July Newsletter

By Jessica Page Morrell

Belief ãOne in whom persuasion and belief had ripened into faith, and faith becomes a passionate intuition .ä William Woodsworth I was once involved with a man who made a lot of noise, in fact, was never quiet. He stomped, he whistled and hummed, he chortled and laughed and sang. And climbed stairs three at time. He was a larger-than-life sort of fellow and seemed lonely without the noise of himself announcing his way through the world. But when I remember his general clamor, I recall most often how he always sang a chorus line, ãI believe in miracles.ä He sang it with a particular lilt to the last note and lately Iâve been trying to find a copy of that song. Lately Iâve been thinking itâs a good song to be remembered by. The topic of faith and belief is a complicated one, because people often assume it relates mostly to religion. But belief or faith is certainly not confined to religious or spiritual matters. Though difficult to define, hard to write about without sounding preachy, it clearly belongs in the writerâs repertoire. In his letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul describes faith as ãthe evidence of things unseen, and the substance of things hoped for.ä Taoist philosophy describes belief as unseen trust that carries and supports us as we become who we are meant to be. When writers believe in their own ability and the importance that writing has in the world, they hold a focus, a clarity of purpose that can accomplish wonders. Belief also encompasses a constellation of qualities: your ability to solve problems, faith in your endless stream of creativity, will to get the writing done, and confidence in your particular approach or style. Belief needs to crowd out doubts and the other pains of the writing life. Because in a writerâs life many things will come to shatter your confidence. Rejections, refusals, endless rewrites. Agents and editors who donât return our phone calls or emails. The seemingly undeserved success of writers less talented than ourselves. Itâs sometimes hard to face these setbacks with equanimity and generosity. The publishing business can be woefully slow at rewarding our excellence, our many hours of toil. Belief will pluck you from the depths of defeatism, will help you hold fast to your vision. Lately Iâve been studying the I Ching and finding an amazing wealth of inspiration and information there. The ancient Chinese believed that most things were part of natural cycles and elements. The I Ching is a method of divination, but it also contains profound truths and lessons for living. For example, one lesson, hexagram 32, called Continuing or Enduring, advises continuing toward long-standing objectives, no matter what. The Chinese say of this hexagram, ãWhen we examine the continuance of things, the natural tendencies of heaven and earth can be seen. Herein lies the secret of eternity.ä The adversity that comes to a writer is normal, like the tides, like the rain, like thunder. The I Ching also tells us that ãin all worldly matters, it will take extraordinary will to succeed.ä And belief plays a starring role in success and grants you the staying power to enact your will. In this newsletter I write a lot about facing down resistance, having the faith to write, getting over your own bad self, so that the words end up on the page. For the next few months I want to move on to specific topics of craft and will be covering deep characterization at the request of a reader. If you have topics that youâd like covered here, please let me know. Meanwhile, please examine your faith in yourself and the generosity of this vast and magnificent planet. Like birds at dawn, like children at Christmas, believe. ************************************************************* In June we had six days where the temperatures reached 90, a record for our city in the usually temperate Northwest. So summer has arrived with a baking intensity, followed now by days of mildness and skittering clouds. In the summer the sun slips in through the skylight over my desk and beams onto my computer screen at midday, so Iâm again reminded to write early. To put in my time before the demands of the day wheedle and coax me from this room. Because in summer, as the sun makes a regular and welcome appearance, I fret over my plants and garden; Iâm pulled from my desk with the fate of so many blooms in my hands. I surrender to my worry and work with hose and watering can. I pluck and deadhead and prune. And time slips by and while the writing isnât getting done, Iâm feeling marvelous and quiet among my flowers. In summer I go to farmerâs markets mingling with the crowds and sampling berries and sauces and smoked salmon. I return home with vegetables and herbs and flowers, planning the meals Iâm going to cook with the shitake mushrooms or fresh dill. At the farmerâs markets, you notice how the summer world is brimming over. The outdoor world is the best world. When Iâm at an outdoor concert or walking through a park, it seems that there is always part of my brain thatâs snapping photos, recording sense data so that these blessed months can somehow end up in words. Happy summer to all who read this. May your days and soft evenings be filled with the pleasures of this blooming season. Enjoy it all including picnics and outdoor concerts and ice cream and guilty pleasures like novels that are somehow most enjoyed at the beach. Walk at dawn and think about what it means to be a writer. Sit awhile and watch the sun sink onto the horizon, and bask in the quiet moments as the first stars appear. Or when temperatures soar, escape to the darkened cool of theaters for stories, more stories. Sleep less, enjoy more. Look always for new ways to see the world, to appreciate the glories of the season. ************************************************************* Inspiration ãOnly art penetrates what pride, passion, intelligence and habit erect on all sides÷the seeming realities of this world. There is another reality, the genuine one, which we lose sight of. This other reality is always sending us hints, which, without art, we canât receive. Proust calls these hints our Îtrue impressionsâ·.The value of literature lies in these intermittent true impressions·What Conrad said was true: Art attempts to find in the universe, in matter as well as in the facts of life, what is fundamental, enduring, essential.ä Saul Bellow ãMost highly successful people carry around a bulky legacy of failures, humiliations, and dumb actions. The truly wise ones know that these potholes are not necessarily behind them. What this means is that they allowed nothing to kill their will to succeed. And while they may have made countless mistakes, itâs unlikely that they ever made the same mistake twice, once they learned the lesson. Evolution teaches us that the universe kills stagnation and encourages mutation. Most successful people have mutated themselves many times. Their only other choice was to become yesterdayâs newspaper.ä Jeff Herman ãKnow you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief, it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its soul.ä Shelley, in The Dublin Review (July 1908) © No portion of this newsletter may be reproduced without permission.