Let the crap get you to your answers…

Posted by random olio

I just finished reading: “The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life With Language” by Natalie Goldberg. Such a great book, especially if you enjoy writing and want to be inspired and pushed to a new place in your daily writing. I love how she tells you to just write, to just put the crap down, not to analyze it, but just write.

Even though I write 5 blog posts a week, I still actually write in a journal that is just for me. Sometimes it is a recap of events from my day, or how I am feeling about something, or I cuss, and go off on people. Writing in my journal allows me to make sense of my day-to-day world. It allows me to see what comes out of me, that I may not have known was in me. This was one of my favorite quotes from her book:

“Feel free to write the worst junk in America. You have to turn over your mind a lot for the gems to pop out. And really in True Secret Retreats and in writing practice we are not looking for the gems, but a way to meet and accept our whole mind. Writing down the boring, the complaining, the violent, the agitated, obsessive, destructive, mean, shameful, timid, weak thoughts allows us to see them, make friends with those parts of ourselves. They won’t then rule us. We won’t be running from them, or battling them in meditation—or in our lives. Writing practice asks all parts of us to come forward. And when we get out of the way and stop judging, aren’t they all their own peculiar impersonal gems?” page 21

She makes you think. Write the good, the bad, and the ugly. As I said earlier, writing helps us to know what is really in our mind, the front, back, and deep parts of what we are thinking. Sometimes we have to get through all our crappy thoughts, our anguish, our pain to see the real issues that baffle us.

So whether you write regularly, sporadically, or not at all, I encourage you to follow Goldberg’s advice. Write down the crap, write it all down, and I bet, if you stick with it, the letters that form into words, into sentences, will begin to tell a story. Maybe it will be just for you, or maybe you will want to share it. Those letters and words often tell us what is inside that we often do not know how to make sense of it. Let the crap get you to your answers.

random x 400

Posted by random olio

400 posts. I can hardly believe it. When I started this blog back in January 2012 I had no idea I would last this long. Looking back I cannot believe that I have randomly blabbed on about 400 different topics. Okay so maybe some of them are similar. My family, childhood, money, my favorite husband, funny videos, women’s issues, the occasional political post. That is why I still love the name of this blog. My posts are random. I write about whatever inspires, infuriates, makes me laugh. The randomest of things come out of my finger tips.

I often only have a glimmer of an idea when I sit down with my laptop and let my thoughts flow. There are times when a blog idea formulates in my thought and I sit down and start typing, never knowing how it will finish, or how long it will take. Sometimes it all comes out fast and furious in a matter of minutes and other blogs never feel exactly right. Sometimes I will write a post and it remains in draft form for weeks or months and some I eventually delete because they never feel right or salvageable.

I hope that in the process of my diatribes and babbles I have inspired, made you think, and made you laugh. There are days when I wonder why I still blog, when I wonder if it matters that I write any more. It is usually on those days when I doubt myself, my writing, and my random topics that I get an email or a comment from someone who says my blog that very day touched their heart, or was just the idea they needed that day. So you, my friends, are the reason I continue to blog. I do not write for anyone specific. I write because it comes out of me so passionately. I write because I do not know how I could keep it all in. This blog is therapy for me. It is a connection to so many individuals I have corresponded with and inspiration for what other ideas will continue to pour out of my fingertips and onto this MacBook Air.

Thank you to everyone who has read and continues to read this blog. You are appreciated and are an inspiration to me. I only hope I continue to inspire through random olio.

Shut up and write!

Posted by random olio

I love badass writers like Natalie Goldberg. I can remember reading her book: “Writing Down the Bones” in college. I still have it and pick it up every so often. One of the many things I love about Goldberg is her language, and how blunt she is about writing. Shelf Awareness recently had an interview with Goldberg that I wanted to share:

“Tell us a little about the phrase ‘shut up and write.” Oh It’s everything. Shut up and eat. Shut up and live your life. Shut up and run. We have such a monkey mind that goes on and on. I’m having trouble writing; I should hire a psychiatrist to discuss it. I need a really nice studio. I need a comfortable cafe. Finally, stop all this. Just shut up, pick up the pen and get moving. And really, it’s what I have said from the beginning. That’s really the only teaching you need.”

She is so right on. How often do we make excuses for what we are not doing, or why we are not doing it? If you want something badly enough, make it happen. Make the time, shut up and do it. Yes, I will admit that there are often times that we have competing responsibilities, work, home life, family that mean we do not have the same kind of time to focus on what we really want to do, but we can always make the time. How many of you can fit in an extra episode of American Idol, or Breaking Bad (fill in the blank for your guilty TV pleasure)? Yes, I am raising my hand. I often fill my brain-dead moments with some TV each night, but should I? Sometimes yes, but sometimes no. Sometimes I should get quiet and write.

When you start to complain about not having the right computer, desk, environment, etc, then get your head out of your ass and sit your butt down and write. Focus. Let it flow. Be present. Write.

#Shut up and do it.

Authenticity brings inspiration

Posted by random olio

Emily has inspired me again.

There have been many days when I have not been inspired and had no clue what to write for my blog post. On other days I have published a post and felt timid about putting it out in the blogosphere. It might have felt half-baked to me, or that the topic would not interest anyone, or be inspiring to others. Many times those are the blogs where I will receive a note or comment that my blog post was just what that individual needed to hear that day, or that it brought up memories from their life and my post meant a lot to them.

That is what keeps me going. So when I read Emily’s blog, I was inspired by her honesty, bluntness, and authenticity. Emily shares that she has writers block, but then captures her present moment in such a raw and real way. It happens to so many of us, whether it be writing a blog post, finishing a painting, or coming up with that grand idea for a work campaign. Emily’s post reminds me that we need to be present in our stuck-ness. Stay open and see what comes out of it. You never know – you might find just the idea you need.

Whenever I am in that place where I am stuck, I change gears. It might mean that I go and do something else. I find that often I go for a run, organize, or clean. When I let go of the answer I need, and just focus on what I am doing in that moment, I often find just the answer I need. Sometimes it clears my writer’s block, or inspires me with new ideas. Sometimes it just gets me out of a murky thought pattern, and allows a different story in my mind. Rather than sitting in that stuck place, do something different. Like Emily did, be real with where your thoughts bring you. That is authenticity.

Emily I hope your creativity traveled back to you. I have a hunch that it has returned.

Date a girl who reads

Posted by random olio

This quote has been spreading around Facebook. I have to share it here. It is so true. For all those book loving women out there, this post is for you. I am this girl. If you had a little camera or viewfinder into my world, you would find me with a book in the car when Chris is driving, in the bathroom when I am drying my hair, during toilet visits, curled up on the couch, in the bathtub, while I am running on the treadmill, snuggled up in bed before falling asleep, the list goes on.

Chris has lost me many times. I think he has finally given up. He knows there is no competition that can compare to an amazing book. He knows that if I am nearing the end I will want to stay up until I finish those last few pages. He might see tears in my eyes because I am so enraptured in the story, that I feel like I am there with the characters. He knows I may barter with him about something we need to do just so I can find out what happens next.

He knows he has married a woman who reads, and there is nothing he can do about it. He is smitten. He loves to watch the smile on my face when I close the back flap of a book, grinning because I liked the ending and cannot wait for a sequel. He watches for the next book that may come out from my favorite authors. He gets it.

I have copied the above link below so you can have more context for this quote I am referring to from Rosemarie Urquico:

“…If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at two a.m. clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.“

~ From Rosemarie Urquico’s “A Girl You Should Date.”

Psst…Chris, I write too.