Orange is the New Breakthrough (Suzanne tells her secret for writing): for the week of 8/8/2016

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Suzanne Warren, novelist

Some of the finest writing these days is in contemporary television, i.e.The
Wire
Justified and the women’s prison drama, Orange is the New Black. Not all the new t.v. programming is worth your time. There are far too many cute skinny who-cares shows. Orange is the New Black is anything but cute, skinny and forgettable. The women in Litchfield prison Minimum Security are teachers. Their lessons are about revenge, forgiveness, grace, violence, corporate cons and lives marked by what society would call “bad choices.” And one of their lessons is about writing.

Suzanne Warren, aka Crazy Eyes “contains multitudes.”  She is a visionary, a tormented creature, a Shakespeare scholar, a woman capable of both extreme violence and the greatest tenderness – and she is a writer. In possibly my favorite moment in the series, a sister inmate says, “Suzanne tell us about your (writing) process.” Suzanne says, “I think of shit and I write it down.”

I can add nothing to that wisdom.

Sit for ten minutes doing nothing. When the time is up, write down your first thought and keep going for twenty minutes. Please send me what emerges and let me know if I can publish it in next week’s Breakthrough. bstarr67@gmail.com

My big thanks to Lynette Sheppard for her response to last week’s Breakthrough: Story Emerges from Place.

Sometimes it feels necessary, even lifesaving to get away. Away from chores, home, the familiar and the routine. Away from political bombast, email solicitations, and others’ needs. Away from the tyranny of computer, television, and iOS devices.

BFF Theresa and I took frequent road trips before the gravitational pull of work, family, and obligations pulled us out of orbit. Don’t get me wrong. Life is good. We love our grandkids and our mates. Work is fulfilling, if occasionally overwhelming. Still, being grownup and responsible overshadows that creative, spiritual being living inside each of us. When we feel lost to ourselves, we know it’s time for a change of scene.

That’s how we found ourselves making this latest pilgrimage to Northern Arizona. Red rock vistas, pungent scent of sage, afternoon monsoons, and writing lessons with author Mary Sojourner. (If you don’t know her work, stop reading this right now and run to your local bookstore for a copy of “29”.)

Oh good, you’re back. You won’t be sorry. Now, where were we? Oh yes. Change of scene. Mixed with our structured time in learning craft were open-ended hours. We walked. We visited butterflies, sycamores, and ancient dwellings. We played lizard in the sun, baking on boulders (with SPF 80, of course.) We ate, laughed, and were quiet for long periods of time. In this silence, I felt my weary heart slow until it beat in time with the land. The spare beauty of pinyon-juniper forest, severe gray thunderheads, and sawtoothed cottonwood leaves brought me back home to me.

I’m slowly realizing that I don’t always need to travel a great distance to achieve that change of heart.  A change of scene can be as simple as taking a walk or losing myself in a photo book. It takes a clear intention to shut out the noise and create a sacred silence. Finding time to do nothing transports me to an inner high desert landscape.  This contemplative space fills me up and I feel connected to my spirit and creativity. I am able to re-member myself.

70’s group America had it right, “In the desert, you can remember your name.” (from the song Horse With No Name.)

 

 

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