culturally because everyone follows something.  I believe that no one is free because people, mainly kids do what their friends, the media, and pop culture say to do.  Hamlet questions his expectations as Prince because it is not what he believes in as a person.  Hamlet, as should other people in general, goes against his family and friends’ ideas and begins to think for himself.  Even after a while, it seems as though Hamlet forgets about his father’s wish to avenge his murder and, instead, kills nearly everyone not to avenge his father’s death, but for what he believes is right.

            Conforming to what society wants can lead to unoriginality and lack of culture because everything will have been redone over and over again.  Conformity, in Hamlet’s case, is simply wrong because that would mean he would fight for nothing.  Instead, Hamlet decides to be courageous and stand up for what he believes in.

1. They used a MAC to make the ad. If you are going to make something that proves your product is superior to your opponent, DONT USE YOUR OPPONENTS PRODUCT TO DO SO, thus proving your product can not achieve the same goal!
2. It is not believable.

When you are doing something, anything, do it to the best of your ability. EVERYONE has a creative edge in them someplace. Some choose to embrace it, others choose to repress it...Millions of dollars for these ads, could they not do better? Thoughts?