A Moment: The Moment It Is Loud Enough

Below is text from one of my 21 Moments this month. Something that really struck me in the heart.  (Now to translate that feeling into my other writing.)

Hope you enjoy.

The Moment It Is Loud Enough

Not any music will do.

Notes, flat, sharp, or accidental, clash, harmonize, emote. You feel it vibrate in your bones.

Truth and angst scream along the staff, knocking down anything that stands in its way. You feel it in your heart.

Bass thunders pushing the air out of the lungs, you must struggle to inhale. You feel it in the words that rush out with your exhalation.

Guitars. Horns. Drums. Cymbals. Strings. Piano. Pounding voices, shrill and deep and in between, call to you. 

Tears swell. Fears rise and fall.

You can’t hear yourself. You can’t see for the sound. You are blind to your physical yourself, but see into your soul.  

Hate loves. Love hates.

You are trapped. You are free. Transfixed in a moment of space, you are gone.

A drought of doubt. A shower of sound.

An immersion of music.

Not until after, with a raw throat and ears that ring in the deafening silence, will you know. You can’t, you couldn’t, know before. Because the flood of sound keeps you from noticing anything else.

In that moment of unknowing, nothing else matters.

In that moment, it is loud enough.

Photo: A Holiday Wish for You.

Answers => Constraints => Questions => Creativity

Recently, I received answers and other helpful tidbits to some questions I'd asked of one of my experts. Receiving this information, from a bona fide expert, is thrilling.

Based on the information I've received,  I have to work a different angle for my main characters' backstory and relationship. Nothing like a few constraints to get the creative juices flowing in my problem-solving/engineering-trained brain.

Thrill and creativity in one week, what's a writer to do but revel in it all! Frankly, I sorely needed any jolt of energy I could get as I've yet to enjoy this revision process.

So, I'll be thinking over my expert's answers over the next few days and developing new questions. This time, the answers I provide will hopefully lead to a stronger and richer story.

PS Thanks, Expert!

Meme: Ways to Stay Creative

A little late, but I thought I'd play along with Lynn Viehl's latest meme.

Directions: Copy the video and the list, bold the items on the list that you're already doing, cross off the ones that don't work for you, and star the ones you'd like to try..


29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.


1. Make lists.
2. Carry a notebook everywhere.
3. Try free writing.
4. Get away from the computer.
5. Quit beating yourself up. **
6. Take breaks.
7. Sing in the shower. (Fun - but not sure it helps my writing.)
8. Drink coffee. **
9. Listen to new music.
10. Be open.
11. Surround yourself with creative people. **
12. Get feedback.
13. Collaborate. **
14. Don't give up.
15. Practice, practice, practice.
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes. (Mistakes are all I make, as I don't know any different, yet.)
17. Go somewhere new. **
18. Count your blessings.
19. Get lots of rest. (I think I need more.)

20. Take risks. **
21. Break the rules. ** (Need to know what they are first.)
22. Don't force it. **
23. Read a page of the dictionary. **
24. Create a framework.
25. Stop trying to be someone else's perfect. **
26. Got an idea? Write it down.
27. Clean your workspace.
28. Have fun.
29. Finish something.

I'm not the only one to play along. Check out Charlene Teglia's post.