Writing like Pottery...

As I sit down at my computer desk and gather my words I begin to press them on paper. I decide which word sounds better, which one helps the writing float off the page. Slowly I work out all the kinks in the work, like wedging a pot free of air bubbles. I know the clarity of my words like the consistency of the clay, is what will form a polished piece of art.

It's always the same with pottery. After wedging the clay, I sit down at the wheel and slap the lump of clay on the cold metallic surface. I wet the clay, and the wheel begins to turn. Slowly I adjust the speed with my foot pedal, as my hands lay gracefully on the sides of the clay yielding its shape. I gradually allow the speed to pick up as I gain a sense of harmony with the clay. I feel the same sense of harmony as I find a groove while writing, a groove where I don't have to search for words, but instead, they flow off my fingertips like droplets of water as the clay finds its center.

With pottery the main goal is to get the clay centered on the wheel. Without a centered lump of clay, the pot will turn out misshapen, and will inevitably collapse. I like this sense of being centered. I like how it carries into all aspects of my life. If I don't feel centered I won't be able to sit down at my computer desk and bust out a paper. Although sometimes turning on some Sufjan Stevens frees my mind from distractions, and my words flow like music.

When I think my clay is centered I take a point and allow it to draw a small groove into the clay, then I do another groove just above it to make sure the lines are parallel, telling me the clay is ready. Once the clay is ready, I press down with my thumbs into the center of the clay as it begins to take shape. I stop to look at the progress, like I stop to reread my work as I'm writing—constantly finding commas or nicks to smooth over. Once the pot is complete on the wheel, I know my work has just begun. I will have to sand it or add a handle or a spout, or a foot to the base. I'll have to bisque it, than glaze it, and fire it again. My favorite way of firing is the raccu style because I never know exactly how my pot will look. I just allow what will happen to happen and embrace the pot once it has finished the process. That's when I write the best—when I don't have to worry about what will happen, or who will read it, but say what I have to say. My words then are like a polished vase on paper. I know what my words went through, just like what the clay endured to become the vase. It isn't then so much the finished product that is the art, but instead the beauty in the process along the way.

Entry Numero One.

I'm a bit nervous as I lay on my bed, beginning to write my first entry in my blog. Exasperated. That would be a good emotion to describe how I'm feeling just now. No I shouldn't be so negative, I like to think I'm a pretty postive guy, and thats kinda what its about right? Positivity breeds positivity. I feel like I'm on a soapbox right now. Am I? And if so, is that a bad thing? I mean this is my blog. I get to say what I want that means. So if you have something to say, say it to me now.

Good things to come.

Shawn