Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
– Jonathan Swift

Being a writer is fun. You see a blank page and your mind is dancing with the inspiration to say what you feel needs to be said. All of us can stare at a block of stone, but only an artist will see the finished sculpture. Some stare at a plot of dirt and don’t see much else, while a gardener already sees the fall harvest.

All of us can see something others cannot because all of us have different talents and ambitions and all of us have a vision that is unique to us.

For some, mere survival is the only vision they can muster. Some have a vision that will transcend time and be remembered for ages. For most of us, for most of us, though, our visions are more down-to-earth. My neighbor wants to make a quilt to show at the county fair. I want to write something you want to read. You, no doubt, have a vision that means something to you, a reason you get up the morning and work hard to overcome the obstacle that looks us in the mirror every morning.

No matter what, the artist in all of us should see the life we were meant to live and then have the courage to go and live it, no matter what it might be.

xoxoxo

Kaitlyn K

Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.
Don Miguel Ruiz

Sometimes it may not seem like we are an artist. Sometimes it seems like we are barely treading water or muddling through our days. We spend our time reacting to what is happening around us, to the demands presented by others, which is the utter antithesis of being an artist, which is merely answering to what moves you from deep inside.

But we are! Every single one of us one of us is an artist. Now, we may not be a painter or a carpenter or a writer, but each of us is creating our own life and every day is a blank canvas. We can let others dictate what we put on it, or we can take steps to ensure that what we put on our canvas each day is our own creation.

This is not always easy. Every day there are distractions, from the mundane to the tragic to the seemingly splendid. Every one of them must be overcome because they are taking us away from creating the work of art that is our life. Now, I’m a writer and every day I sit down to say what I feel needs to be said. That’s me. It may not be you. In fact, we are all different, so it probably isn’t you.

So what is you? What masterpiece are you creating? We should all be creating our own art, regardless of what it is. To do that, to fill our life’s canvas with our dreams from deep inside is life’s great prize.

xoxoxo
Kaitlyn K

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.
– Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, Polish poet (1909-66)

Ha! Isn’t this the truth, not just for a writer, but for any artist. You’re young, anything is possible. You can return from the first manned mission to Jupiter and cure cancer the very next day. You can run faster than a gazelle and jump higher than anyone. You are boundless.

Then you get a few years under your belt and you realize that few things are possible. We’re human. The phrase ‘if you can dream it, you can be it’ means well, but isn’t altogether true. There are too many variables for anything to be possible. There are too many people leading random lives. We are simply not good enough. It could be anything keeping us from something. Maybe our goal wasn’t reasonable or wasn’t chased with sufficient diligence or courage or maybe we didn’t have sufficient diligence and courage to begin with.

But as you age you realize that external accomplishments don’t compare with the internal ones. This is especially true for an artist, whether you are writing something or making a quilt for the county fair. The day in, day out diligence required to ply the artists trade every day is its own reward. Sure, I’ve got wares to sell you here, but you know what? If you subscribe, great. If not, that’s OK, too. This came from the bottom of my heart, and writing it was supremely satisfying. My idea of fun.

xoxoxo
Kaitlyn K

Dearest Readers,

Apologies for deserting you for a few days. One of the interesting aspects of writing is that while you do try to write every day, the reality is that is difficult. Every now and then you need a break because the mind is no different than the body: overuse it and nothing productive is accomplished.

Dearest Readers,

Short Story Saturday resumes this week when Part II of One Plus One Equals Three is released. For those of you who enjoyed meeting Daniella, Nicole and Brady in Part I, you will equally enjoy Part II. For those of you who have not the pleasure, consider reading the preview and then subscribing to read the whole thing. One Plus One Equals Three is a funny, thoughtful story and will be a (very) naughty story before we are done because funny, thoughtful and naughty is what you expect from me.

One of the questions I get asked from time to time is: how often do you write? Do you write every day? Most days? Some days?

People are different, but rare is the day when I don’t put something to paper. Offhand, I think the last time I didn’t write something on some project or another was two years ago when I was on a road trip. I took the last three days or so off because we were doing things and setting some time aside to write was too difficult to bother with. And those days off were nice. But writer’s write and I find it is best to write every day.

One question I get from time to time is where does inspiration for stories and characters come from?

Everywhere is the only possible answer to this question. Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere and I am fond of saying every person I meet is a character and every situation a plot. In fact, it is rare when a person or situation does not suggest something to write about. It may not be particularly good, or it might be something that I write on slip of paper so I don’t forget it or it might flee my mind as quickly as it came. Now, I can’t write everything that comes to mind, but there is always a plot to be found. I presume this happens to every writer. It’s what we do: turn the human experience over and examine it before sitting down and saying what we feel needs to be said.

Dearest Readers,

We are pleased to debut Short Story Saturday today! Today’s feature is One Plus One Equals Three, Part I. You will meet Brady, Nicole and Daniella in Part I and you will find Brady likes both of these women and, like guys throughout human history, Brady is having a difficult time deciding which one to ask out. Part II will run in a couple of weeks. If you haven’t already, click here to read a preview and click here to subscribe. 

Deciding whether to base a character on someone you know or to start from scratch is one of the writer’s most basic dilemmas and there is not a hard and fast rule. My advice is to trust your instincts.

Dearest Reader,

The saying is as trite as it is old:

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

Age and common usage do not make this lesson any less valid, however; it is reinforced each day if we are open to its lessons. Not only that, it is reinforced in virtually everything us humans try. I offer two examples: an athlete does not surpass himself if he does not pass what he once thought was his point of maximum endurance and a carpenter does not build something lasting without trying techniques he hasn’t tried before.