You Never Lose What You Gain – as a Writer or a Dancer

Polina Seminova

Yesterday I did a ballet exam for the first time since I was 17. It was an interesting experience, as you can imagine. At 44 one would think a person done with such intense exercises, but I wanted to get fit again and have a goal to work towards for the end of the year, besides finishing Book 4 during NaNoWriMo, of course 🙂 I was just informed that I got the highest mark and a fantastic report, which makes me smile and nod sagely to myself because although I am no longer as subtle or fit as I used to be there is one thing I retained after all this time and that was the technique required to pull off an exam of that level. It’s called muscle-memory, and depending on how good your training was as a kid you never lose that knowledge.

This goes for writing, as well.

It should please you to know that as you constantly learn you become better and better at your craft, never worse. This, of course, depends on whether you develop bad habits and faults and allow them to perpetuate your writing. The same principle applies to ballet. Bad habits are hard to break unless, with steely determination and a lot of hard work, you attack them with the very opposite and completely remove said bad habits and replace them with a good, solid foundation upon which anything is possible to achieve.

Having the right mindset is vital, naturally. You must want it badly enough, and by ‘it’ I mean perfection. I want to be a perfect writer, knowing this is impossible just like being the perfect dancer is impossible – but with regards to both careers I can get pretty close. It is up to me, however, to create an environment in which to work – at home and inside my head – that creates optimal achievement.

I must gain knowledge in order to improve, to achieve, and, ultimately, to succeed and reach the heights I’m aiming for.

As a ballet teacher my goal is to train my dancers to think correctly. I have all the knowledge to turn them into better dancers, but they must want to receive that knowledge and apply it, then make it part of not only their dancing but themselves, for what they learn in the classroom they can use in all aspects of life. Knowledge empowers them to become better dancers and thinkers, and as their teacher I must make sure they understand that knowledge and then show them how to apply it.

As adults we may no longer have tutors to guide and nurture us, but we have learned the responsibility and discipline to make sure we continue our own education to the best of our ability. Even though I received the best training as a dancer there were still things I needed to be be reminded of and become more conscious of again nearly thirty years later. As a writer, I keep learning and reading and gleaning from the experts because I need and want what they have in order to apply it to my work and become better and better. I still need reminders of the details, the intrinsic stuff that makes the whole picture look so much more professional and appealing to my readers. It is my responsibility to keep learning and relearning so that I can keep growing and improving.

The learning never stops! Please remember that!

I’ve spoken before of being willing and open to learn and gain knowledge, and of finding the balance between knowledge and passion – it’s what this blog is really about. Never stop learning and you’ll never stop improving. It’s as simple as that.

I love hearing your thoughts. What are your opinions about continuing your education? Do you feel pretty confident where you are in your career as an author, or are you constantly aware of the need to keep honing your craft with more knowledge?

If you’d like to read other posts on this subject of passion verses knowledge please check out my Archive.

Remember, you can find all my books right here Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and Goodreads.

Writing is my Drug. Without it I’m too…normal!!

 

Only writers will get this, but when I can’t sit at my computer everyday and write I feel disconnected from the universe, from myself, and from my characters. Reality crowds in and I start getting irritable and my husband thinks someone else has taken up residence inside his wife.

Sometimes life and work crowd in and take over; well, they actually take me away from where I really want to be and from what I want to do. Working to pay the bills and put food on the table is necessary, but if I had a choice I wouldn’t do it. It’s days like that when I envy professional writers their freedom to not have to do another job besides their beloved writing.

I’ve been bogged down with dance festivals for the last three weeks, and even though I’ve had a few days where I’ve managed to get down around 10-14 pages, they came too seldom. I enjoy choreographing and creating dances for the kids I teach; I love seeing the end product on the stage and watching my girls, with whom I’ve been rehearsing for months, performing their hearts out and getting rewarded for their hard work and dedication. Now, this used to be my entire life – dancing, performing, rehearsing, choreographing – but when writing came along and my dance career slowed down it became my entire existence. I couldn’t believe that creating with words was as intoxicating, if not more so, than dancing. Oh, believe me, nothing beats being on stage in front of an audience and drawing them in and making them laugh or cry or applaud – it is definitely an art form where you get instant gratification and recognition – and even though writing produces the same results it just takes a little longer and a lot more (and a different kind of) work.

