A recent Murderati blog entry by Toni McGee Causey just knocked me out. Her “simple” premise: our designing and constructing the imaginative world of a book resembles an architect’s designing and constructing a real-world building.
Excerpting it here would not do justice to what the piece says about buildings and books. But her conclusion is worth hanging on the wall of anyone’s workspace, whether they’re a writer, an architect, or otherwise:
…take the time to enjoy the people around you. Take the time to look at the things you have done and enjoy them. Dwell. Be. Replenish. The world and the race will still be there when you’re ready to re-join. There is no one final race anyway, but millions of races. If you don’t join this day’s race, you can join tomorrow’s.
(Thanks to Janet Reid for the recommendation.)
Very interesting statements. I’ll have to go check out the post.
Thanks, John.
That is a quote I can use right now.
And I’ll have to read about the design too–always a good topic for me!
That was an extremely thought-provoking post. Thanks for sending me over there! The whole positive and negative-space thing got a little self-contradictory in places, tripping over itself in meaning, but overall it was interesting to think about.
Well now, I needed to read that just about right now. Thanks! Looking forward to reading the post…
Hi John, Jules told me about your post — just yesterday we were discussing the importance of taking time to enjoy life, and here you are on the same topic! I will check out Toni’s blog. Thank you!
Jill (the bad dancer and relatively new-ish kicker from 7-imp who enjoys your kicks very much)
Darc: That quotation at first struck me as a little odd, because I kept thinking, Huh? But eventually we die, right? — meaning there IS a final race after all. But then I reconsidered. She’s not denying that people die, and understands (I think) why people come up with things like “bucket lists” — lists of things they “need” to accomplish before kicking the… Really, all she’s saying is not to be consumed by the pursuit to do, do, do, do, do, do…
Of course, she’s saying it more succinctly. Damn. I’m going to learn concision if it’s the last thing I do! :)
marta: My brother the architect read the design/writing post. He tells me the whole positive-vs.-negative space thing is one of his favorite architectural notions. If he gets some time, I hope he stops by to say more.
Squirrel: I had the same sort of momentary confusions while reading it. It was sort of cool to watch it in action, actually; I had a sense that the analogy had struck Toni McGee Causey out of nowhere — a true epiphany — and she wrote the piece in a rush of excitement, maybe reviewing it once or twice before posting it… so it still retains the rough-and-tumble air of freshness.
Jules and Jill: I hope the full article didn’t disappoint; it’s not anywhere near “about” the same things that the excerpt I quoted above is about!