So, I have started this blog, and already I have had offers of editing my grammar!  Lets look at that.  I may not be a writer as such, however I have been a practicing artist for years.  In the previous blog I touched on the creative experience.  Just a rambling as I suggest by my blog's name.  So now, lets look at grammar.

Do I know sentences don't start with conjunctions?  Do I know what a gerund is?  Or an article...perhaps the 8 parts of speech or a all the other wonderful nuances of  English grammar? How about run on sentences?  Hope so since I studied grammar and just came back from spending a year teaching it in Thailand!

The thing is, if I were to get after my students for every mistake they made, they would never speak or write at all!  You have to find the balance and the appropriate time for editing.  And I don't feel this blog is it!  Sure, I check spelling as best I can and I do as much as I can to not develop too many bad habits, however I am doing this to have fun and I want others to also!  Add to this all the times words get edited by auto-check and wow, it goes on and on!  I seldom read a book now without finding errors. If you are editing in your head every word in these blogs, I feel sad for you, it is like me now and paintings.  I cannot remember the last time I looked at a painting without critiquing it in my head!  I refuse to that with my writing.  I know the rules and I will apply when necessary however not with a fine tooth comb here!  I am WRITING this and letting the thoughts flow.   There are reasons for not spending my time hung up on every word in every sentence or the structure of things.  

​There is a wonderful painter and teacher  named Robert Henri.  He wrote a book called "The Art Spirit".  He lived a while ago however the points he makes in his philosophy on painting was not lost on me.

I am not going to quote word for word but basically one of the things he talks about making many beginnings.  That it is important to work the entire painting because if you are not willing to and get caught up in one little area, the rest will suffer and you might as well cut out that precious little painted piece and make it its own painting. (see, I know "it's" is the contraction form and "its" is the possessive form! lol!).

There is more to writing than just grammar, and sometimes editing has to be sacrificed on the altar of ideas such as flow, voice, intention, audience and style.  As time goes on, I will be more careful with my grammar however right now, I am just getting into it.  I feel it is more important to do it, then to get all caught up in the details.

I know someone I have heard called an art snob.  She used to make frames, went to the same art school as me, and not that long ago was pooh poohing a little shop where locals sold their wares.  She suggested it was scandalous they put Dollar-store frames on their work.  I thought this was terrible, to make such a critical statement based on one thing such as a simple frame!

If everyone felt judged in such a harsh manner, no one would ever create anything!  I have made it clear I am a newbie, and that my intent is not heavy yet still there has to be judgement.  And if your going to write or paint or participate in any activity that goes public, GET USED TO IT!

However (oops started with a conjunction!) forget what others are saying, or what the critic in your head is saying, JUST WRITE!  Communicate!  Some of the best talks and stories I have had were with people I met waiting in line!

I have written the first draft of a manuscript.  Am I going to assume every word is precious?  Every idea fits, and all is well? OF COURSE NOT!  If I were to do every detail while painting a portrait of a house without making sure of the perspective, where would I be?  A lovely painting of a crooked house! (unless I wanted that then that is another matter!).  If I sketch it on the canvas, and it is too big, would I leave it?  No, hopefully not!  Sometimes you look at a painting later and see a grave error and go back to the thing, but if you make a point of roughing it in, then looking at it and then working it, and then looking again editing where you need to, then, in art speak, you create a history.  It shows in the piece AS LONG AS YOU KNOW WHEN TO STOP and I think the same is true of writing.  I will touch on this again in another blog since I may not be the world's greatest writer, but I have learned a thing or two about the creative endeavours..

In closing, if you are writing, or worried your not good enough, take consolation in the fact there is always someone out there to edit your ideas.  What is precious is the fact you have desire and have ideas.  The rest can come.  And if (oops, did it again!), someone is critical, that is no big deal.  That is what they are into.  Doesn't matter. In a while you will see a progression in my grammar but that is all part of the journey I should think!  We all cannot start at the end!  Writing and life doesn't work that way.  

Carry on writing, enjoy, and don't be daunted by the critic or the blank page.  After all, that is all it is,, a critic and a blank page!

In my last blog we discussed creativity and touched on inspiration.  Well, what goes hand in hand with these?  The practicality of recognizing a good idea!  Good ideas are PRECIOUS and not to be neglected, disregarded or ignored.  That is the catch with all of this, IT MAY ONLY COME ALONG ONCE!

