The Outward Turn

I just took an extraordinary professional development class with the Nova Scotia Sea School. In it, we learned some sailing. But more importantly, every day, we followed a pattern of daily life that was remarkably fulfilling.

In the morning, we jumped into the water. Everyone. Into the north Atlantic. It was better than coffee, though that was served too.

We practiced what we called the “outward turn.” A small open-deck sailing boat with ten people on it can get claustrophobic, so each day, we would take some time and turn our backs to each other and look out across the water. It was a reminder of the vast space around us, and when we turned back, we were more spacious, relaxed, refreshed.

How can you take an outward turn every day, no matter where you are? How can you regain a sense of spaciousness?

As a writer, what does the outward turn offer your writing?

Glassblowing and Writing: Layers

Today, my group heard African music coming from the old city. We were in Annecy, France and the old city is medieval. Annecy is also called Little Venice because of the canals. We turned our heads to see strange heads bobbing down the old stone street. Strange limbed ten foot tall Africans with the gold necklaces that extend necks were dancing down the streets. We could see immediately they were puppets. Looking closer, we could see how they were constructed. Human beings on stilts wore masks and powered the limbs of the dancing figures with sticks.

We were compelled to follow. But, after a few minutes of watching, as we drifted off to the side to get around the crowd, we noticed we were at a glassblowing shop.

The glassblower told me not to take any more pictures, it was forbidden. I apologized and we started talking. He noticed we were interested, began to speak a bit about his craft. There are five at his level in the world, he said.

He certainly looked like a captain, if not of a boat, then of his craft. Or perhaps the most interesting man in the world, in the XX ads. He was dressed in a white suit, with a white beard and a discerning face. Yet, also at times a kind expression seemed to arise naturally from the roundness of his nose and face and hospitality at inviting us into his shop, in our shorts and with our backpacks. Not once did he warn us verbally to watch ourselves.

He pulled down from the shelf a piece of glass that was improbable. It contained a painting made of glass.

How on earth had they managed to get so many tones though, so seamlessly integrated?

The secret was layers. The glass had been made like so many layers of candy coating. Then, afterwards, the glass was polished through to the proper depth to achieve the proper color.

Before we left, and as I was relaying what he had told me to the students, he came outside to speak with us again. I mentioned a bauble of glass I’d seen with mossy worlds inside. At this he motioned me back in the shop and shared an amazing work: a glass reptile englobed in glass. Out of respect for his trade (glassblowers carry secrets), I will not divulge more, except to say that it was amazing.

Now of course, in writing we use layers all the time. Having all the necessary layers present, and digging to the right layer in the right place and time in the story is what makes writing art.