Erma says be with where you are: The February (2015!) Elephant Coffee Klatch
This post is part of the Elephant Coffee Klatch series, where I get to know the creative “elephant in the room” of my subconscious. This “elephant” is a looming, unrealized dream (or dreams) that lingers in the back of my mind, one I try to ignore but that won’t let me. The Klatch is about making friends with the dream(s), and includes a monthly prompt if you’d like to join in. Read more about the Klatch here.
Well helloooooooo there! It’s time to Klatch again!
(I love making nouns into verbs.)
I just made a spiffy new Klatch info page & now it’s time to make a spiffy new Klatch post. ;)
So, for February, 2015…
Erma says, “Be with where you are.”
Inspired by this photo I recently took:
Those are all manuscripts. That I’ve written. That I’ve not finished. 6-7 different stories in that pile.
Crazy, right?
Overwhelming, too.
As I contemplated where to dive back into the Klatch, I remembered taking that photo, and Erma swished her tail.
“Start with that,” she said.
I pointed at the pile of stories. “That?”
She nodded.
“Ok,” I said. “What about it? Start with what?”
“With where you are.”
I blinked at her, flummoxed for a moment, and then the light bulb went off over my head.
This is related to her past advice about dealing with gaps, about being ok with where you are. So when faced with a pile of my stunted book attempts, I need to make peace with the pile. Get to know it. Re-read all I wrote. See what still speaks to me, what sparks new ideas, what lights me up in that oh-wow-I-want-to-work-on-that kind of way.
And then from there, the next step will be visible.
“You can’t see the next step yet,” Erma says, sipping her coffee. “Because that pile’s too big, it’s in the way.”
Cheeky mind elephant.
So I go to get some more coffee & settle in with some pages, ready to wander through, no agenda at all, and see what I see.
——————–
If you’d like to join me in the Klatch, feel free to respond to this month’s prompt, on your own blog or in a journal, whatever you feel called to do:
This month’s Klatch prompt: What project or projects are you currently working on and/or contemplating that are so large they’re blocking your view of your next step? How might you just be with them for now, as they are, exploring them & seeing what they might have to tell you, without trying to do anything other than be with where you are?
Here’s to befriending the piles,