Writing when I’m exhausted is also hard and it takes great effort to sit down in front of my computer and make the start. But what I’ve learned as a reasonably new author, is that once I begin, once I set my imagination free, then there’s no stopping me. Tired or not, I can write all day. The adrenaline, the force that pulses through me, is addictive and one drug I hope never to give up.

Dance and writing are very different and very similar: they are both visual art forms and require the observer to use their imagination; they both take the observer on a magical journey, an escape from reality that the observer craves; they both grab the observer’s attention and hold them captive, and here is the first major difference: dance incorporates music, lighting, costumes, sets – basically, all the visuals are physically provided to help the observer become engrossed in the atmosphere created for them – whereas in a book the observer, with the author’s help, is left to create their own world, their own physical interpretation of the story, all taking place in the mind.

I thank God for giving me the ability to create and imagine. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: “Imagination is more important than knowledge…” He understood the power of imagination, that it is limitless whereas knowledge is not, and as a dancer, dance teacher, and a writer I understand and acknowledge and welcome its power, and I’m grateful for the ability to use it to its fullest extent – tired or not 🙂

When I danced professionally it consumed my world; I could not even contemplate doing anything else. But time past and life, too, and when I discovered the world of writing I realised that dance isn’t all there is. There were other ways for me to express and share what was inside me, what was inside my mind and heart, just that now it was with words. I approached it tentatively, this new, scary thing, and once I tried it and discovered that putting down on paper what was in my head was just a little harder than creating a dance piece (choreography is as natural to me as breathing!), and it slowly started taking hold of me like a powerful drug coursing through my veins and setting my heart and soul on fire! Never did I think that writing would consume me so, and I allowed it to because it replaced my passion and love of dance, soothing the pain of leaving that world behind.

Image courtesy of blackballerinas.tumblr.com

Teaching dance is my job; writing is my new passion, and I cannot think of doing anything else. It’s a good thing I can write ’til I drop dead one day. I don’t think this body would be able to do leaps and turns as well as I used to as the decades go by 🙂

When I write I feel invincible, I feel alive and full of joy, so when the ‘normal’ stuff of life encroaches I get very grumpy. I even hate stopping to have food when I’m in the flow. Ask my hubby; he’s had full on conversations with me while I’ve been writing and I haven’t heard a word!! He’s slowly learning not to mess with me when I’m in the zone 🙂

Tell me about the things that you’d rather give up than have your writing interrupted. I love reading your thoughts! Please share!

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Is Your Writing Style a Tango or a Waltz?

This is such a frustrating and curious topic that many either ignore it altogether or pursue it with fervour with the single-minded goal of perfecting it. Style is spoken of as the most important thing a writer can have in order to possess a unique voice. I don’t know if I agree. Style to me is superfluous when it becomes the be all and end all of the way you approach your work. If it’s all you’re concerned about at the exclusion of other things then I believe it brings limitation and not freedom.

When I read a famous author’s work I don’t analyse every nuance and slant and approach, I just get on with reading the story, hoping to be sucked into another world, another existence, for hours. Although I recognise Stephen King as someone who writes with no fuss or gimmicks or fancy words and phrasing – this makes my reading experience pleasurable and easy – and someone like Tolkien, whose use of language I find complicated and fussy, I still appreciate their very different styles. But, again, I read to be drawn into a story not to be caught up with so much fuss and so many big words that I start focusing on the way it is written instead of on the story.

I’ve been told my style is very much like Stephen King‘s, and no wonder: I love the way he expresses himself and gets to the point with so much emotion and clarity that I can do nothing else but lose myself in every scene. This is my goal as a writer. Even in epic fantasy it’s important not to lose the reader in too much jargon and waffle as though I’m trying my best to show off, to show what a fantastic, accomplished author I am aiming to get selected for many writing awards. All I want is to be a storyteller that blows people’s minds with my vision and emotion and passion.

I think I write like a waltz – easy, flowing with just enough light and shade to hold my reader captive, and with enough crescendos and quiet moments to make them hold their breaths. My style is not an Argentinian tango – intense, demanding, at times too loud, broken with jarring phrasing and rough handling. There is no doubt it is beautiful and passionate and seductive, but a little too rushed for my taste!

