I’ve done some soul-searching on this issue recently, as yet another rejection came via a Poetry Competition submission. It was not just any poem, but one that bared all – the sadness and shame that a human might feel as if reflecting on the Thing that is Life – from the view of the Cosmos. Being judged on this poem felt like – well – feeling judged… I had to reel myself back from that and remember that the poem is in my language, and ultimately speaks my truth back to me.

I’ve done some ‘Self-Work’ recently too, and have come to grips with certain truisms that require a face-to-face:  The mortality of my parents, the mortality of my sister, the subjective world of an Artist, and the reality of isolation vis-a-vis proximity to some of my closest friends.

What I’ve concluded this past week is that the only mirror that matters is the one I hold up on purpose – the one I look through and past. The one I tailor for compassion and honesty, with a hint of optimism.

This mirror is necessary for all of us. We can be honest with ourselves about everything. We can prevail over what we see that we’d like to change.

Just now, I have a query out to someone about something. I seem perfect for the job, so to speak. But, is the opportunity perfect for me – that is the true question. Our ideal mirror remembers that fate and chance regularly meet for coffee.

Professionally, I spend a lot of time helping other people sort out their own stuff. Surprising how many don’t realize that the mirror of another is one we can reject, in favor of our own chosen reflection.

As the creative process flows through and in me, this mirror I choose becomes not just happy-making, but success-making. Think about how many people in fields like screenwriting and fiction speak about the need for a person to find her/his own unique voice. And, to speak with that voice as one moves through the world of Creating:  This, the experts say, is the key to success as a writer.

I find that this is the key to happiness as well. My words, my mind. My mirror, my life.

~~

Feel free to share your thoughts. And, as usual, I’ll leave the Light on for ya.

I recently observed a Speech Therapist work with my nephew:  He’s bright and loving and self-assured, but at two-years, has not developed an appreciation for the initiated value of speech.  This Therapist worked her magic – she simply allowed him to direct the play.  He responded by working at forming the sounds she offered, and Voila!  He’s off and running in the world of spoken language!

After, she offered a book on how Family can assist a child with learning and development.  This little book might just change my creative life forever, for it gives the formula for crafting characters like no other.  Based on a learning and development approach that allows the child to engage the adult rather than the other way around, it hit me like a train that characters in fictional works deserve the same treatment.

This approach should have hit me sooner, but it took a village of artists to deliver the message to me.  I heard something powerful on the issue of portraying Character when I recently interviewed the Actress, Amanda Reed.  She explained that in MOTHER’S RED DRESS, she portrayed her character by “surrendering over to her, and giving her the respect of allowing her story to be told.”

Amanda Reed on IMDb:

My Film Review and Trailer for MOTHER’S RED DRESS, a new film by No Restrictions Entertainment

A Writer who takes this approach, succeeds.  Enter the writer who’s looking to enchant a Character Form into a well-developed living and breathing Structure with Function.  This idea of Form, Structure, and Function is one that presents itself as a model in human anatomy and physiology, as each together describe the Form, the Structure, and the Function of the human body.

Bones, fibrous stuff and hoses are great, but how does it all work in real-time?  When we writers look to craft, we sometimes go right to Function and skip the rest – what does this character do?  Or, we focus on Form – what does the character look like inside and out – like the exoskeleton of an insect.  Or, we portray how this character acts in certain situations or think in certain moments – this is the Structure of the character.  With any one approach, we look to give our Audience what they crave – a living and breathing character that compels, repels, engages, and intrigues.  But if we do not include it all, do we succeed?  The litmus test here is whether our Audience could answer a series of trivia questions about our characters…

Using the child learning and development approach where the adult allows the child to lead the activity, how does a writer’s approach to character development look?

First, walk with my mind on the topic a bit.  I just read a poignant and essential Blog on this very thing by Twitter @princess_scribe – on her Blog Site http://www.princessscribe.com  She relays what it’s like to create her first Web Series THEY LIVE AMONG US, and how she’s decided to give the reins of character development and portrayal to the Actors, encouraging them to decide even the hobbies of their characters.  Set design will then be based on her actors’ insights.  Her Series has been immediately elevated by this approach.  THEY LIVE AMONG US Webpage:

This approach is key in my mind when a Writer crafts a character who will be unforgettable – one who will take up residence in the Readers’ / Viewers’ mind long after the words are seen, heard, or images have been received.  Can we as Writers be brave enough to let our characters determine our stories?

