Thought Piece: Goodman

I don’t consider myself much of a writer, not even when I write.  In my mind I am more of an expressionist.  I like the idea of being able to convey specific emotions with more than just words.   In “Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work,” Goodman states that you can write most effectively “when you are truly desperate to tell a story.”  When it comes to being “expressive,” I take advantage of as many of my abilities as possible.  In a conversation, this comes down to intonation and body language.  Conversations, however, are not my forte.  To tell my story I like to draw and write on a single canvas.  A few weeks ago I wrote on a large sheet of drawing paper in calligraphic cursive a single word: goodnight.  Just like that, in lower-case, right smack in the center of the page.  Then I took a red, charcoal pencil and drew a languid swirl in one corner of the page and loosely trailed it across to the opposite corner with a smaller, lighter swirl.  Near this small swirl I added a quick flower.  The entire project took no longer than a minute, yet it summoned a story of slumber from all who laid eyes upon it.  The contents of the paper seemed to flow; the swirl almost looped lazily as it introduced the simple, “goodnight,” but only for a glance, and then lifted suddenly off the page as if evaporating; a small flower punctuating the end.  “Sleep,” or “Journey to Sleep,” I want to call it.  At times, months will pass without me ever drawing or writing anything because I spend a lot of time thinking about WHAT to draw or write.  That night, however, I pulled a Goodman.  I was “desperate” to explain “sleep” and every stroke of the pencil, whether it be smooth or hard or heavy or light, had a purpose in conveying what it was I wanted to convey.