Going Inkless

How do you feel about colouring within the lines?  What about thinking outside the box?  What about stopping at a red light?  Waiting your turn?  Seizing an opportunity? It's complicated.  Chances are, you're some kind of mix between following the rules and going your own way.  Don't worry.  I'm no psychologist, but I think that's probably healthier than either extreme.  Still, these distinctions and the conflicts that arise when individuals disagree on the approach to any given situation can cause all kinds of trouble. For any society to function, there must be rules, and they must be obeyed.  Since prehistoric times, people have grouped together for protection and to combine their skills and strength.  It's just easier to survive when you don't have to do everything on your own.  But actions like hogging all of the mammoth meat or bludgeoning Grog because you want to steal his wife have a way of eroding the foundation of trust...

Writing is, by its basic nature, a solitary activity.  There's only enough room for one at the keyboard or the notebook page.  To write, you're taking things out of your head and transferring them to paper.  Nobody is going to do that better than you because only you have the front row seat to that show.  You can try to get someone else to share your vision.  That's pretty much the point of writing.  But no matter how good you are at describing your ideas, the succeeding versions will always be just a little different.  It's just the way it is, and it's not a bad thing.  I've commented before on the nature of art being a collaboration between artist and audience.  Half the magic is in what your reader brings to the experience.  Still, to draw this back to my original point, nobody else is as close to the source of your story as you; so you write alone. At the same time, writing's basic nature is social.  Yes, authors are often ste...

Day 7 We had a good long sleep and awoke to birdsongs we don’t hear at home.  We asked what bird made such a sound and were told they were nightingales.  We ate a simple breakfast of fruit, yogurt and bread, but discovered that Okaasan had made the yogurt and one of the varieties of bread she offered.  I also learned that she had saved a coffee cup from my previous visit, when I was unable to pack the one I had decorated at a nearby pottery workshop.  She gave it to me to drink from on my first morning back. To begin our day, we took a walk through the neighborhood, taking pictures of flowers and scenery. Some buildings showed traditional methods of construction. Terraced rice fields had not yet been planted. Kodomo no hi, boy’s day, was approaching, so there were some carp flags flying. We visited the village shrine in peaceful dappled sunshine. Back at home, Takeru watered the flowers...

What does a writer on vacation do?  Write.  Every day of our ten day trip, we jotted down notes, impressions and detailed lists of everything we saw and did.  We also took hundreds of photos.  Over the next few posts, I’ll give you the summary of our adventure. Day 1 (kind of) :  We started out on Saturday morning, driving to the airport before the sun came up, riding the bus and tram with luggage in tow.  After check in, much of our time was waiting- waiting to board, waiting to arrive in Toronto, waiting for the connecting flight, and waiting and waiting and waiting to reach Japan.  If you’re ever going on a 13 hour plane ride, invest in the premium economy seats.  It makes a world of difference, especially if you’re tall and have achy knees like my husband.  Then, there was waiting in immigration, waiting for luggage, waiting in line for customs inspection.  Finally, we could consider ourselves officially in Japan on Sunday even...