Silver Linings

Every cloud has a silver lining.

 

I firmly feel application of this phrase should not be sought after.

In the Writer’s Paradox, I wrote about seeking out experiences to enrich one’s writing. To smell the air, walk the terrain and hear the birds. I urge everyone to seek after the whispers of beach, forest, town and experience all they can.

When you are told there is a silver lining sometimes it’s true, but hardly ever at the time you are experiencing the event. There are just as many things in life to avoid as there are to embrace. While these events, bereavements, losses, illness and many others can add a depth of knowing and suffering to your writing, do not seek it out.

Unfortunately, it will find you.

Even the most perfect person(s) you know has demons haunting them, secrets not to be revealed, and tragedies striking. Sometimes the tragedy of one might be only an annoyance to another, but it is wrong to discount their pain. Empathy for those who suffer is better than suffering oneself.

That said, there is no place for anyone to hide. Something will happen out of plan. Sometimes the depth or width of an event is beyond comprehension. Sometimes we will never be able to emphasize since such tragedy is beyond us. But we can listen. We can be there.

When the out-of-the-blue strikes you, cope as best as you can, but as a writer keep those feelings, keep the logistics and the story wrapped around you. Set it in the corner of your mind. Someday you may use it. Someday the silver lining may suddenly appear.

Perhaps my own recent trial would be a trifling to someone else, but for me a long bout of unplanned pneumonia changed me as I wrapped the experience around me. At first there was nothing, but the little pad of paper by my bedside gradually filled up with every silver lining I could find.

When the worst happens, even if you see a silver lining, it is for the person in the center to find it for themselves. Wait. Unless it is you. If you are at the center of cataclysm, big or small, file it away in the writing stock and when the pain has passed embrace the experience and count whatever it has added to your life.

All of life is there for us. Some good. Some bad. And some beyond words.

My hope is that everyone can find a silver lining.

My greatest hope is that you’ll never have to search for one.

~lisa

The Writer’s Paradox

The Hill is back meandering again. For those of you who are new, Rainbow Hill Meanders darts around with glee as the hill roams through the diversity of life, mythology, cultures and eclectic odds and ends.

  It’s been a long and exhilarating journey these last few months, but that is what brings me to today’s subject.
Writers are told to “write what they know.” I’ll be the first to admit compared to everything I want to know, I’m fairly ignorant.

The other adage is “write from your experience”, and I would add that there are so many things in life to experience, where will I find the time to experience all of it?

With a few caveats, I can agree with both pieces of advice.
It’s not easy to write about the ocean without knowing the taste of salt on your lips. Sure we can imagine the setting, but the details are in the sea breeze, in the force of the wind bringing sand against your skin and the air filled with the crash of waves and the call of birds.

I could perhaps write forever about the beach from so many experiences in so many climates. There are movements caught in the periphery of vision, and the smell of the sea life on each wave rolling in. All beaches smell a little different, sound a little different and all of them can surprise you with something new.

There are so many great experiences to try, bask in, absorb and feel. There are so many things to learn and find and revel in the knowledge of. There is so much life that we can’t ever experience all of it, but we can expand our experiences by embracing each other whom we meet, by bridging the gap and exchanging our experiences, our triumphs, our failures, and our moments of wonder.

Back to writing.

As a writer you read everything in your genre or subject. Mostly as a writer you need to write. Writing is the ultimate goal. So where do all of these writing adages take me?
We all struggle with work/life balance. Writers add on read/learn/experience/explore and then write. Sometimes this is a daunting commandment. Other times it is the richest gift life has given me.

I’ve tried many methods over the years. This meandering blog is one of my favorites. After all, being a writer encompasses the love of sharing with others. We share our stories, our imaginations, our experiences and our dreams.
If I can share through words the tickle of a crab scuttling sideways across your hand and leaving a small trail of abandoned sand behind then I have shared with you. When I read, it is the other writer sharing back. If I can share a lively detail of dodging a tornado with friends then they can share their own lively tales back.

And back to the writer’s paradox. There are all those hours and connections that enrich us beyond measure, but then there is the solitary art of going into the flow, of coalescing all of richness into a story to share with others.

My wish is that all of the writers out there forever enrich us with their words, their art and the dedication of what is mostly a solitary endeavor. My wish is also that they may enjoy the world and people around them in equal balance.

May tomorrow always bring new discoveries.
~lisa
What do you think the best strategies are for balancing writing and experience? Life and the work it takes to share our passions? I would love to hear your advice.