2 Comments
User's avatar
G. D. Martin's avatar

These were indeed challenging - I don't like to let my guard down or loosen my grip! But I think some interesting metaphors for my young life emerged when I imagined writing from the point of view of a historical figure - a Roman soldier of all things!

Expand full comment
Elisabeth Blair's avatar

Oh wow, a Roman soldier! I am so glad that you found this interesting and fruitful! And so interesting that you term the kind of free & open mindset to "letting your guard down." I imagine that it does feel threatening to many of us. I know when I first started trying to improvise (in music) it was as a result of feeling like I was suffering from how controlling I was when I wrote music and performed it - everything had to be perfect, all the time. Each performance even had to sound just like the album. I could never live up to my own perfectionism. So for me, reaching for improvisation was definitely frightening at first, but quickly felt like a glass of cool water on a hot day. Very relieving, to be excused from that level of control...

If you'd ever like to share any of what you've written, I would always be glad to read it.

Expand full comment