Every blueberry has its own story!

A Blueberry's Story - Watercolor by Betty Slade

I recently listened to a documentary on Garrison Keillor, writer, master story teller and broadcaster. He said when he starts to write, he begins with one idea. Until he writes it down, it is undeveloped truth. Only when he writes it, he knows what he is thinking.



Until we develop an idea, we really do not know all that a certain idea can bring and what we are thinking. Julie of “Julie and Julia” says “I have thoughts!”



I was sitting at the breakfast table reading the back of a cereal box. When was the last time I read a cereal box? Probably when I was a kid; when they artistically wooed kids to convince parents to buy cereal, not for what was inside but what the box offered on the outside.



The writing on the back of the cereal box read something like this. “Each plump juicy blueberry is picked at the precise time to burst into intensity of flavor. Each blueberry has its own story.”



“Wow,” I thought, “Here is an article. If a blueberry has its own story, just think how our lives are so intricately put together so that we will burst into intensity at the precise time we are picked. I’ve got to write on this, where is this story going? I’m not sure. I won’t know until I write it down.”



Then, I received a comment from a reader. She writes, “Thanks for writing and sharing your inspiration. Speaking of, I would imagine that one of the challenges of writing a weekly column is finding things to write about. You seem to receive inspiration from the details of life and you know how to turn them into an article. Tell me more about your process. When something strikes you as column material, do you quickly jot it down if you're not at home? Do you run for the laptop and get started right away? What have you learned to do that works for you so you can stay on top of an inspired thought?”



I diligently write down a thought when it comes, knowing I could forget it. I might use it as a quote, a phrase or a full blown story. When the idea comes it is usually 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning and I can’t stay in bed. I have to go to my computer; the idea won’t let me sleep. My mind is alert and the trials of the day haven’t presented themselves, yet. Some times it is out of a gut wrenching dilemma turned funny. Ideas always develop themselves as I write. I also have learned to give the idea its own reins and let it go wild. Some of it I will use and the rest I discard. I never know until I write it, what reads well and what is nonsense. Some times what seems frivolous becomes the best part of the story. So I write it all down and go back later and start slashing away the fat.



At a recent writer’s conference, I asked a writer who writes a poem a day, “How do you do it, I am sure you don’t wait to be inspired or you wouldn’t write every day. It must be a matter of discipline, I know those who wait to be inspired and they are not writing consistently.”



Five years and 1,825 poems later, she says, “After awhile, after writing so many, I have learned how to get into that inspired moment. I know THAT place which opens me to inspiration.”



I look at my own writing career and wonder if I hung on the bush too long when certain undeveloped truths came and I didn’t write them down. Could I have written earlier in my life? I played with writing but not with the zeal I possess for writing today.



I believe inspiration comes through truth and illumination. When I begin to write, it is usually undeveloped truth, and as I write, I come to know what I am thinking. I couldn’t get there until that moment. “That moment”, being that precise moment when the intensity of the flavor bursts forth. Perhaps it was a lack of rain or sunny days but it took a long time to catch the inspiration for writing. When it happened, I started picking the berries from my garden. Hopefully they are juicy and full of intense flavor and are sustenance for others.



I picked some fruit too soon, before the berry had the intensity it was designed to have. Maybe it was for practice? I believe our stories are developed as we live them.



Ideas are ripe for the picking, whether they are artistically rendered in a painting or writing. Until we put our ideas on canvas, paper, computer, we are not sure what we are thinking. But when we finished the idea, there is always another story.



Final Brushstroke: Keep writing! Give your mind free rein to think. Water the tree, or the bush or whatever you grow on, and you will be surprised at what you might produce. Fruit comes from within the plant. It animates its nature.