There is this joke about this man who built on a flood plane.  The water level was rising.  Someone offered him a lift in their car, he refused, said he was waiting for help from God.  He climbed up on his balcony, and someone came by in a boat, and once again he replied he was waiting for help from God, then he climbed on his roof as the water level rose.  A helicopter rescue team came by to offer a hand.  Again he refused since he was waiting for help from God.  He is standing at the Pearly Gates, asking "God, why didn't you answer my plea?  God replies, I sent you a car, a boat and a helicopter, what more do you want!?!?!"

You see creativity is like that.  IF an idea pops into your head, take out a little book and write it down!  A great line, or a great idea.  Don't think is will come back because there is a good chance it won't!  I carry a small tape recorder I just love.  Cheap, easy to use and  tremendously helpful.  I often don't have a little notebook, but by god, if I have an idea or see a person who could be an interesting character, I record it for later.  It is there.  Sometimes when I listen later, I think, "gee did I say that?  What a great line!".

So you see if you cannot remember to be grateful for other things in your life, when the idea comes, be grateful enough to record it somehow!  That is all part and parcel of the deal.  If you smoke, drink or have other habits, you can have this one too!  Who cares what anyone else thinks!  Your a writer!  You have more leeway! lol!

By the way, this is what the recorder was called: Digital Voice Recorder, Voice Recorder, Double Microphone HD Recording, Noise Cancelling, Metal Casing Dictaphone, with Built-In Speaker, Including Cables and Earphones Color LCD display16GB Silver COST : $34.99 CAD.  I put mine in a tiny cell phone case to help keep it safe.  Works great and super battery life...can be recharged easily also!​

I have been around for a while now in the art world and the world of creativity.  I have read the books and put in the time to have some measure of understanding of what it is to be creative.

I remember when I was 13-14 years old, I lied about my age and got my parents to foot the bill so I could take a drawing course via correspondence.  You likely have seen the ads..."Can you draw?"  And there is the head of a turtle in a hat or some such thing.  This course came out years ahead of it's time.  Not sure if it has progressed since it could have adapted easily to the internet era, but not sure.  At any rate the thing I learned about the most from that course was creativity.

There were lessons sent to you via mail to do in different areas.  I was only 13 at the time however as soon as the lessons progressed into more abstract areas such as designed, I floundered.  What I learned was I could COPY ideas but could not yet create them!  I made a decision right then and there to cultivate my creative side as fully as my skills side.  And one of the only ways I could do this, was to give myself time and experiences.  I lived in a very isolated community remember where nothing ever happened, art was not a big deal and new ideas were at a minimum.  I had both my father and grandfather as role models though not in the way today you may think...you see my grandfather was the father of a huge brood of kids, and my father of six.  Both had skills in carpentry and well, the thing is, that old saying is true " Necessity is the mother of invention"..  

I have found there is a fine line between resourcefulness and creativity!  I don't think that one can exist without the other.  Sometimes limitations are the creative fodder needed!  If everything is out there; If possibilities abound, then where do you start?  Just as in my last blog I discussed JK Rowlings and where her life was when she wrote her Harry Potter books, so too do so many of use really shine when we have limits.  A blank canvas of a blank sheet is not so daunting when you have a starting point.  Even a goal can be considered a limitation.  Something you must apply resourcefulness  to get results.  Writing a novel has an expected number of words, it has an expected beginning, middle and end, and all of that.  Those little things can be a haven instead of hell for the creative process.  At least now you have a starting point.  By the way, according to what I have found, the novel has usually anywhere from 65,000 to 75,000 words incase you want to get started, but hey, the chapters can be as large or small as you want!

I have learned over the years, the more you apply creativity in your life, in so many ways and not just in the traditional sense such as painting or writing, but in even everyday things such as finding a way to fix your son's shoes so he can keep them on his feet or the best place to put dishes in your cabinets.  ALL of this requires a creative form of thinking.  It isn't magic, it is practical and so is creativity.  

A fun game is to let your mind work for you at night.  Try this.  Think of a problem or dilemma just before bed.  Then as they say, "sleep on it".  In the morning after a time, you will find the first thoughts that pop into your head are the answers!  

This goes along with inspiration.  It is not airy-fairy.  It is just your mind finding new pathways to solutions or understandings.  No big deal.  Some of the best inventions just didn't "happen".  The issue, or need or some impetus was there before the outcome came.  It wasn't just in thin air.  No matter what the inspiration was, it had to come from something concrete.  That is the limitation that creates the framework for the creativity and resourcefulness!

