A shout-out from the Thursday group and a thank you to Allegra and Nave for giving us permission to leave our rational minds at the door. For some of us, this entails multiple levels of surrender. For me, it meant pivoting from my analytical upbringing with its cash flow charts and stringent requirements for accuracy and absolutely no room for error to a looseness I had never known. At first, I came in with the "ready-set-go" mindset I was accustomed to with prompt-based writing. Thinking about what I was going to write while instructions were being given. Buying myself every extra second because I knew when the starting gun went off, there would be blackness. Then panic at the ticking of the clock and the blank page. 10 minutes allows no time to sketch out an outline. The rational mind works much slower than the imaginative one. Bullet points take time too and the writing turns out starchy. The only choice for the hour is to switch off the rational mind and give yourself fully to your imagination. The surrender, in Imaginative Storm writing, comes in allowing me to choose any word from the community list, write it down, and set off in any direction. Like an adventure. Or if I already have a story in my head, write that one. Putting together words with no judgment, no right or wrong, has a meta meaning that becomes healing as soon as we let go of the handrails. The writing can come out like mismatched socks from the dryer, but it is guaranteed to be imaginative.
The house of cards, the newborn foal-both are wonderful images of how this process works. Some of the writing stays in this nascent stage. But some of it is meant to bloom out into the collective conscious. Written by Rebecca Jarmas (Pen Name: Alice W. Meadows)
In praise of everything you've written in this loving, yet precise, and as Corinne said, beautiful treatise on what it is that we do every Saturday. Each week I so look forward to settling in at my humble desk, overlooking a very messy front yard, usually with the pup playing in the sun, and allowing the cares, worry, and anxiety of the week slough off like a Cicada emerging from its long subterranean existence. The richness of both the literary and symbolic allegories you employ to show us the depth and breadth of what we create each week, is deeply illumining. My heart, mind, spirit, and yes my writer's soul is expanded and enriched by the experiences of coming together each week and collectively bringing forth the "limitless" and the "infinite". Bravo, Allegra, our dear El Captainess!
Oh Allegra, you capture this experience so beautifully. Thank you for championing our collective prayer to that which enlivens us, communion with the external forces of the creative process.
Beautifully said ❤️ I am particularly struck by your next-to-last paragraph. Your theory is spot on. The field is real. As each Zoom group is invigorated by their collective response to the image, a shared vibe runs like a thread through each person’s imaginings. Yet our creative consciousness weaves the thread into our unique pattern derived from our individual life experiences, much as each foal finds its footing on its own terms. I’m so grateful for this inspiring community 🙏
I’m deeply moved by your eloquence. The creative process that you and Nave have created has opened up so much for me, I look forward to each Saturday, knowing I will learn something new. What a fascinating group of writers, I feel privileged to be amongst them! The whole experience is pure joy! Thank you! Lyn
A shout-out from the Thursday group and a thank you to Allegra and Nave for giving us permission to leave our rational minds at the door. For some of us, this entails multiple levels of surrender. For me, it meant pivoting from my analytical upbringing with its cash flow charts and stringent requirements for accuracy and absolutely no room for error to a looseness I had never known. At first, I came in with the "ready-set-go" mindset I was accustomed to with prompt-based writing. Thinking about what I was going to write while instructions were being given. Buying myself every extra second because I knew when the starting gun went off, there would be blackness. Then panic at the ticking of the clock and the blank page. 10 minutes allows no time to sketch out an outline. The rational mind works much slower than the imaginative one. Bullet points take time too and the writing turns out starchy. The only choice for the hour is to switch off the rational mind and give yourself fully to your imagination. The surrender, in Imaginative Storm writing, comes in allowing me to choose any word from the community list, write it down, and set off in any direction. Like an adventure. Or if I already have a story in my head, write that one. Putting together words with no judgment, no right or wrong, has a meta meaning that becomes healing as soon as we let go of the handrails. The writing can come out like mismatched socks from the dryer, but it is guaranteed to be imaginative.
The house of cards, the newborn foal-both are wonderful images of how this process works. Some of the writing stays in this nascent stage. But some of it is meant to bloom out into the collective conscious. Written by Rebecca Jarmas (Pen Name: Alice W. Meadows)
This is a lesson in perfection meeting reality with the result being a greater understanding of imperfection. Enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.
In praise of everything you've written in this loving, yet precise, and as Corinne said, beautiful treatise on what it is that we do every Saturday. Each week I so look forward to settling in at my humble desk, overlooking a very messy front yard, usually with the pup playing in the sun, and allowing the cares, worry, and anxiety of the week slough off like a Cicada emerging from its long subterranean existence. The richness of both the literary and symbolic allegories you employ to show us the depth and breadth of what we create each week, is deeply illumining. My heart, mind, spirit, and yes my writer's soul is expanded and enriched by the experiences of coming together each week and collectively bringing forth the "limitless" and the "infinite". Bravo, Allegra, our dear El Captainess!
Oh Allegra, you capture this experience so beautifully. Thank you for championing our collective prayer to that which enlivens us, communion with the external forces of the creative process.
process...yes, more interesting than product. Or, a very different kind of "interesting"
Beautifully said ❤️ I am particularly struck by your next-to-last paragraph. Your theory is spot on. The field is real. As each Zoom group is invigorated by their collective response to the image, a shared vibe runs like a thread through each person’s imaginings. Yet our creative consciousness weaves the thread into our unique pattern derived from our individual life experiences, much as each foal finds its footing on its own terms. I’m so grateful for this inspiring community 🙏
I’m deeply moved by your eloquence. The creative process that you and Nave have created has opened up so much for me, I look forward to each Saturday, knowing I will learn something new. What a fascinating group of writers, I feel privileged to be amongst them! The whole experience is pure joy! Thank you! Lyn