|
|
|
I think this is the cover of one of the CDs of the band The Muse.
It's rather mystical isn't it?
How I Write a Column; From Concept to
Publication
By Sensuous Sadie
SensuousSadie@aol.com
www.sensuoussadie.com
Once in a great while someone refers to my writing or my website as a
blog. It never fails to piss me off; no offence to the bazillion
bloggers out there. Most blogs are simply their author’s stream of
consciousness for the day, even for the professional writers out there
who are also bloggers. Writing columns, on the other hand, is an
articulated process resulting in a complete story unto its own. My
writing has what’s called a colloquial voice, so it could be
thought that I’m just banging a few words out. In fact, making the story
sound like that is a specific style of writing, an art that is crafted.
You hear a lot about the Writers Muse and whether its around or not, but
my general sensibility about it is that good writing is more about
persistence than magic; that is writing regularly and doing it even when
you’re not wildly inspired. That said, there are two things that for me,
clearly come from God. One is my ideas, and the other is the process in
which those ideas become connected and therefore meaningful. The good
news is that ideas come to me pretty regularly, sometimes once a week or
more. They come because I actually devote time to thinking about my
experience: things I’ve done, said, heard, and saw in the BDSM
lifestyle. The more engaged I am – like when I’m with a partner – the
more ideas float into my consciousness. I look for unique experiences
that I’ve had and try to write about the meaning behind those
experiences.
There are three types of essays that I write. The first kind is direct
experience ones, usually based on one concept and which also happen to
be the shortest ones, usually about 1000 words. These are stories about
something I’m going through, but they aren’t just a narrative of what
happened. My goal to extend my thought process and talk about the
spirituality and emotions behind what I feel, and then further out to
the community and what it may mean for all of us. In other words, my
personal experiences are not in themselves enough to justify a story;
because they aren’t all that different than the experiences of many
Submissives. That’s a good thing because so many people can relate to my
experience, but it also requires that I search deeper for the underlying
meaning of it all. One example of a series of these types of articles
are the ones I wrote about my now former Protector, Jeff. Another
example is a one topic piece that I expanded out in various ways: For
Submissives Only: How to Signify That You’re a Submissive when you Look
Like a Dominant! You can find the links for these articles at the
end of this article. And of course this article you’re reading now is a
one concept piece; that is, it’s the response to the question: how do I
write?
Sometimes two ideas percolate in my head for a few days. I often don’t
know what they have to do with each other, but I believe that they
arrived at the same time because the meaning of what I’m writing has to
do not with each one individually, but how they relate to one another.
These pieces are longer, running about 1500 words. Figuring this process
out is definitely a gift of the Muse, because I can make any two things
relate to each other if I go far out enough on a limb, but then I get a
story that just plain makes no sense. Occasionally when I’m writing
these kinds of pieces, I actually do wonder if what I said just plain
didn’t make any sense, which tells me that it’s a good time to get
feedback from some of my reader friends. An example of one of these
types of essays that works is My Body is a Temple and All That on
Exhibitionism in the Scene. On the other hand, an example
that I’m still not quite sure about is Make me a Vessel. I guess
I’ll leave the answer to that to my readers.
Lastly, a few times a year I am greeted with not only more than two
concepts to understand and link, but also that are more complex issues
to address. These articles often run 3000 words or more, and may include
quotes from various sources. In contrast to the first two types of
essays, which I can generally write in about three hours or so, these
high end pieces not only take many more hours, but require weeks of
thinking and discussion about what it’s all about. They are concept
pieces about our community on a broader level: where we’re going, and
what it means to us both as individuals and as community members.
Examples of this are Think Globally, Spank Locally and The Pen
is Mightier than the Whip.
You might be interested to know that I have what I call a Parking Lot of
unpublished material, because I write more than I can put out reasonably
on my website or other platforms. This comes in handy during occasional
periods when I’m not writing. Another reason I put articles or even a
series on hold is because I need to wait until the sting is gone. If my
stomach still hurts when I think about it, I hold off another few months
on publication. On the other hand, in some ways the sting never goes
away. When I sit still and wander back into how I felt at the time of
the writing, it can come back almost as real as it was when it happened.
Because of this I sometimes I wish I was more forgetful. But eventually
I run them anyway because putting it out there is what it’s all about.
Fearful or not, scary or not.
If there is one thing I could say about this process, it would be that
the more you write, the more you write. In the beginning I wrote an
occasional article every few months or even less. But after a few years
the method of thinking about my experiences and making meaning of them
became internalized and I can no longer turn it off. I was up at 5 AM
this morning to write this, even after only about three hours of sleep;
and yes I’m going for a nap when this is done. The writing Muse can be
downright annoying, especially when she visits at 5 AM. On the other
hand, to have been given this great gift of such ease is more than I
could ever have asked of my life. For all of that I guess I’ll just have
to grin and bear it when someone calls this a blog.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff as my Protector Dominant (series)
http://sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/protectordom/inforapennyinforapound.htm
For Submissives Only: How to Signify That You’re a Submissive when
you Look Like a Dominant!
http://sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/sub/howtosignifythatyoureasubmissive.htm
My Body is a Temple and All That on Exhibitionism in the Scene
http://sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/playparties/mybodyisatempleexhibitionism.htm
Make me a Vessel
http://sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/practicum/makemeavessel.htm
Think Globally, Spank Locally
http://sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/community/thinkglobally.htm
The Pen is Mightier than the Whip
http://sensuoussadie.com/sadiescolumns/writing/penismightier.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sensuous Sadie is the author of Spiritual
Transformation through BDSM; Stories and Submissions from Fellow
Travelers. She is the founder and leader (1999 -
2001) of Rose & Thorn, Vermont's first BDSM group. Comments,
compliments and complaints, as well as requests for reprinting can be
addressed to her at
SensuousSadie@aol.com or visit her website at
http://www.sensuoussadie.com/.
Sadie believes the universe is abundant, and that sharing information
freely is part of this abundance, so she allows reprints of her writing
in most venues.
Copyright 2009 Sadie Sez Publications
|
|
|