You could be mulling over your plot.  You have a problem.  You cannot figure it out.  Then bam!  Out of the blue, there is the answer shining before you!  Do you think there is no form of creativity in this?  So many say they are not creative and yet they are doing the most amazing things such as juggling a check book or bank account when there is hardly any money coming in!  If you don't think being financially challenged isn't a great place for creativity then your wrong!  Just keep the attitude and all will go well!  Hang in there!  Ideas will flow IF that is what you really want!  IF that is what you really focus on!  Finding answers, now creating space for the new.  Focus on finding a solution, not the problem, and creativity will flow!  

If you want to write a book, then focus on that!  It will come if your willing to do the work, however if you love to write, it isn't work anyhow is it?

It occurred to me some of you may be really new to the idea of writing.  You have a great creative bent, but you may not even be a avid reader.  I have a friend, she reads staggaring amounts of books!  It is one of her many things.  I USED to read alot, but as I said, my time and my eyes have not been condusive to wanting to read much anymore.  I do read SOME but more for knowledge than entertainmant.  

Well, I am writing about attitude because I have one!  There is another reason I chose John Constable as part of my header for this blog.  You see, I have been drawing and creating all my life.  Discovered I could draw at age 4 when my mother sat me down to do a drawing the same as my older sister was doing for school.  She would have been about nine at the time and it wasn't that it really wasn't that bad a job. I remember the day like it was yesterday!  It was the day my life changed, and likely was one of the saving points for me.  My drawing was in perspective.  At the time of course I didn't know what persepective was, but it was like the photo...a calendar scene of a fishing village in Peggy's Cove.  My sister's was not bad.  She put a lot of work into it, but mine was better.  It was obvious just as it was obvious to me when I looked at a little playdough scuplture of a whale when which my son showed me when he was  4.  They were not just good, they were REALLY good.  There was more there than what my sister had.  Not to say if she had been encouraged she wouldn't have been good since it does run in the family, this artistic streak, just to say, what is obvious often gets encouraged.  That simple.  I think that was the day my sister decided to make my life miserable because she certainly did!  But I digress!

The point of this rambling is that sometimes when you have confidence, when you believe in yourself when no one else does, such as I developed via years of standing out and trying new things, you do develop an attitude.  It is not a BAD attitude, but it is an attitude just the same, You stop thinking about why you CAN'T do something, and you start thinking "WHY NOT?  WHY CAN'T I DO IT IF OTHER'S ARE!"

It is a simple little flip in how you think, but there you have it, it is there.  I chose Constable to remind me of my days at the art school.  Days of art history and doing what other's expected, only to have teachers in the end challenge me to forget everything I knew and do what I wanted!  All that art history, all those ideas floating around of how I SHOULD do something or CAN'T do something, all had to be thrown out!  

So you see, yes, I don't read avidly, I cannot really.  And yes, I may not have perfect grammar, but one thing I do have is attitude, perhaps like The Fool, but attitude none the less!

How many great discoveries were made because someone had attitude? Who was told it couldn't be done but went ahead and did it anyhow!  Just look at the man that almost sailed off the edge of the world, Oops!  HE DIDN'T!  And yes, you or I may not have the best pedigree of skills but what do we have?  We have attitude!  And sometimes that attitude can go a long way to getting you off in a new direction!

Just look at the now BILLION dollar writer who is now sitting along side some of the greatest names in literary history....  J.K.Rowlings;author of Harry Potter and more.  

Do you think she had attitude?  You better believe it!  In October 2010, Rowling was named the "Most Influential Woman in Britain" by leading magazine editors.[10]The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2010.

She was a researcher who went through hell and was on assistance when she wrote her first book!  Death of her mother, birth of a child, divorce and then just sitting on a train, POP, in comes an idea for her book!  She worked her ass off for 7 years and was successful in five.  She did the work.  LOTS of work but she did it because she had a vision, an idea and she was willing to put the time in to make it happen.  So can I and so can you!  

Do you get there by thinking about all the reasons you CAN'T DO SOMETHING?  NO!  You get there by looking at all you can!  

I will go through the writing and reading of blogs and other info and I will take what I want and chuck the rest.  I know what I am writing may not be a best seller, and I know it may never even get published but that is not why I do it.  I do it for two reasons.  One I can say since it won't give away the novel's theme but the other I can.  I write because I love to!  As you will see with these blogs, I enjoy putting thoughts into words.  They may not always come out that cohesively, but come they will!