But again I ask if style is that important if as a writer you succeed in getting your story across to the reader the way you want. Perhaps the answer is that style changes with each story you write, unless it’s part of a series, of course, where the feel and voice must be consistent for the sake of the reader’s comfort and happiness. They love their comfort zones, after all, and like to know exactly what they’re gonna get before they read the next book in a series they’ve come to love and trust.

Personally, I like writing as differently as I can with every new story I approach. My epic fantasy tetralogy flows and moves and expresses like a Viennese waltz, while the Vampire novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year has an entirely different feel – more like a tango 🙂 It has to be because the characters are COMPLETELY different to my characters in my epic fantasy. They’re harder, rougher, more dangerous and earthy, and therefore they demand that my writing (style) matches their temperaments and unique personalities.

This is why I say that perfect style is not the ultimate goal and achievement of a writer; being able to tell a powerful story effectively with conviction is.

I know many will disagree with me on this, but, hey, that’s what makes debating such fun 🙂 What are your thoughts about style and its relevance? Is it relevant or not? How do you identify your unique style, and what exactly is it?

I love reading your thoughts so please leave a comment.

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The Fact that ‘Ordinary’ People Don’t Understand Us Artists Is So True!

Polina Seminova

I just hate it when someone speaks about writing or dancing as if they know what it really entails when, in fact, they don’t have a dang clue!!

I have met people in my life who are so clueless about artists that they think they know everything about them! Know what I mean? They sprout such nonsense, and speak such lies with straight-faced confidence, heck, I’m almost convinced they know what they’re talking about!

As a young kid and later a teenager, already firmly established in my dancing and with complete understanding of how much hard work it entailed, and I told new friends and their parents what I did, my pet peeve was when they asked me to please show them something. “You know, do a twirl or something,” they’d twang, and I’d cringe inside and brim with annoyance, but I’d just smile and (with as little sarcasm as possible) tell them it was impossible because I didn’t have any space. I mean, did they really expect me to do grand jetés (split leaps) and pirouettes (turns) in a room full of furniture and break my neck? Yup!!

I know someone who recently told my husband – who knows very well that I danced professionally – that all it takes to be a dancer is to move your body to music, and that it didn’t require any special skill or much work, whereas professional rugby and cricket took years of dedication and immense skill, talent, and training. Now, only one of those statements is true, and as to the other, well, it showed how utterly ignorant the man was about what it takes to be an artist, and that he thought that sport and dancing didn’t compare. According to him, dancing can never be taken seriously while sport was a god to be worshipped! (My biased interpretation 🙂 ) That dance is called a sport by some infuriates me to no end! Yes, a dancer is an athlete in regards to physical exertion, but that’s where the one and only comparison ends!

Now, if I had been present, firstly, he wouldn’t have dared say something like that (I can be snarky when I get defensive!) and, secondly, I would have given him a very sharp lecture on exactly what it took to become a professional dancer – the long hours everyday of your life; sacrificing parties, holidays, and other social events to do exams, festivals, competitions, and spend more time in the studio learning how to control your body (in a way that is completely unnatural to the way the human form is put together); the physical pain and bleeding feet and pulled muscles and swollen joints; the disappointments and failures before the winnings and successes; the never-ending commitment because missing one week of dancing was like losing an entire month of training!! I could go on and on, and I would’ve eventually had him on his knees begging for my forgiveness before I’d finished with him!

*

(Sidebar)

Okay, so this is my explanation regarding dance. It is NOT an anti-sport statement because I LOVE sport and watch the Olympics with as much fervour as anyone else. This is an earnest comparison; you, dear reader, can draw your own conclusions:

Ethereal Beauty!

Yes, I understand that sport also takes heaps of commitment, especially if one wants to do it professionally, BUT training to become a professional dancer begins the day you walk into a studio at around three years old; kids with aspirations and talent to become professional sportsmen/sportswomen only begin serious training when they’re teenagers, and then the training they do only requires them to train what their bodies can already do naturally. (What follows includes sports like gymnastics, tumbling, ice-skating – anything that can be linked to dance and that requires artistry) With ballet everything you do is beyond the norm for the body: turn-out; spinal rotation beyond the norm of the human spine; co-ordination of the entire body while moving to music; listening to phrasing; interpreting the music; facial expression and performance; acting; spatial awareness; correct weight placement; elevation with stretched legs and feet while holding the body still in the air and expressing perfect line, style, and quality; flexibility (WAY beyond the natural uses of the human body, not required in sport); strength to elevate the legs, these days, to almost a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree angle to the floor; arched feet (the girls have to train to balance and turn en pointe for years – and professionals will tell you, the training for that never stops!); perfect balance – these are but some of the requirements for a dancer. Tell me where a sportsman or woman has to do all these things SIMULTANEOUSLY everyday of their lives?