Last night on Twitter, @jeffdaviswrites said something so profound on this topic, I nearly flew out of my chair.  He said that he was working on a sequel to his novel PREYING ANGELS, and that the “…characters were leading him through now.”  Exactly.  Like the child who engages the adult, Jeff allows his characters to show him who they are and how their reality unfolds.  Jeff is experiencing the story in real-time with his characters.  This kind of writing can only mean one thing:  The Reader will be riveted by the story, and that real-time quality of believability, no matter the subject matter, will prevail!

My nephew had me at “Gah” – his favorite term for all things profound, just like Amanda Reed, @princess_scribe and @jeffdaviswrites had me with their insights.  Unveiling characters as they discover themselves and their world brings our Golems to Life that all Audiences will, with or without thought, invite into their minds.  These characters will then have a chance to take up residence like the great Icons of Worthy Fiction and Film.

~~

I welcome your Comments.  And, as always, I’ll leave the Light on for Ya.

Strangely, we defer to statistics to proclaim that something common is likely. We point to the average and expect it. If we are pessimistic, perhaps we look to the part of the bell curve on the less ideal side. We listen to doctors, stock analysts, trend forecasters, and our own heads. So much support of the less than optimal, that I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually contribute to the next moment being ho-hum.

The previous comment is not just anecdotal. The “New Physics” stumbled on this very thing – the degree to which we can affect the next moment. The New Physics is a term used to describe the modern fields of Physics that explore the aspects of our world that function bizarrely according to traditional approaches, then observe and speculate on possible reasons for them. One fascinating observation drawn by Quantum Physics, a field that can be placed under the umbrella of New Physics, is that when scientists go to look for an electron’s location, they have to stop it from moving because it is so erratic. When they do that, they cannot observe its behavior. When they let the electron do its thing, they can only watch its behavior, but cannot pinpoint its location. It is a statistical mess – manic at best.  This is called the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle – for the guy who put this into words.

Anyway, this is the backdrop for the following. Modern scientists took this principle and started to tweak it. They wondered: If they look for an electron where they expect to find it, will they find it more often? This, to determine whether intention has any bearing on the next moment. What they found shocked them and the world: Electrons showed up much more often where scientists  intended to find them than statistical norms suggest they should.

Science took this observation a step further. They asked a control group to intend certain numbers to a computer several hundred miles away – this computer’s sole job was to generate random numbers. The data, conclusive: numbers intended showed up much more often than should statistically.

With this in mind, I wish that we’d be taught this in school; I mean, how would it be if we understood that intention can have a bearing on outcome?

So, over to the discussion at the beginning of this post. We expect the average, or we expect the worst. When and how often do we expect the best outcome? Certainly, we try sometimes. In this regard, culturally, we’ve benefited from the urgings of our traditions. Weddings and births come to mind. We say “May You have a long and happy life together”, even though statistics on unions are not pretty. On births, we say “Congratulations!” before the birth and comment on how wonderful the experience will be from pregnancy to the child’s maturity. Our traditions do not focus on the pain, the risk, the fear, the teenage years. And, this brings up a very valuable point: As a culture, we have found a way to get optimistic, even ideal around things we can’t control that are fundamentally and ultimately risky. So, why don’t we do take this approach with everything?

I once taught as a school for Massage Therapy – largely a self-employment field. Teachers would complain at Staff meetings about the unlikely success of many students, and commented that perhaps, these students should have been barred from admission. Our Teaching Manager would look at them and say “Who are we to determine the outcome of someone else’s success?”

I never forgot that. I now look at the world this way:

Freaks and The Norm stand in the post office line. We live in a statistical stew. The ingredients of this statistical stew are just waiting for their turn at the counter.

The middle line, the 50% mark; image http://economicshelp.org

Whether we expect a wonderful or tragic moment next is up to us. Even if we have experienced tragedy, we can tell our brain that we reject the thought that something bad is coming, and replace that thought with one that gives the “official” position of our head: that we anticipate great things.

You can embrace the idea that your intention affects the next moment. If you decide to embrace this idea, you are set. Just intend good stuff.

If you are unwilling to embrace this idea, then remember that statistics shows us that in the next moment, all things are equally possible.

The orange and the white - equally possible the next moment

Either way, optimism becomes the logical conclusion. But, the choice is yours.

~~

Feel free to drop me a line about your thoughts on the issue. As always, I’ll leave the light on for ya.

I am but one idea away
from my next personal triumph -
a place where I can relish
who I have become.

