Wednesday, October 7, 2009

What I Learned from the Murderati

Murderati is mostly for mystery and crime writers, but they write stuff that appeals to authors of every genre. Toni McGee Causey recently wrote my favorite kind of post: relevant, introspective, and original.

I love when someone views writing from a fresh perspective. In this post about the space of writing, Causey views fiction through the lens of architecture. It's on the long side, perfect if you have time to let your mind loll around and consider new ideas.

One of my favorite parts:
"[P]ositive space—not just positive thinking, but positive space—is as necessary to our mental health and our survival as that negative space—that moving, ever onward. We need the connections around us, the grounding in the here and now, the raft of joy in the midst of a chaotic world, to replenish the soul and the well of creativity. You can go a lot of years without doing this, and still function. I can attest to that. But you’ll be missing so much."
Man, that just speaks to me, ya know? Thanks to literary agent Janet Reid for leading me to this post.

Now, go writers. Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.

2 comments:

  1. "the raft of joy in the midst of a chaotic world, to replenish the soul and the well of creativity"

    That is such a beautiful line.
    Sometimes, it is easier to say than it is to do.
    But I know anything good is worth fighting for. :)

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  2. It's nice to be reminded that this painful process we call writing has it's perks. When you do it every day you start to forget--focusing more on the feeling of beating your head against a wall over and over. But I would miss it if I stopped. So thanks for reminding me--I needed that!

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