Shirley Maclaine – a consummate artist!

*

I recently read a blog by a mom who is a serious writer with a firm goal to one day earn a living as a novelist. She is already a journalist and does a lot of other writing jobs when she isn’t working on her novel. But being a mom requires her full attention, and as a result of her working at home her kids think she does nothing all day but sit at home, then only leaves to fetch them from school and take them to extra-mural sporty activities. They even write on their school forms that she’s a ‘stay-at-home-mom’ because they don’t think that writing is a job. Her solution? To treat her writing like it is one – leave the house at 9am, go somewhere like a library or a coffee shop or somewhere quiet to write, then return home at 5pm. She discovered it was the only way she could find the time to get done what she needed to, and get it through to her kids that what she did was serious work, and that when she worked then she was off-limits, so to speak.

In short, I found this story very sad, and it brought out all the feelings of frustration and, yes, even anger that I earlier expressed. What is it with the ‘normal’ world that doesn’t get us? Why is it so difficult for them to see us as creators and designers and artists, something that they could never be because they were gifted with other skills that do not require out-of-the-box thinking?

A very wise man! He understood the necessity of Magic!

As artists we are borderless and limitless. We are visionaries and dreamers, and we only live on this earth because the laws of physics say we have to (for now, anyway!!). If we had a choice we would rush at the chance to explore the Universe – inside us and out there – without fear because we believe that dreams are more important for our continued survival as creator-beings and for earth and it’s inhabitants to evolve!

The kind of people I mentioned above – the ones that think dreaming and allowing magic to lead us and dictate how we should approach and live our lives is rubbish – do not understand that without us dreamers and visionaries they wouldn’t have music and movies and art and dance and design and technology and, when you get right down to it, without us they wouldn’t see any progress as the human race. In their blind arrogance (which is simply ignorance) they think they can have everything in their lives without us. But if they just stopped and looked, and took the time to understand what it takes to write a story that came from a place us authors could never explain; to understand what it takes for a dancer to be so magnificent in her performance that it brings tears to an observer’s eyes and makes it difficult to breathe; to understand that an artist can paint something so beautiful that it can render its observer immobile for hours because of its power and beauty; to understand that a piece of music can make grown men cry and can turn a five-year old into one of the most brilliant composers of all time (Mozart)!

I admit, this post is a bit of a rant, but, as with just about all my posts, I believe my goal as a blogger and an author is to inspire you, dear reader and writer, to never, ever think of yourself as anything less than your partner who has a ‘real’ job and cannot understand your obsession with writing, or your kids that do sport and can’t understand why you spend so much time writing when you don’t earn anything for it, or your friends who have boring, uneventful, safe desk jobs and who can’t understand that you would give up parties and social events to spend more time tweaking your novel so that it can be ready for publication in a few weeks.

Be proud, is what I’m saying, for without you they would not know magic! They would never even be aware of its existence!

You are an artist! You are Magic incarnate! Keep producing and keep conjuring your masterpieces and being the creator-being you were meant to be. Teach those that do not understand, that do not get it, how much work and skill and talent and dedication it takes to be good at what you do, and that even if they don’t see the results – or as in the case of this man who didn’t have a clue about what being a brilliant dancer was all about – it doesn’t mean that those results are not there, it just means that these people don’t know what good or brilliant is! Or even what art is, for that matter! They don’t understand the power or joy or reverence or exuberance writing brings you. Perhaps just be a little more patient in your explanations than I would have been with that clueless man; after all, I am quite cheeky when I want to be 🙂 And now that I am a writer I feel it is my duty to defend us authors against those that scorn and misunderstand us, just as much as I continue to defend dancers who have a reputation for being stupid and uneducated!

Please leave a comment! I love hearing from you! And you can rant all you like – against or for!!

