Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Dancing, On A Whim, Criticism & Being Seen

Today's blogs...

Will You Still Love Me - Chicago



Songs from my teenage years that influenced me and my writing. I am grateful for these songs and the time I grew up in. Songs with substance.

Blog City – Day 378

Prompt: “Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen?”― Friedrich Nietzsche

In how many ways do you dance?

I like the idea of dancing in all its forms - not just the physical exertion, but with ideas and words - whether it be voiced or written - it is all a dance. Creative expression of the highest degree.

I have taken a few days off from dancing through my blog... I needed time to rejuvinate, but in that time I have turned my pen to more creative, fictional pursuits. I find I am always writing in one form or another, just like dances differ, so do the ways we choose to craft our words. Creatively in non-fiction as our blog shows or nimbly like the well placed words of a poem or on a string that weaves its way through a tale of intrigue and discovery. Whatever we choose, we are writing and in doing so, I feel my heart take flight and rejoice as it rises above the bleakness and drabness of the day to day. Just as my heart soars when I dance, my soul alights when I write. I am blessed knowing I have been given a great gift.

Welcome To My Reality - Week Sixty - Five

5. What was the last thing you bought on a whim?

Books. Notebooks. Literary magazines. I walk into a shop and this stuff just sticks to me whether I need it or not. I get home and add it to my growing mountain of things I need to read and notebooks I need to fill - too bad I create more on my laptop now.

I go nowhere without a book or notebook... but occasionally it happens and I have neither. Well then, you know, I need to buy something - cause you never know when an idea will come and you need to write it down or you have to wait in an endless line and the people around you are not interested in engaging in a conversation.

6. Some of us find criticism hard to take. In what area of your writing are you sensitive to criticism?

Putting your writing out there takes courage. It is a part of you.... a very personal part and it is hard not to be sensitive to any kind of criticism of that work. I find if a review balances constructive criticism and advise with positive aspects, I am able to breath my way through the rougher bits.

I find reading a review that sandwiches the suggestions and criticism within is far easier than the one that begins with criticism or one that gives no glimmer of what the reader liked. It is all a fine balance.

Reviews on WDC are well done because they are given to writers from writers. We all see the importance of shining a light on the positive points before addressing the weaknesses. We all see a chance to improve in our own writing as we help others with their pieces.
I bloom with the praise and encouragement I am offered. Suggestions and criticisms are accepted and considered when they are given gently.

4. We all see ourselves differently to how others see us. Tell us how you think your view of yourself differs from the views other people hold of you.

Sometimes I feel like a fraud. I find it hard to believe I have accomplished something without some kind of intervention of some kind. Yes, I have a university degree, but I don't truly see myself as overly smart.

Another thing... my husband does not understand why I get nervous before I go off to supply teach each day. I am fine once I am in front of the class and I can not back out - I am in, I am on. But before I go, I can twist myself in knots, especially when I am not sure what grade I will be teaching that day. How do you prepare for the completely unexpected. My supply bag has a little of everything, but it is still good to know if I am teaching kindergarten or grade six - I need to approach those situations differently.

I am basically an introvert, but I can play the role of extrovert to get me through those teaching days. I step up and do what is expected because it is my responsibility, but when the day is done - all I want to do is be quiet and recharge. Take a nap, read, and write. I don't want to talk on the phone or to anyone if I don't have to.

I have heard of comedians, like Wayne Brady, who are very funny, but are in fact quiet when not in entertainment mode. I can so relate to that.

I saw an interesting TED Talks video that talked about introversion and extroversion and how the two are necessary in our world, but how extroversion is often seen as more acceptable. Introverts have had to learn to be more extroverted to get along in this world - and that is a shame, in some ways. No one is completely one or the other, but it is important to honor both aspects of who you are.

http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts

http://thoughtcatalog.com/brianna-wiest/2014/07/18-struggles-of-having-an-outgoi...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Brady

Whose Line Is It Anyway? Comedy improv.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGLnFjJelBM