Tick Tock
I’ve been trying to write a novel for years but I’m never satisfied with the “voice” of my story in my many drafts. So when I chanced upon an announcement for a Creative Writing workshop for adults at the Ayala Museum, I jumped at the chance.
“Arriving at A Place You’ve Never Been” is the title of the workshop which is currently ongoing. Our teacher is Randy Bustamante, a professor from Boston who now teaches at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Our first sessions focused on poetry. Randy gave us some exercises to use our senses to find the right words to convey our message concisely and concretely.
Among the poems i submitted for our first round of assignments, I’m glad Randy chose my 10-line poem to be shared and discussed with the class.
Stop watching the clock tick tock tick tock – stop
Breathe
Being present in the moment is difficult
Every beat takes you further
And nearer to nowhere at all
StopBreathe
Tick tock
I learned that i must still work on using more specific imagery in my work to help my readers navigate through the journey I’m leading them on in my pieces. However, I’m quite satisfied with the end result of this poem, given the restrictions of the exercise. I feel it manages to say a lot about where I am in my life right now.
Randy gave me a review which made me feel proud and re-ignited as a creative writer. He said it’s the kind of piece he’d like to print out and hang on his bathroom mirror as a mantra for the day — except his goal would be to stop at the word “Breathe.”
We’ve moved on from poetry and are now exploring the genre of creative non-fiction. Memoir writing to be exact. I’m so happy I pulled myself away from the isolation of working alone to join this creative community. It’s exactly what I needed to fill up my tank and get the gears going again to get to work on my novel.
Jan of All Trades 