I wondered at the hidden virtues of the Curtsy recently.  It’s a term used on Twitter to denote acknowledgement and appreciation.  That one word, denoting so much.  So, no wonder that this Pillar of Language found me in the shower one night – only figuratively mind you – it had followed me after reading the Twitter Feed of a certain Diva of the Twitter Tree.  I got to thinking – why was the Curtsy ever invented, and why is it as it is, in action?  And, then I wondered whether there were any hidden lessons clinging to the petticoat of the 18th Century French dress I imagined.  Oh my, yes, hidden lessons clinging, indeed.

Take note that the Curtsy is specific.  Bend one’s knees so as to lower to the floor.  At the same time, keep one’s back straight, and avert one’s gaze to the floor.

Here’s a modern interpretation.  Keep your crotch and your ass pointed to the floor with your back straight, lest your actions to the contrary give someone a chance to take advantage from behind.  Keep your back straight as you lower towards the floor to insure that your bosom will not flaunt itself in response to gravity, nor seem too proud.  And, whatever you do, don’t make eye contact while trying to remain unfettered for that moment, unless you want to risk that your eyes will work against the Power of the Curtsy.

Fast forward this little Gem into the daily life of a Working Writer.  Every business move, a Curtsy.  Every discussion about your work with the Spirit of the Curtsy.  Your plots, characters – moving towards or away from…the proverbial Curtsy.

Next time you have the chance to curtsy or bow, give it some thought.  There might be a good reason to bend at the knee, back straight, eyes lowered.

My life is adorned with the unavoidable streamers of my Paradigm on Everything- that Everything is Energy.  That’s because for the last thirteen years, I have worked as an Energy Professional.  Among other things, people consult me about life, business, property, and serious health issues.  I don’t just get info on these topics for my clients – I work to change them for the better.  Basically, I’m an Urban Shaman, some form of a Hip Wizard.

The tenets of my work can relate to the success of a creative project, film, script, novel and the like – so I’m sharing some of my Wizardry Tools today.  First, know that you and I and our projects basically can’t get away from the reality that Everything is Energy.

We can start to make sense of Energy if we define it as units of information.  Little units – that can be detracted from, added to, changed a little or a lot.  In my work, I simply decide how something could be optimally improved – generally or specifically, and intend for the Energy to match the intention, or as close to it as possible.  This process of re-constructing Energy in form and/or function (think muscles and muscle movement as an example of form and function) from one state to another, is Transformation.  On an atomic level, it may go BLAM, POP, SPARK, ZING … all I know is that in the blink of an eye, the Thing I’ve Worked On is different.

In my experience, there really is no limit to how dramatically something can transform.  I attribute the degree of Transformation to whether the Universe will allow it.  I always start with an intention that hands the outcome over to something other than me.  But beyond that first intention, the reality is that often things change quickly – the issue or condition transforms:  people who can’t walk can walk, people with drug dependence and disability due to pain and injury, become suddenly injury free, pain-free and live then on without drugs – and the most dramatic to me, the sudden departure of serious illness.

Okay.  Here’s an example of my attempting to transform something in real-time.  Let’s say someone comes to me with a deviated septum and crooked nose.  First, I set my intention – that the outcome be determined by something other than me, and that the Energy transform optimally.  I then begin my work to Transform the Energy.  I attempt to straighten, move over, widen, thin out – whatever it looks like I need to do.  The part of their face I’m working on at the time looks wavy, almost fluid.  I do this without touching a person.  While I do this work without even being in the same Hemisphere as the person, being in the same room is handy, because I can adjust my work based on how the nose and face look as I go.  The result has always been successful – the client can breathe, they have a beautiful nose.  The purpose of this Blog is not my work or noses, so read on.

I describe the above, to let you see that I attempted something unheard of, but my intentions led me to a great result.  Transforming Energy is about getting down to what needs to happen for the Thing to be Different.  I don’t take a long walk from “A-Z” to accomplish that.  I simply recognize where things are at, and where I want them to be.  The Thing goes from “A to wherever” in a flash.

What does this have to do with transforming a cake into a pie – the title of this Post?  I talked in my last blog post about how we are benefited from letting a project or an issue ripen to its best self before we go Interventionist.  Today, I’m talking about how to harness this little thing called Energy Transformation when we are sure we want the Something to be Different – when we want the Cake to be a Pie, and how you can facilitate Transformation for your creative projects.

Let’s take a project – our Cake in the Oven.  Film, script, novel draft.  We think it’s done.  We’ve taken it out of the oven.  It’s definitely done.  But, what if the words and images are great but the underlying Energy is less than ideal?

An important Factoid here is that The Energy of Something is more than what we think we see or know about.  It’s the invisible Stuff that can dictate how Energy behaves in real-time.  This can make or break a project.

