Writers Lab: What's Your Vision (Part 2)
My Aunt Mitt used to sit on her front porch swing in Mississippi and fan herself with a church fan while saying — about the relentlessness of dog days — “It’s hot enough to make me lose my religion.” (And decades before R.E.M. Ha.)
Heat accumulates. By mid-July the earth is hot, the air is hot, the trees are hot, you are hot, I am hot… at least that’s the case here in the American Deep South. But let’s write anyway. It’s perfect weather for foundation work. Come on, you can do it! You know you want to.
Here in mid-July, mid-summer, mid-heatwave, mid-everything, let’s take a step back for a moment and look at where we are with the Storybelly Writers Lab Summer Project.
How’d it go last week, thinking about your Writer’s Vision? What did you write? Let’s share. I shared what I’d call “a version of my vision” (ha) last week, and I will continue to tweak it.
We’re kickin’ it back a little because it’s summer, and because I love and value foundations, and because I know to my bones that writing foundations (my perennial “what’s the point?”) are tools that can help beginning and seasoned writers alike in their writing pursuits.
Knowing your foundations and your overall, big-picture POINT to what you do, helps to take some of the mental load off your poor psyche, a writer’s psyche that works hard, thinking-thinking-thinking to exhaustion, eh? Sometimes. There is so much to juggle.
“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard." — David McCullough
Let’s make it a little easier on the knob, on the heart, on the spirit. You will be surprised at how often you refer to your foundational documents — post them where you can see them, and tweak them as needed. You’ll be surprised at how often they help you.
You already have them, whether you have ever written them down or not; they lurk in the shadows of the heart or the subconscious, your reasons for writing, your manifesto, if you will… your passions, your hopes and dreams and fears, your WHY.
Even if you *have* written them before (even last week), this is a good opportunity to revisit these foundations. They will stand you in good stead, going forward. I hazard that it’s hard to really GO forward without knowing why. Too much flailing ensues, at least for this writer. And I have little time for flailing without knowing why, at this point.
So, until this insane heat breaks, and before fall gets going in earnest, I would love for all Lab Coats — you Sweethearts of the Storybelly Lab — to have these materials on hand, materials that you have created yourself, for yourself, and for your writing days ahead (and these are materials we are happy to have a hand in helping you think-through and be happy with!):
a mission statement
a vision statement
core values
goals to support the first three on this list
Or not. hahahaha. omg it’s hot. (I once did an assignment, when I was a student in a writing workshop, all about how hot it was in my Mississippi childhood summers, and that assignment eventually turned into Love, Ruby Lavender — another story for another day). In deference to the heat — instead of pushing it away — I offer this idea:
If you are a Lab Coat and want nothing more (and this is everything) than to THINK about these things, or NOT think about these things, and to just do your own thing, to think as little as possible; if you are happy in your support of the efforts of the Writers Lab, we appreciate that — so much! — and that’s perfectly fine. Do that. You may ignore me. :>
On the other hand, maybe you’re here to dig in! Here is Angela Davis exhorting you to think about why we write:
“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”And how are we to do that without a vision of how we might have or lend a hand in the creation of that radically transformed world?
If you want to dig into your WHY and HOW this summer, and work together in that way (its own form of creativity, possibly using a bit more left brain), the Lab is a terrific place to do this good work — it is never wasted work — because knowing your personal why and how will help with focus, choice of project, and sticking with that project when it’s hard (I am talking to myself here, see: Charlottesville 2017 and the Unite the Right Rally, which is my current so-hard “what was I thinking?” work in progress). It will help when the work feels unfocused, or when you can’t see your way forward.
It will also help to refine and define and clarify work you’ve already written, not to mention the work to come. So enough said about that.
Also a quick note to O Pioneers! — founding members — you should have received a letter from ops-guru Zach by now, asking if you’re ready to set up your critiques/consults this summer. If you haven’t, please let me know in comments or DM. Some of you are scheduled already — you know who you are.
Onward. We’re going to look at Vision a bit more during this hot, rainless week, and Eloise Greenfield is going to help us. Last week’s Vision post (Part 1) is here, and you can find all Storybelly Writers Lab Summer Project posts here.
All are welcome to join the Storybelly Writers Lab here. If you are already a Lab Coat, read on. Write on!
THE ASSIGNMENT/INVITATION:
