A strange creative confidence is coming over me. I feel free to express myself at the moment.
It started with a thought that goes something like: "what will sound pleasing to me?" "What will add to the groove?" This idea is applicable to playing bass, of course (I'm into smooth jazz playalongs lately...), but also to other areas of my creative life.
I think I noticed it when I was working on a recommendation letter for a student to study at a program in Japan. It's funny, I was kind of dreading writing this letter, but it turned out to be kind of fun. I think with more experience writing these letters, I've started to branch out and express myself a little bit more than I otherwise would. It reminded me of some of the sentences in my NSF GRFP application...things like "the battle against environmental damage would indeed be joined" or something along those lines. I think those will be key to further success in grant writing.
Good proposals are about dreams. You need to invite the reader to dream along with you. To inspire them to think about what might be possible. The emotion needs to suffuse the writing, because panelists and program managers are people too.
Since we've moved into the new house, I have been trying to be more fully myself around Jayme and in general. There have been several instances in which I've said something that I might've been a little embarrassed to say out loud, but went ahead and did it anyway. The general idea is to decrease the barriers and roadblocks between a thought occurring to me and me vocalizing it. I don't want to just speak in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, and words must be chosen carefully, but at the same time, I need to get more thoughts out onto the page.
A Piccardy third at the end of a sometimes-difficult day.
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