The Bells Were Ringing
Last Saturday, I attended a handbell festival with my daughter Lia who is a ringer. Nine handbell choirs participated from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The result was a magnificent display of sound and musicianship that thrilled my heart and blessed my ears.
Ringing is a unique activity in that several people comprise one instrument. Each person plays two or three bells and must play them at the right time and in the right sequence. Unlike other instruments that can be played alone, bells must be played in unison. There is no such thing as a loner in a handbell choir.
We can learn a lot from handbell ringers. First of all, we can learn that there is more strength in numbers. We can also learn that the sum is greater than its parts and that team effort accomplishes far more than doing it alone.
We can apply these lessons to our writing. While our writing is usually done alone - for obvious reasons - we can learn a lot by bouncing our work off the brains of other writers. W can also learn a lot from critique groups and other writing venues where we work as a team for the betterment of all.
Finally, while handbells delight the outer ear, our writing can delight the inner ear with the songs that Holy Spirit gives us to play through the instrument of our words.
And that's my "musing that matters" for today. What's yours? :)
Blessings,
MaryAnn
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Copyright 2007 by MaryAnn Diorio, Ph.D. All rights reserved. This blog entry may NOT be reproduced, reprinted, or published in any form whatsoever without the written permission of Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. You may, however, forward it to others, but please do so IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your cooperation.
Comments
You're so right; thank God I put my writing for the day aside, exercise, do chores, & pray, then bounce it off other writers approaching it finally with fresh eyes. It's so important to witness how it is received.
Bell players must work hard and practice to get the timing down. Everyone must be willing to do this or you do not get the beautiful sound a bell choir produces.
When you are looking for a critique group or writing partner, you need to also look for people who are as committed as you are. Writers who will read and write as passionately as you.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
It is a beautiful thing when you help another writer and their book or article gets published.
I totally agree about the need for critique groups. My writing has improved vastly by sharing it with a group of writers twice a month. I actually think they are better readers (some of them) than writers. They always have insights I never would have had. And my critiquing of their work has improved just learning how they read/analyze writing.
I am waiting right now for my critique partner to finish reading and judging the Genesis entries for ACFW. It's going to put submitting the novel until sometime in April, but I'd rather know if it needs work BEFORE sending it anywhere! :-)
Once upon a time, I lived in an ivory tower and just wrote without regard to researching publishers' requirements, etc. Now, I'll take all the help I can get! Thanks for sharing this wonderful insight, MaryAnn!
God bless you and all our fellow musers!
Sounds like a lovely day, maryann! Thanks for giving us a place to share our "notes" with each other in harmony. You make a great conductor! rose
Great message. For the last three days, I have been bouncing my Easter poem back and forth to the girls in my writers' group. What a blessing to get good feedback. We help each other on a regular basis and in the process we grow and learn new things. The girls in our group are willing to help at meetings and in between.
E-mail saves a lot of phone calls. Hope you all belong to a group. If not, step out and start one. You'll be glad you did.
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Yay for bells. :)