It’s Women’s Day in South Africa! Today I Honour the Women Who Influenced My Life

Polina Seminova

Yup, we’re celebrating the beauty, courage, and glory of South African women today, and I can’t help but think of all the incredible women I have met in my life who have changed and shaped me into who I am today:

Firstly, my mom who gave unselfishly and consistently of herself in every way – although she was a single mom and had to work her heiny off to feed me and make sure I had the best education. She also sacrificed so much to allow me the opportunities to pursue my dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer. Through Art School (high school), after-school dance studios (ballet, modern, and tap) and every possible dance competition I wanted to partake in, she made sure I did it all. As a child I was never aware of the enormous pressure she was under – financial and emotional – until I grew up and looked back and understood! So today I honour her and express my love and thanks for being so amazing and generous and caring.

Fred and Ginger – Sublime Performers!

Secondly, I honour all the excellent dance teachers I had throughout my life. From the age of five I had a group of ‘second-mothers’ who moulded me and pretty much created the person/artist I am today because of their incredible talent and passion and love of dance: Mavis Senior (Tap Teacher since I was five); Ethné Ferraris (Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Teacher since I was seven); Ruth Inglestone (Cecchetti Ballet Teacher since I was twelve); Dianne Souter (Tap and Modern teacher since I was fifteen); Adele Blank (Artistic Director of Free Flight Dance Company). These women each contributed towards turning me into a brilliant dancer; their training was flawless and I ate it up!! I loved them all very much and I know they loved and cherished me and the relationship we shared. Each of them gave in such different ways, but combined they created the kind of dancer that could perform any style of dance without much effort. This stood me in good stead throughout my professional career; I couldn’t have been the performer I was without them.

Strangely, although I am now a writer, I still carry their spirit and passion within me. The attention to every detail, the desire for perfection, the drive, the love and addiction I have for the art of writing could not have been mine if I had not met those wonderful women. In a sense, while I have published already, I am still a student, still learning my craft, still achieving perfection and learning how to become better and better. They taught me how to embrace the mistakes and the failures and turn them into successes. Those are lessons engraved on my heart and my very soul where my stories are born and where my spirit takes flight – not in dance anymore, but through words. Just as dance has rhythm, flow, imagination, joy, light and shade, effortlessness, beauty, passion, tension, drama, and magnetism, so does writing! I’m sure you all agree, yes?

Shirley Maclaine – she inspired me to be a great performer like she was and still is!

I am privileged and honoured to be a woman today, a woman shaped and moulded by such excellent examples of character, integrity, love, joy, and heart.

I’m sure, ladies, that you also have wonderful tales about the women in your life who have influenced and shaped you into the gorgeous, talented beauties you are today. Please won’t you share your stories with us? It would be wonderful to be uplifted and rejoice in your uniqueness – but together as women, the one thing we all share!

To read more about the true meaning and history of Women’s Day in South Africa please click on this link: Women’s Day South Africa 9 August

Flag of South Africa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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Weaving with Words, Music, and Choreography – Three Reasons Why Self-Publishing Rocks!

Choreography (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This week I started choreographing for a big dance show in the studio where I teach ballet. What makes it even more fun for me than usual is that I have been given creative license, and if you knew me well enough you’d know that such freedom is just a heavenly thing! It means I can choose my own music and choreograph according to my vast experience gleaned over twenty-five years of dance and choreography – on the amateur and professional stage. I can choose my own music and costumes – just as long as it fits with the theme of the show which is – *happy dance* – the Universe and everything pertaining to it! Now for a Fantasy author and a science fiction nut this is pure bliss!!!

Cover via Amazon

The music I chose was from two of my favourite movies of all time: The Highlander (Tracks ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’ and “Princes of the Universe’) and The Fifth Element (Tracks ‘Lucia Di Lammermoor’ and ‘Radiowaves’). Other music is from a musical I adore – Hair (Tracks ‘Age of Aquarius’ and ‘Good Morning, Starshine’) – and also from one of my favourite musicians, because her free spirit has always moved me and is so much like mine: Vanessa Mae (Track from the album ‘Storm’ – ‘The Blessed Spirits’). You can imagine my excitement as I listened to this incredible collection of music, each piece so different from the other, but so stirring, so intoxicating, so powerful, so . . . soulful!

