Wednesday, May 25, 2011

10th Daughter of Memory: The Short and the Long of it

The Short of it:

Tenth Daughter of Memory Theme this week:  White Lies Belie a Darker Truth.  When I read that theme I could think of only one thing.  A short snippet of a song that my husband and daughter recorded a while back.  You may not think it fits and that's fine.  And, I'm not sure if you should really vote for it because I didn't write it.  I'm just sharing it for something different and, like I said, it was the first thing I thought of when I read the theme




The Long of it:
The other day I was sitting in my living room while my son was drawing in his sketch book and my daughter was working on a poem or a song; she writes both frequently.  Brian was either playing his guitar or researching music online.  It struck me because I did not come from a creative family.  As a family of engineers, there was no encouragement in the creative process.  To be fair, there was no discouragement either.  My parents supported my decision to go into theater but I think it's telling that I'm in one of the more non-creative jobs in that field.

The few posts I have done for 10th Daughter of Memory have been so much fun.  I thought I would die of embarrassment because my writing is so poor; I have little experience with that genre.  So, I did what anyone in my position would do, I asked my creative family.  They have offered great suggestions for the previous posts I have submitted.  I even wrote a poem along the theme of White Lies Belie a Darker Truth and both my daughter and husband nixed is as too cliche.  And they were right.  So in full disclosure, my 10th Daughter of Memory posts are not entirely my own which I guess is why I feel it's okay to post a song I had nothing to do with.  And that is the darker truth...

13 comments:

  1. Newly-exercised "muscles" always ache when one first includes them in one's work-out, you might say!

    I assume that when you say that your writing is "so poor," you are referring to what we commonly refer to as "creative" writing... the imaginative stuff, or maybe poetry, etc. That's often just a matter of how you channel your talents. You're very literate, and can express yourself quite well, otherwise -- honestly! -- I wouldn't be a regular reader of yours. Some of the best writers out there have never (or rarely) written anything fictional. You have the skills for composition. Indulge the more fanciful side of you, and you will (pleasantly) surprise yourself, I'm sure!

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  2. Kate, I guess I would say to you that all of us... well, OK, most of us take our inspiration from outside. (Creativity that comes totally from within might even be a little scary.) It's what you do with the inspiration that reveals your own creativity. Keep on keepin' on. You'll find you're more creative than you think, I bet.

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  3. Hah. I admit, posting the work of someone else gives me cause to hesitate, but within the entire context of your narrative, it works for me.

    And post the poem. Never trust family. ;)

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  4. haha...love jeffs comment...and yeah post that poem...i think you have done well with 10DOM thus far...

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  5. Not all of us are engineers. And, your writing is engaging, leaving your readers wanting more.

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  6. The hardest kind of writing, for many, is that which is written from whole cloth - a complete fiction without some basis in reality as it describes the life of the author.

    Do post the poem?

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  7. I wish you'd posted the poem. Be brave. We will love and considerately berate how cliche' it is!

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  8. Yeh me too and I don't care much for poetry. Nice twist to the theme, unorthodox and just acceptable thanks to the prose around the song. There, not so scary now is it?

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  9. Let's hear it for families of engineers. I suspect engineers are very creative people - but I have to say that as I come from a family of engineers as well.

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  10. embarrassment, I think I recognize that word.
    well, just one thing, you never know until you do it, so don't hide, it's like a white lie to run away from the darker one, not existent but on our mind.

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  11. I have to appreciate the family effort :). That's a truth we could use more of. Not NEARLY dark enough, though dark in the context of writing here :).

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