Here’s a few questions:  Without threat of starvation, would you eat food that had been cooked in a morgue?  Would you want a piece of art in your home created by a mass murderer?  Would you want a piece of jewelry that was made by a slave?  Would you willingly wear a used wedding dress where the marriage ended in divorce?

The great news is…Energy can be Transformed.

How can we harness Transformation to better our projects?  First, Wizard jeans on, wands up.  Okay.  Here are the tools.  We can better the project in a few tangible ways.  First off, I highly suggest you: Intend that the outcome be determined by something other than you – your Higher Power, if you are comfy with that.  This insures that you can detach from the outcome, and something else decides how the intended work that’s coming fits into The Scheme of Things.  Tool Number One:  Intend that whatever is inhibiting the project from flourishing be removed.  That’s it.  Transformation.  Need something a little more hands-on?  Tool Number Two:  Imagine that your project sits in a garden.  What do you see?  How can you make that plant-bed better for your project?  Often when I look at my project gardens, I see weeds.  This represents for me, Energy that is detracting from the health of the project.  I imagine pulling the weeds.  Need a Scarecrow?  Erect one.  Do whatever you need to do to make that garden space a better environment for your Project.  Visit the garden often to maintain its health.

And finally, the Mother of all Energy Transformation Tools.  Tool Number Three:  Calls back Energy in the form of thoughts that left your head about your Project – your fears, angst, pessimism, events that have occurred around the project that were not positive, etc.  Imagine you can call all of this counter-productive Energy back from the places in the Universe it went to.  Ask it to come back about two feet from you.  Imagine you can blow up this Energy like little fireworks.  This neutralizes the Energy.  Now, imagine positive helping thoughts in their place – that the project is sound, that it is vital, that it is blessed, that it is the best version of itself.  Intend that these new positive thoughts leave your head and go out into the Universe to Do Their Thing.

And finally, an intention that will transform a cake into a pie anytime – Tool Number Four:  Intend that you detach from the outcome.  Attachment to outcome is certain to bunch up the panties of any Energy, and disable it from manifesting as it could otherwise.

Transformation Before My Eyes Guinness Estate, Ireland, 2009

These tools, incidentally, can be used for any part of your project – professional relationships, etc.  And, these tools can be used for any aspect of your life.

Two last things:  FYI, I bat for the Good Guys.  And, please don’t re-frame your opinion of who I am on what you’ve read here.  It’s just a job.  I also poop, cry, laugh, watch football, and oh yeah, write.

Got a question?  Shoot me a comment.

Photo: From My 2009 Trip to Europe

This concept comes up a lot in appointments with clients about some part of their life – my work’s not the point of this blog.  But, what I hear that relates to the ‘cake’ is: “It’s taking so long!”  “What am I doing wrong?”  “It hasn’t come together.”  And, “Maybe I’m not good enough to…”

We’re all waiting on a cake – of some kind. I don’t care who you are, or what you do. If you are a writer, filmmaker, director, screenwriter, plumber, banker, gardener, salesperson, someone searching for some kind of fulfillment. We all wait on the cake.

If we rush the cake, its flavor may suffer from poor composition.  If we turn up the heat, it may get burned.  If we often open up the door of the oven to check on it, we slow its progress. If we take it out too early, it tastes like batter.

This is the great risk for any writer, filmmaker – even a seeker of love.  We rush the deal, the career, the publishing; we pinch, we look, we insist – the ART, the DREAM.  What we don’t realize is that as soon as we’ve conceived something and brought it into this world, it is orbiting around some planet in some solar system, that has to do much more with Itself than with us.  And yet, we act as if we can control it.

Enter the cake. The cake is the project, the intention.  Can we give it the time it needs in our head, in a drawer, in the mail, on a desk, in discussion, in production, in printing, in editing, in uploading – in time?   Can we wait with our blessings?

If we opt to wait and let it do its thing, then that work of ART, that realized DREAM will be the best version of Itself that you can deliver, like a midwife out into the world – whether viewed by only you, or by millions.

If you can’t recall the last time you did this, your brain does.  It’s trained to scan and surmise data.  It’s programmed to factor and consider and rationalize to good conclusions.  But, we sometimes prolong the process that our nervous system would make in good course, because we are indecisive.  And then again, sometimes the indecision leads us to our decision if we will just listen.

Indecision is a wavering that puts us nowhere immediately, and somewhere instantly.  It puts us right where we started, albeit with a slightly different view of shadow, a slightly different tilt of the head.  But, make no mistake we are essentially in the same place – in that we remain uncommitted, and free to continue to consider.