I have always been extremely musical, so when I choreograph I tend to create according to the words and feel of the piece and rarely to the predictable – sometimes monotonous – musical phrasing/beat/rhythm. I start by closing my eyes and allowing the music to ‘tell’ me what to do – the layout, the patterning, the placement of the dancers, the costumes and props, the make-up, the lighting, and the overall look and feel I want to achieve. I incorporate every nuance in the voices and music, and even what’s underneath them, interpreting the emotions of the singers and what the song is about. Visually, this creates a much more dramatic and musical dance piece than if I was just following the beat (expected and predictable to the audience). This technique is guaranteed to draw in the audience and engage them emotionally because the dancer’s and singer’s passion is creating perfect synchronicity between the two as their performances are supported and enhanced by the stirring music.

It is absolutely vital to me that the dancers are able to do what I want, the way I want it, and usually, with amateurs, this means spending hours and hours with them to help them perfect the technique and carry across the nuances (artistry) I need them to when they eventually have on their costumes and make-up, they’re on the stage with professional lighting, and they have before them an expectant, paying audience to please. As I work mainly with seniors – twelve years to adults – this is reasonably easy to do because they can grasp the emotional subtleties and understand and express them . . . and, fortunately, I have four months to get them ready!!!

Princes of the Universe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now we get to what this has to do with writing and self-publishing. If you were paying attention you would have picked up the metaphors and comparisons; if not, then let me elaborate on my thoughts.

Freedom to me is the most essential part of life. When I can be myself at all times and in all circumstances then I thrive and I produce brilliant work – whether it be choreography, dancing, or writing. When my spirit, my heart, and my soul (emotions) are unfettered, and my mind (knowledge) comes along for the ride, then together we create the most beautiful dance/story: my spirit soars, my soul sings, and my mind and body both do a happy dance! It’s all about flow and rhythm and bringing forth the power, and interpreting and expressing the emotion – and it should NEVER be a chore or hard work or an effort, even when it is. Let me explain: When the dancer (writer) puts in the effort and enjoys what he/she is doing, even though it breaks a sweat and makes them huff and puff with frustration and forces them to redo it and redo it and redo it again, it should still be with the soul-stirring ebb and flow that is as natural as breathing. When a dancer breathes correctly her movements become effortless and easier to execute. This, too, applies to writing. You cannot write and not breathe – and I’m not only talking about the physical act but the emotional swaying and letting go every writer needs to do if whatever they are working on is to achieve the goals they have set for it. And especially if they (and their readers) want to like it!

Then there’s the audience (reader) who must be impressed and drawn in and become emotionally involved with what they are witnessing. If while you wrote your words found a rhythm, found the emotional power, found the stillness and then the crescendo, then it is guaranteed your readers will, too.

So many times I read horror stories of how writers submitted their work to publishers who then proceeded to hack it to death because it didn’t reach a certain demographic or meet their expectations or their requirements, and the poor author was forced to make changes that practically ripped their work (and their hearts) to shreds!

And this is why I love being an Indie author. I alone am responsible for perfecting my art, for improving my writing and myself (the blood, sweat, and tears), BUT I don’t have to lose who I am in the process (my spirit, my soul, and my beloved freedom of expression together with belief in my unique talents). I have been given a gift to be a storyteller and I am the only person who writes the way I do. I have a very particular style (rhythm) and delivery (emotional and visual interpretation and presentation) and I’m proud of the fact that no one else can do what I do the way I do it. And the same goes for every one of you! I have written numerous times about how important it is to be unique and to hold onto that uniqueness no matter what others say about you or your work.

Perfect Synchronicity!
Image courtesy of savearecipe.blogspot.ca

As self-published authors (or if you’ve been very lucky and found an awesome agent and a generous traditional publisher), we are in a unique position to move the masses without interference from others who think they know better. We can express ourselves the way we were born to and allow the music and emotion of our words – choreographed to the perfection we have achieved thus far in our individual careers – make this world a place of magic and joy, laughter and, quite simply, LIFE – the way we believe our readers ought to enjoy it!

I urge you to listen to that very particular tune playing in your mind and tugging on your heartstrings and allow it to overtake you and show you things you’ve perhaps never dreamed of. No one else can hear that melody or rob you of it because it is who you are. When you were made you were filled with unlimited potential and an individuality no one else can match.

Be Unique!
Image courtesy of blackballerinas.tumblr.com

Write according to your own rhythm and choreograph with your own words, and you will produce a masterpiece your audience will love and be moved by, exactly the way you saw (heard) it!

Happy listening!

I love hearing from you! Please leave a comment and share your own creative (choreographic) experiences!