So if you feel you have a book inside you, and you love to write, then what the hell!  Stop putting the whole thing on a pedestal.  Stop making it precious.  One thing I learned from painting, if you go into a doing a painting with the idea you have to do a masterpiece every time, you won't get past the blank canvas!  So if you want to write, then Write!  That simple!  I am not going to paint like Constable, but I am going to be the optimistic fool who walks off the end of a cliff.  What the hell!

.I woke up one day and decided I was going to write a book. So now what?  I had no idea!  As with most things in my life, I put it out there and waited to see what came up!  I was floundering with the actual structure of writing. It wasn't a worry for me to write, I love to do that!  And ideas, well, creativity is something I have been developing all my life, which I will write about another time, however first I had to get to the bare bones practicality of structure and how to get started.  I went on line and ended up at Amazon looking a books at Kindle.  I prefer Kindle's layout and I find it much more user friendly than Kobo which frustrates the hell out of me trying to read from.  I know folks with their Kobo book reader and perhaps that machine is fine, but the reader app I have downloaded on both a PC and Mac has been not sensitive or user friendly for me at all.  The kindle is easy to navigate, senisitve to the touch and very easy to read from.  

So I just looked at books about structure and plot and so on and downloaded a bunch.  I had no clue really what I was looking for but then I downloaded one that suited me and started reading and IT WAS GREAT!  The book was called THE 12 KEY PILLARS OF NOVEL CONSTRUCTION: YOUR BLUEPRINT FOR BUILDING A STRONG STORY (The Writer's Toolbox Series Book.  There is a workbook. I did not find that so helpful.  I did my own as I was reading to help me remember.   

I found this book so helpful!  As someone who is quite visual and literal sometimes, using the use of construction of a home was very easy to follow and useful.  She writes in a very fluid, direct and to the point style which was also great.  I find as I get older, I have less patients for reading that is too flowery and goes on and on and on.  I prefer reads that have well crafted lines of words that suit and work for the concept being presented.  This is just me.  I have read alot of books over the years.  More before when I had time.  These days I have other priorities and my eyes just don't do well at the moment.  All the joys of aging.  That or too much time in front of my computer...I bought a Mac, and that is when it started.  Go figure, 

​So if I had one suggestion for anyone looking to read a book to help them write one, this is where I would start!

Why did I choose to use the tarot card of the fool and a Constable painting for my first blog post?
I am an artist among other things.  I have decided to start writing and seeing how it goes making my way as a writer.  They say that the more you have lived, the more you can bring to your writing.  Well, I have had a life.  I have history and so the jury is still out on whether I shall be a good, bad or indifferent writer.  Write?  Yes!  Good?  Who knows?

I think anyone who loves to write and who looks at breaking into this mysterious field can be a little like the fool in the tarot cards.  This beginning of a journey where these  blog posts and information y on writing, can make you feel like if you do make the effort, you could very well be optimistically walking off the end of a cliff!  Shall I fall or will I succeed?  I think this is the same for every budding writer, or artist of any sort, no matter what the age. Anyone putting your heart felt work out there, has to go through it.  

As an artist who has been around, I can tell you, it is always the luck of the draw.  You can be a great artist but because you can't keep still or you can't sell yourself well enough, or for whatever reason you fail.  , I can feel like you cannot get traction enough to make a living at your passion no matter how many books are written on doing what you love and having the money follow!

I am starting this website and blog for anyone who has always secretly harboured a desire to write something however for whatever reason never got around to it.  Well, I am going to get around to it!  I will be the fool rambling along byways and backwaters, over hill and dale just like that wonderful painter John Constable.  His paintings, brilliantly executed were not just for wealthy patrons.  He  still painted scenes of everyday life, everyday people and yes, he did more than pastures and cows even though that is likely what he will be mainly remembered by!

My blog will be my muisings, my ramblings and my views speckled with my discoveries in writing along with how the diet is going and what the summary of the latest book is or how to change the size of a cover on an e-novel.  Who knows?  Only one way to find out what is next, is to travel down this path with me.  Perhaps it will just give you a few ideas for thoughts, or maybe you too will get inspired to go on a fast or write a novel.  And yes, I have written more than one novel.  A few in progress and one undergoing a second edit when it comes from an editor!  All this will be to follow in these blogs.  Eventually I will journey into e-publishing and perhaps contests.  I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave comments or suggestions!