Day 37.1: To Thump Beauty

[sunshowerdandelion]

I'm making a list of things I need to do to meet beauty.I realize now it is a matter of meeting, and not waiting. There are things I can do to walk towards it and thump the thing to get it going, whether for reading or writing. I will now list these things in no particular order. Also some of these may be done and some of these may be left out.

1. Pause. This is such an underestimated thing, but I need to sit still, pause, and say to myself that I need to work up a froth. That I am now not half-listening to work concerns or anything of the sort, but I am reading or about to make something to read, and that is an undertaking that requires my full suite of senses and strengths.
2. Void my understanding of time. This is difficult, but worth it. I always look at the clock and I'd rather not.
3. Remove distractions. Phone, clock, tablet (except if I'm reading on it). Switch off the wifi. Clean my table, tablet, chair. Do light exercise. Think of these as little cheminages I have to part with.
4. Walk. Walk and think about what I have to do. This deserves a separate category actually.
5. Read my old melancholic standbys, especially short stories I didn't quite get or appreciate the first round. I think Eudora Welty's stories, along with Alice Munro's stories, and maybe a bit of Sherwood Anderson, a bit of Diane Oliver. Will definitely need to make a list. There is a certain pitch I need to work myself up to, sort of like an engine, and I need to sustain that pitch. If I fail, well, at least I'll have read a short story.
6. Read other people's writing. This is why I'm on half a dozen fiction boards and fanfiction servers. My litmus is this: If I can find the beauty in other people's writing, if I feel that twinge of need to create, to match people's writing, then I can write.
7. Read poetry. This is a surefire way for now, but I have certain poets. Too abstract and difficult and it just does not do it for me. Ursula K. Le Guin, Gwendolyn Brooks's early works, Margaret Atwood... I don't have very many, but I'm open to more.