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So, are You a Writer or What?

“Hmph, a writer!” is what I see in their eyes when I tell them. “Riiiight!” they drawl (pun intended), and that’s the way most conversations go when I meet someone and they ask me what I do.

Ethereal Beauty!

My first intention is to tell them what I’ve always told them because it sounds pretty awesome in the ‘normal’ world: “I’m a ballet teacher and I used to be a professional dancer before that.” “Oh wow,” they say with raised eyebrows and the expected expressions of intense interest and slight envy, and I glow in their awestruck wonder as they ask me about my illustrious career as a dancer, that most magical and unobtainable of professions by most mortals.

So why doesn’t me being an author have the same effect?

Perhaps it’s that I have yet to say it with enough confidence and mysticism as when I tell them I was a dancer on the professional stage – an ethereal ballerina that defied gravity and performed physical acts of such astonishing feats that they could never dream to know how I did it (that was not meant to sound kinky!).

Being a reasonably new author I do not yet possess that same in-your-face confidence as I had as an accomplished dancer. I tend to look at what I’ve written and the smallish success I’ve had so far in comparison to my dancing career when that’s actually a rather silly and self-defacing attitude to have! If I didn’t believe I could be a damn good writer then I wouldn’t have started!

By nature I am a perfectionist. That means that unless I do something to the absolute best of my ability, with every fibre of my being involved, then I don’t want to do it! I continuously learn and read and write and spend hours at my laptop so that I can become better and better at what I love to do, just like when I was a student dancer learning to become what I eventually did in the professional arena.

Now, yes, I’m not yet a Terry Brooks or a David Eddings or a Stephen King, but just like they once did I have made a start and I believe in my abilities and talents to turn myself into the best writer I can be. Simply making that start, sitting down at my laptop and beginning that awesomely powerful act of creating something, makes me a writer, an author, someone to take note of, dammit! – as it is with all writers whether they are newbies or veterans! They deserve recognition and acknowledgement because they have put blood, sweat, and tears into their work!

I recently read a blog by Jeff Goins, the author of You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One). In his blog titled: The Simple Reason You’re Not a Writer (Yet), he mentions asking author Stephen Pressfield when a writer becomes a writer:

“Is it when you get a book deal? When you sell your first thousand copies? When you hit the best sellers list? When do you get to call yourself a writer?

Steve said something I’ll never forget:

‘You are when you say you are. Screw what everyone else says.’”

I love that because it speaks to my heart and where I’m at right now.

Jeff continued to say:

“Steve was right.

I started to act like a writer. A real one, not a wannabe. And all kinds of amazing things happened as a result. Guest posts, book deals, invitations to write for magazines, even cold, hard cash in my pocket — all because I called myself a writer.

Why this works

When you call yourself a writer (or an entrepreneur, an innovator, or whatever), you unlock something inside yourself that wasn’t there before. Here’s what happens:

1. It gives you confidence. Nobody wants to read work that an amateur writes. No one wants to hire someone who doesn’t believe in himself. Calling yourself a writer helps you do just that.
2. It makes your work better. Believe it or not, confidence matters. Not just for your self-esteem, but for the quality of work you do. When you start calling yourself something, you raise the stakes. You call your own bluff. And pretty soon, you ante up.
3. It makes other people believe it, too. Unfortunately, we live in a world enamored of titles. When you tell people, “Writing is just something I do on the side…” you sabotage yourself before you get a chance to prove yourself. Calling yourself a writer is an invitation to the world to take you seriously. It helps you get paid.

So what are you waiting for?

Time to call yourself a writer — and actually believe it.”

Jeff Goins’s Book

In just about every blog I’ve written I’ve spoken about the belief you need to have in yourself in order to create the masterpiece/s that exists inside you just waiting to be unleashed upon the world. I believe confidence in yourself and your craft is paramount to success – even if you are new at it (and even if you’ve been at it for a while!). New doesn’t mean less capable that Brooks, Eddings, or King, it just means you’ve begun where they once did and now you’re on your way to where they are!

Next time someone asks me what I do I will lift my chin, look them in the eye, show them the utter joy that lives inside me every time I create my worlds and characters, and tell them with absolute authority and full belief in myself: “I am a published author. And you?”

Please leave a comment and tell me of your own experiences as an author whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been at this for a while. I’d love to hear from you.

