Craig Constantine

Sabbath

Seriously? A whole day each week without work? Sitting in the orientation that day, I could not imagine pulling it off. I had spent a decade of my professional life running from event to event, fighting for the time to read and write and reflect.
~ Brenton Dickieson, from https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2016/01/20/sabbath-unplugged/

Therein lies much wisdom. Go readeth thou shall.

I’d like to suggest a layer of nuance be added: One can only achieve a certain “width” of change for that one day each week. You cannot have a completely relaxed day if the other six are maximally frenetic. If you live with the chaos and noise turned up to 11, you cannot turn it down to 2 on a particular day. By “width” I mean you can really only turn it down somewhat; If you’re normally living at an 11, you can only expect to get down to, perhaps, a 7 on your sabbath. If you really want to have a relaxing day of rest, that’s probably down around like a zero on the chaos and noise knob.

So, Sabbath? Certainly. And work regularly—every day—to turn that chaos and noise knob. Live life at 2, and then your day off can be a sublime zero of rest and recovery.

Labyrinthine and awkward

October 25

But my very first memory was the Jim Henson film, Labyrinth. This has to be, without doubt, the creepiest Muppet film ever. I reacted strongly to the film as a child: frustration, intrigue, terror, revulsion, surprise, delight, and an awkward boyhood crush on Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, the heroine. It was a powerful film, not least because of David Bowie as Jareth. Evil and allure, Bowie is my archetypal Goblin King.
~ Brenton Dickieson, from https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2016/01/11/echoes-in-the-labyrinth/

I agree with this entire post. As in: OMGYESPLEASE jumping up flipping my desk. It’s now been 8 years since Bowie died… and I very nearly rewatched Labyrinth just because of this post. “Evil and allure” in every direction, indeed. Muppets and kidnapped children. Beauty and horror.

148 lines

February 18

Preparation—getting everything just so, the right desk, the right software and computer, the right room, the right beverage, the right time, the right mindset—is really simply a form of hiding. Sometimes it’s only a few moments, sometimes it’s days, but I always hide before writing every single one of these blog posts. I definitely don’t enjoy the hiding. I mildly enjoy the writing. I love the reading and thinking parts that this 13-year labor of insanity requires. But some people are not only good at the writing, they absolutely love the craft of writing itself.

While you or I may respond with a counter-argument, Tolkien went home and wrote 148 lines of heroic couplet […]
~ Brenton Dickieson from, https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2013/05/21/mythopoiea/

slip:4uaimy2.

This seemed insane. Who would take an idea for a counter-argument, from a conversation, and rush off to go write for what must have been hours? And then I realized that I do that sort of thing all the time. I run with an idea down some rabbit hole, forming it into something real in the world. It’s only that I don’t it with writing.