"After the first few nights..."

One of my takeaways for today, came from the Writing Into the Day piece by Barbara Crooker’s piece Patty’s Charcoal Drive-In.   The writing was around 40 lines long...but I picked up on 2 lines close to the beginning of the piece. Then I tuned out a little bit for the rest of it, as I mulled these lines over.  .  

“After the first few nights of mixed orders

and missing cars, the work goes easily.”

I'll be Captain Obvious here...These 2 simple lines brought to mind most of life's experiences.  You start out cold and unknowing with something; but once you do it for a while, things get easier. 

Case in point, this entire SI experience.  Many of us entered the room that has become our safe place, 2 1/2 weeks ago...unsure of what to expect, afraid of what we'd have to do, fearful of our personal writing, inquisitive about this "demo" we'd have to give, terrified at having something to blog about everyday!  I (was I the only one?) participated in discussions with some hesitancy at first while I was testing out the waters.  I also wrote with that same hesitancy at first...doubting myself that I'd somehow do it wrong.  I couldn't find the dern website for the 5 things I was supposed to comment on, let alone write a creative comment.  But after that first day (amazed that it happened even that fast), I came in feeling more comfortable in speaking up and writing with more ease in my daybook.  Now, I can also "find my 5" in a blink of an eye and produce a somewhat thought provoking blog post with confidence.  "...the work goes easily."

The second comparison (dang you, Sarah, I can't get these outlines out of my head! :))  Our writing group.   Our first writing group lunch was filled with "mixed orders and missing cars."  We practically ate in silence as we sat at the same table reading each other's institute drafts.  We made our digital comments directly on the piece rather than speaking aloud to each other.  We definitely didn't get the directions right about actually sharing with each other.  "...mixed orders"  Then there was one of our members who wrote his piece (I won't name names...) while we were sitting there. "...missing cars" But the change since that first day has been phenomenal! 

Today, as we ate lunch together (some at the appropriately scheduled time and others on their own agenda), I marveled at how well we work together.  We started our group project on Monday afternoon with a vague idea of what we'd like to produce.  The 5 of us have contributed multiple layers to this unified project.  When one of us spurts out an idea to add an additional layer to the project, I get even more excited.  There are no more of those awkward silent lunches...rather they are filled with the happy chatter of project ideas, travel plans and inspiring music...go BirdMan.  (If only Kendra would show me how to insert a music video here!)  "...this is enough."