Jan Marquart's Blog - Posts Tagged "solitude-and-the-pen"
Solitude
A dear friend sent me the book Stations of Solitude by Koller. If you have ever read a book that reads in wondrous detail the paradigm of your own mind and that speaks to the thoughts you think yourself, well, this one does it for me.
It has inspired me to begin taking notes for the book I've been wanting to write for more than twenty years. Koller's identification with herself is very much like mine is to myself and it is nothing short of spellbinding and inspiring to read a book that reflects back my own inner world of thinking, writing, and living in large chunks of solitude.
I tell you this because writers must read other writers; it can be validating and supportive, innovative and enlightening. I am not saying anything new or innovative when I say this. I have heard this spoken by many authors over the years and have found this to be quite truthful. But no book has had the full impact on me that Stations of Solitude has.
I am recommending this book to those who are introspective and enjoy the activity of thinking and writing. If you are always on the computer and cell phone, this might not apply to you. But you never know...
If you are a writer, seek out autobiographies and memoirs by like people and watch how they inspire the expression of your own pen. (And do use the pen instead of the computer for a chance to stay in a purer state of mind.)
Nothing can compare to the lessons of sitting with the self to hear what is going on inside your being. Try not to run away from the self or tune it out or let a state of emerging agitation ruin getting to know who you are, as tempting as it might become.
This fast-paced world might give us a shallow feeling that we are in the groove -- but don't you wonder why so many of us are on medications for mood disorders when, in fact, there is no mood disorder occurring but only the reality of human experience?
Keep the pen moving.
Until next time,
Jan
It has inspired me to begin taking notes for the book I've been wanting to write for more than twenty years. Koller's identification with herself is very much like mine is to myself and it is nothing short of spellbinding and inspiring to read a book that reflects back my own inner world of thinking, writing, and living in large chunks of solitude.
I tell you this because writers must read other writers; it can be validating and supportive, innovative and enlightening. I am not saying anything new or innovative when I say this. I have heard this spoken by many authors over the years and have found this to be quite truthful. But no book has had the full impact on me that Stations of Solitude has.
I am recommending this book to those who are introspective and enjoy the activity of thinking and writing. If you are always on the computer and cell phone, this might not apply to you. But you never know...
If you are a writer, seek out autobiographies and memoirs by like people and watch how they inspire the expression of your own pen. (And do use the pen instead of the computer for a chance to stay in a purer state of mind.)
Nothing can compare to the lessons of sitting with the self to hear what is going on inside your being. Try not to run away from the self or tune it out or let a state of emerging agitation ruin getting to know who you are, as tempting as it might become.
This fast-paced world might give us a shallow feeling that we are in the groove -- but don't you wonder why so many of us are on medications for mood disorders when, in fact, there is no mood disorder occurring but only the reality of human experience?
Keep the pen moving.
Until next time,
Jan
