Today's word is "laboratory".
The word within it is "rat" - laboRATory.
Need I say more?
I can't wait to see where you go with this one! But don't fall into the trap of stating the obvious.
If you are stumped, try this instead:
Click here to read all the "word-in-a-word" exercises so far. The goal of these exercises is to stimulate your creative thinking.
Keitharsis is a blog on creativity, roots and the portfolio life. It is written for creative writers and artists. New essays are published each Tuesday and Thursday. Creative exercises (like this) are offered on Wednesdays.
Editing: a time consuming, micro level task that requires a huge level of nerve.
To cut or not to cut?
To change or not to change?
Can it be said differently?
Can it be said better?
It also requires stamina, patience and a great deal of love. The fruit of all this activity, of going over and over the same words until you don't ever want to see them again, is that a polished piece of writing emerges.
Proof reading: a time consuming, atom level task that requires stamina, patience and an ability to see beyond Microsoft's idea of grammar and spelling. Correctly spelt words by a software dictionary may not be what you want your readers to see, to sea.
Both of these tasks could be likened to a rat in a lab maze, trying to find the correct route. But because they are integral parts of the writing process I see them as being creative too.
Creativity is stifled by monotonous tasks, stifled by rules, stifled by keeping in the lines, and yet in the rules, in the monotony, in the lines there can be rhythm, there can be rhyme and there can be reason.
The only time I have ever creatively found myself going round and round a maze I can't find the end of, is when I have started outside the boundaries. It is only by starting in the rules and then leaping out of them has the creativity buzzed. Staying out of the lines all the time, makes me sloppy, trying to link one analogy to another where there really is none, or having the beginning and end of a story but no idea how to link the two.
The term "back to the drawing board" I think sums this up. The preparatory work, the grunt work and then at the end the editing and proof reading allows the middle, the imaginationally creative part to fly on eagles wings.
Being creative in all aspects of my life allows me to look forward to "grunt" jobs. I love to wash my floors by hand, passing the mop and bucket on the way. It keeps me humble and allows my wee mind to fly off on journeys of imagination whilst getting the chores done.
Keith, a lovely word in a word, thought provoking and stretching, wd
Posted by: Suzie Gallagher | March 07, 2012 at 05:35 AM
Wow, Suzie, I'm going to have to come back and read your comment again.
I just wanted to add my two (facetious) cents–I think you missed out on a big opportunity here by not choosing the word-in-a-word "Borat."
; )
Posted by: BrettRWilkes | March 07, 2012 at 10:41 AM
Suzie,
Your comment is so beautiful and strong, I wonder if you'll scare off other commenters! (I hope you force everyone to bring their A-game!)
What I do with these Wednesday exericses is place you in a box. Or, as you say, a maze. I force you to connect two words. I challenge you to find your way out of their restraints. And in placing you in this situation, I hope to stimulate your creative thinking.
I'm a big believer that creativity is born out of restriction. Restriction is at the root of creativity. And our creativity is born out of the tension between limitation and freedom.
So, in nearly everything I write on this blog, I try to put you in boxes outside of which you can think.
Love, love, love your comment, Suzie! Thank you!
Posted by: Keith Jennings | March 07, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Brett,
High five!
Posted by: Keith Jennings | March 07, 2012 at 11:01 AM
yeah, what suzie said... lol
Posted by: Karen | March 07, 2012 at 11:19 AM
Wow - I don't really have anything to add to what Suzie said, except that I love Brett's comment! Borat would have been a better choice. ;)
Posted by: Jason Vana | March 07, 2012 at 02:33 PM
Can I comment on your comment, Keith? I love "creativity is born out of restriction". I think I read somewhere on your blog a while ago that you tell beginning poets to try forms like haiku first, and, while I'm not a poet, I've tried it a few times for fun and it works.
Posted by: Kim | March 07, 2012 at 03:09 PM
Indeed, Kim!
Posted by: Keith Jennings | March 07, 2012 at 03:56 PM
OK I thought about it all day, and the only thing I got from this was thinking about a RAT or MOUSE spinning and spinning on it's wheel, going nowhere but in circles. I guess sometimes in writing, we can get caught into that constant circle of doing the same thing over and over... we need to "experiment" something new .. each time.
thats the best I could come up with.. I think my brain is fried from thinking too much this week
Posted by: Karen | March 07, 2012 at 10:06 PM
Karen,
Or...we are the rat in our own laboratory!
Or...maybe we should play Ratt's album "Out of the Cellar" in our writing laboratory.
Yeah, that last one!
I always enjoy your comments!
Posted by: Keith Jennings | March 08, 2012 at 12:34 AM
It's SO true, and ironic, that restriction breeds creativity. It's ironic, but awesome. Give yourself a writing prompt–now that you've got direction, you can turn on that creativity inside. Until then, at least for me, there are too many options, so you don't pick anything. Once you get started by using a restriction of some kind, eventually you will have enough structure of your own. Then you can move the framework around or change your restrictions if you need to. But a Jenga tower has got to start out in a standard shape before you can start modifying it. And for jazz musicians to riff innovatively on a theme, they've got to know the scales and chords that are not interesting on their own.
Posted by: BrettRWilkes | March 09, 2012 at 09:11 AM
Great comment, Brett! Fantastic riff!
Posted by: Keith Jennings | March 09, 2012 at 11:19 AM