The Importance of Insignificant Things

Hi all, today I welcome someone who I see as a bit of a blogging legend. Her quirky style and awesome blogging voice always keep me going back for more. So if you've never read Mia's blog, I suggest you hop over there right now.

My break is still in full swing, but I'll see you all on Wednesday. In the mean time, I hope you don't miss me too much! ;-P Have a great weekend. X

Take it away, Mia. Thanks for this great post. *hugs*

My supervsor said something interesting the other day. It struck me right down the middle. It rang true. ALLOW ME TO PARAPHRASE IT HERE.

She said, “Mia, sometimes the insignifcant results are the ones that really count.”

Profound, but only if you know the background. So! Allow me to fill you in on some important deets:

1)      I am a final year Psych undergrad researching WORDS and PSYCHOLOGY and STUFF. This sounds super fantastic but a) they’re only temporal words and b) all I can really tell you right now is that past words happen before future ones and this is really COOL. QED.

2)      I have a supervisor who supervises my research, as le name suggests.

3)      I experiment on REAL LIVE PEOPLE, FYI.

4)      My results THUS FAR are insignificant. That is to say, the results we expected were not found at all. I spend my nights weeping in a corner and drowning my sorrows with ice cream because of this.

So! Background complete! Now what am I getting at? Well, guys, that’s right, you guessed it, I want to talk about writing here. 

I want to talk about mistakes. Mistakes in writing are like insignificances in research, they’re actually tres interesting. It took a while for me to see it, but blunders are important.  Those early days when you first start out and everything that comes out of your creative moments feel DIRTY, and not in a sensual way but in a I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING HERE I AM JUST REACHING FOR THINGS way? Those days?

They are important. They are so very important.

For without confusing a prologue with a first chapter, without stumbling through awkward dialogue, and crying over lost descriptions, without any of that how are we to learn how to write? There are no set rules in writing, even the ones everyone gets so hung up on are occasionally and very successfully broken.  There are no rules in writing and that is why it’s so hard to describe how we do it.

Do we sit in a dark room surrounded by only the whisperings of imaginary people or do we write in a café encased by the buzzing of life? Do we cry? Do we laugh? Do we start at the beginning and work forward? Do we not?

As far as I can tell, we do all of it.  It’s up to you to pick and choose. And that’s why the apparent mistakes, and the occasional awkward paragrpahs, are important. The disappointing results of your efforts, and the confusing outcome of nights of hard work, they help you understand who you you are. And only by knowing who you are as a writer can you know how it is you can write.

Because sometimes the things that go wrong,

the abandoned novels and

 

the words that won’t quite

come together.

 

Sometimes they are the most important of all.

 

The show you the way to

the greatness within.
 

So HOW DO WE WRITE? I cannot possibly tell you, but I can tell you how we don’t write. We don’t write by being timid, by being unable to conquer our fears. We don’t write by sticking only to what we know will work, and by never taking chances. We are dynamic, flexible, and brave indidivuals. We try, and we are not afraid of the darkness. We are, and that is enough.

So! Haha! What are the mistakes and insignifiances you have encountered in your journey? I know the main one for me was NOT TO PLOT. I am very bad at plotting, as soon as I accepted that one things got a little easier.