Terry Brooks Image courtesy of Amazon

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The Art of Classical Ballet and Writing Compared – A Musing

I don’t know if anyone else has had, or is still busy with, an artsy profession other than writing, but I’m sure you can come up with some interesting comparisons and similarities just as I have.

Keeping fit for me requires hard work, but doing a ballet class does it like nothing else. It reaches every muscle – major and intrinsic – and keeps my mind and body strong and fit as the years march on.

Writing, and doing it consistently, works the same way – although, unfortunately, when it comes to the waistline it isn’t so great!! He-he! Writing requires as much commitment and dedication, knowledge and understanding of the craft as does ballet because if you can’t do it reasonably well then you’re going to run into problems.

Painting of ballet dancers by Edgar Degas, 1872. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ballet requires you to deeply and truly understand your body and the technique required to prevent injury – immediate and long-term – and so be in total command of it. It requires absolute focus and incredible awareness of yourself, and you have to be very musical and expressive, as well. At least once you’ve moved out of the examination (amateur) status and into the professional arena you don’t have to worry about failing that much anymore – unless, of course, you get onto the stage and, because of your lack of commitment and hard work and your lack of the technical knowledge needed to successfully perform at the required level, you end up falling flat on your face (quite literally!) and causing damage to your body and your reputation. In a sense, being a professional dancer takes more work psychologically than being a student still in the learning process, a learning process that takes a lot of time and is pretty slow going, quite necessary to prepare an aspiring dancer to achieve his or her dreams. Students (amateurs) are quickly forgiven for their mistakes in technique, but professional ballet dancers are expected to be brilliant, ethereal, strong, and beautiful – in other words, as close to perfect as possible!

With writing we also don’t stop learning no matter how high up in the ‘rankings’ we go. We move on from being amateurs and advance into the professional arena, therefore our writing abilities have to match our status. It is expected that we no longer write like amateurs/students the moment we call ourselves ‘published authors’. Our craft always has room for improvement – just much less so the better we get at it, just like a professional dancer – requiring absolute dedication and commitment and, most important, A TOTAL LACK OF EGO! As a professional dancer you learn quickly that you need to be arrogant onstage in order to perform at your best, to be enigmatic and charming, to draw the audience in by showing off your brilliance, and fully engage them emotionally in your performance (sounds exactly like writing, doesn’t it?) – but then be completely humble offstage.

By all means, believe in your writing abilities and think highly of yourself when you sit in front of your computer and create your masterpiece, showing off your brilliance to the world, but always be willing to listen and learn and accept constructive criticism from others because your goal is to get better and better at your craft. Even the ‘superstars’ of the literary world must know (hopefully) that they can always learn something new, that there is always someone who has a better, deeper understanding than them in a particular area. As writers we must be careful that we never reach the place in our lives where we think we know everything . . . because we never do! The superstars of the dance world are very aware (almost painfully) of their own shortcomings, believe me, and are always trying to improve their technique to remain the best at their craft. Because there is always someone better than them out there and they know it!

“Pursue knowledge as though it is your life-blood, then you will know greatness!” – my personal belief.

Just like dancers, us writers need to be consistently nurturing and improving our craft and increasing our knowledge and exercising our minds, because if we don’t have the knowledge to combine with our incredible, unlimited imaginations, how will we ever be great? You can’t have one without the other, I keep telling my ballet students; you cannot separate knowledge from artistry. You simply cannot achieve the success you want if you don’t have both, whether a dancer or a writer.

I was a successful professional dancer for over twenty years so I know what I’m talking about when it comes to being a performer. As I’ve entered the vast universe of writers and see everyday how many are so good at what they do, I’ve come to realise that I will never stop learning and growing and improving, and that by listening and reading others’ works I can only improve my own writing. So let me take this opportunity to say two things: First, thank you to those who have so far inspired me and opened my eyes to the art of writing and for showing me exactly what it requires to become really good, if not great, at it; and, second, I am thrilled that I began on a good note, with amazing teachers, advisers and supporters from the very start of my writing career whose excellence have made my schooling in the craft of writing such a pleasure.

To everyone who reads this blog, thank you for inspiring and teaching me! Even if it wasn’t directly just believe that something about you as a person or in your work has impacted me. Please, don’t stop being you and don’t stop teaching others. And, please, whatever you do, don’t stop learning!

Happy writing/performing/creating!

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