I hope you are ready, here is this weeks Letter of Questioning! And oh boy, are we delving deep this week!
Dearest Dreamland,
UGH! The grind never ends does it?! But we must ever push onward and upward! I have the faith that you will take and twist it to your advantage at the end of the day! Just as eventually I am sure ~ you and I ~ we can make this tilde a thing!
Man alive, those edits! I didn’t think they were ever going to end! They got me a bit behind on the ‘dream’. But I know I will catch back up. Of course, managing to miss the two bottom steps and dislocating and spraining my foot… that seemed to get me even further behind! But I digress! Practice… yes! So much so with these pieces and I honestly am rather thankful for them.
Actually, being laid up leads me to a new topic. Something that I think draws to the very heart of the original intent behind the making of these very letters. A dream that set us on a path of questioning. Some years ago I set out on a path, I drafted my very own Writing Manifesto, and recently we were taking a deeper look at mission statements which made me think. There is something about being laid up that leaves you a bit more time to think than normal, and it seems a wonderful time of reflection, so I have been thinking deeply on why I write.
I know that I shared with you that Tattoos & Knitting left me flustered and ready to quit writing, as it was so well received. And then you had that Teaching Mission Statement assignment, (how did that go, by the way?), and I reworked my Artist Mission Statement to reflect more on who I am now as an artists, and well… here we are. How important, and well, maybe how much do you think it helps, to have a Mission Statement, a Manifesto? What would you find as important to include?
As far as the mobile workshops, I was sadly not able to make it to that workshop I wanted to attend, due to my inability to walk, but I definitely want to look into it for the future! I mean, how fun would it be to work with a group of people and show them that we can all write a story in just a few moments of time! Maybe to go with that I need to think about crafting a book of prompts to move forward, and sell alongside a workshop! Oh the ideas, they never seem to end! So many ideas, so little time!
And the koan… wow, yes! That is such a truth. The power words provoke… How about I counter with my own:
Words are all and they are nothing.
Naturally, I am inclined to write an academic article defending both! But who has the time? (Yes, I know, time, like words are just a construct.) I am always ready to join in some anarchy!
I leave you with this: What of your academic pursuits. It is a hard trail to blaze, working on a doctorate, getting that dissertation ready. Where are you on that path? Are you moving towards what you desire? How do you see that fitting in the greater scope of a writing path?
Ever ready to defend my island,
Ravyn
What do you guys think? What are your answers to these questions? Do you have a mission statement? Do you ever think about why you write or do art or whatever it is that you do? Also, do you have burning questions, we are always looking to the future of our letters, so ask us!
Random Acts of Writing 