The beauty of indecision lies in the process of remaining undecided.  The perceptions that percolate; the issues that float and wave.  The eventual theme emerging, that even we can’t ignore.

Indecision happens for me in writing a lot.  A plot comes to life, but I feel uncertain.  How will it be received?  And yet, the camel’s nose is under the tent, the cat is out of the bag, you get the drift.  My indecision in my writing life almost always ends with a decision to jump in. Write it.

But, indecision is sometimes a voice to be listened to.  This happened for me when I was offered a very prestigious opportunity on Capitol Hill.  I could not shake the feeling that indecision was as close as I wanted to get to the offer.  Hindsight tells me that it would have been a dead-end road for me, as speaking out of both sides of my mouth is not a pleasure or a talent.  The opportunity gleamed in the darkness of all of my “shoulds”; but the intuitive voice that would not be silent saved me.

Sometimes, indecision is the last place we go before we decide to jump into no, yes, maybe, or do nothing.  Listening to the bridled voice in you that will move no further is sometimes what saves you, and allows you to jump in the body of water in writing and in life, that will sustain you – floating, swimming, fishing, dreaming.

It seems like the last few years, the insights of wisdom and the dirty boots have been coming more hard and fast.  Today, I was driving home from my Sister’s.  I passed the corner store, where my better half said she saw a cowboy tie off a horse the other day.  As I drove closer to home, I  marveled at the Spring-looking sky, against what are miraculously still semi-green hills.  I was thinking about the birds I see everywhere – how they choose to fly together.

I have learned that it is not that birds fly together so they don’t get lost.  In fact, each has an ability to determine Due-North via a magnetic substance in their head.  They can fly where they need to go by themselves.

Birds fly together to encourage each other.  The Geese that honk when they fly are most often, encouraging the leader and each other to keep going – like a rally cry.  Joining Twitter has been more like that for me than even being in my Family.  I come from a group of relatives so self-reliant, that sometimes, we forget what it’s like to work with and for the mutual benefit of a Group.  Twitter Peeps sharing, problem-solving, encouraging, venting, and innovating is evolving this Peepster into a new Bird.  I want to honk while flying, feeling the counter-wind of other wings, sharing a common vision of what’s below and in front of me.

Enter the horse tied off at the corner store.  The Cowboy in question definitely did not have access to a jet pack, but probably had access to a car.  What does riding a horse to a corner store get you?  It gets you a slower trip.  Time to reflect, look, listen, feel, smell:  The experience of choosing how one gets somewhere.

One of my most favorite people was Carla Fry, now part of the Big Hollywood in the Sky.  At the time she died, she was a mere early forty-something.  She was Executive Producer at New Line, the highest-ranking woman in Hollywood, and in charge of production for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.  I met her towards the end of her life, and spent more time with her than anyone else in the last month of her life.  She said something that I will never forget as we chatted one afternoon: She looked out her window to her rose bushes and said, “If I had it to do all over again, I would garden roses.”  This statement floored me because in the end, she just wanted the quiet connection to flowers – that she could nurture and enjoy – a far cry from her experience as Studio Executive.

If Carla were here today, she would advocate me flying with other birds and riding my proverbial horse to the corner store – with a rose in my mouth.  I hope to look back at some point, after the completion of some migration so to speak, and see that I have indeed, lived “Carla-fied” – heeded,  and then exceeded at the Art of Living.

Just a few comments from fellow writers about how one’s soul does not need to be in the transaction, and this time, on this site, the optimism came from the commentators.  I love that.  I am hopelessly romantic and unavoidably shrewd, so I am in frequent discomfort.  After at least one other lifetime I recall as a writer, these issues are beyond disconcerting.  However, I do find governing solace and sanctuary in the quietest places in me, and so I go there to find the ways my mind and heart have reconciled – and those places are where the stories, concepts, and insights linger.  Getting to those places can be difficult for any of us, and yet, that is where the magic springs out of nothingness, to find its way to page and screen.

It’s true that to be a writer who contributes, one needs to live in both places – the alleys of the shrewd and caustic, the soiled and sparse – and the magical and transformed, the infinite and optimized.  In this way, it seems to me that we transform all sorts of things: concepts, perceptions, fears, and longings – in our readers and viewers.

@DavidLNewhoff just sent me a Tweet that says that “All writers have baggage”, in reply to a little chat we were having about the shoot of his upcoming film project.  I think that’s true, and may be that all artists compelled to create, do.  Our unresolved concepts, perceptions, fears, and longings find voice – and in this way we are transformed.