Thursday, August 09, 2012

A Beautiful Community

My first steps did not take me far.

The considerations that will eventually define an online identity are so numerable it seemed I would never be able to identify, much less fulfill the essential criteria.

Sitting outside of the experience, the steps required for manifestation are a mystery. What seemed so straightforward from the passive position of “reader” or “follower” began to multiply into obstacles the closer I got to launching my own vehicle. I needed to identify the certain principles that would help to make my blog not only function, but relevant, as well.


In the act of collecting the pearls of other people’s online publishing experience, I have been able to work my way into this process. The sharing made it seem not only possible but inevitable, as a modern writer and I have been both encouraged and energized by the spirit of revolution that accompanies this surge in independent publishing. The community created by this exchange became a driving force in continuing when I discovered the glut of material that intends to cover the experience of writing. Through this dialogue, I was able to do the work in a way that I had only very generally hoped; relevance was determined by the excellence of shared experience.


The act of creating and of approaching the potential of participating in a larger system of exchange feels like an expansion.

The publishing experience began to take on a spiritual dimension, in that I found safe harbour and the knowledge to expand what had previously been provided by my limited conscious self. Up until this point, my sense of gratitude has been silent and directed at collecting this wonderful information. Going forward, I plan to add my voice to this wave of knowledge, drawn from my own experience to add to a revolution of learning.


Within this vital world, the concept need not be entirely experiential. Participation can be directed by the need for education.

The shared information not only provides the information for the doing but the more I listen and learn, it also provides the components that will eventually deliver me to an attitude of faith. Because others had so thoughtfully shared, I too may one day share. When considered under the light of this progression, there is something transcendent in this interface.


My quest begins by humbly thanking the medium.

It is this newly discovered faith that prevented me from begin overcome by a sense of futility. Eventually, it also aided in the crystallization of what the blog would be called. The Educated Imagination is the result of this faith, dedicated in the spirit of shared experience that leads us to our own private wisdom.


What I know intimately is the act of writing. May this wisdom guide you.

{Images by Salvador Dali}






Tuesday, August 07, 2012

The Method



When I finally decided to actualise a long-held desire, I wrestled with the idea of blogging about being a writer because it is composed, almost entirely, from experiential qualities. How could I ever understand what someone else’s quest to be a writer entailed if I was not attempting the same development myself? Would this subject be general enough to speak to a wide range of readers? Are people interested in de-constructing the mechanics of writing?

Additional research revealed that this was, in essence, the very spirit of blogging. There must be an aspect of experience in the writing, to lend it that sense of intimacy that the online readership prefers. It is what separates it from more heavy, pedantic exposition.


This subject of my own journey to be an effective writer, one who is interested in exploring the link to imagination suited me better than blogging about a private experience, like say sex or shopping for a dildo or enrolling on an online dating site. How could I separate the experience from immediately turning around and having to write about it? How could I be candid without descending into gross self-caricature?


I have written now for years, and though still yet unpublished, I have passed through various stages of development in this goal. This could be something worth constructing a blog around. Process could be deconstructed and this would hopefully stimulate discussion.

It has been setting up this blog as an operational system that I began to learn how different online experiences can mesh together. If it had not been for the generosity of those who had come before me, I would have been reduced to a blind system of trial and error. The Blogosphere is large and mysterious to the Uninitiated.


I had so many questions I scarcely knew where to begin. It was through carefully watching my Twitter stream ( https://twitter.com/violetflamed) and picking, then saving the most general links sent out by those wiser than myself, that I was able to begin a critical path to this quest. Not only do I wish to create a personal blog but also to self-publish my own writing. To call this ambitious would barely contain the many steps required in this endeavour. It is because of what has been so graciously distributed by others that this goal was even a slight possibility.


I have now begun to see the beauty in the online sharing of information and the generosity of spirit that compels these exchanges. It is a revolution of creative potential.

{Images by Paula Rosa}