Stealth, Override, Ambush, Surprise: Write Now

            In The Pink Panther movies, Inspector Clouseau arrives home from his sleuthing to guerilla attacks by his assistant—Cato.  Cato leaps out of the refrigerator and goes for Clouseau’s throat.  Or Clouseau might be closing his eyes to sleep.  Attack!  Cato pounces on the dark bed—to choke Clouseau.  Clouseau pushes him off, and, having worn his karate karategi with a black belt for pajamas, grapples with Cato—blow for blow, leaping across tables, crashing through windows, upending a cabinet filled with dishes until the phone rings.  Each time, it’s Commissioner Dreyfus.  Cato, as butler, peacefully answers the phone and hands it to Clouseau.  Dreyfus, invariably tells Clouseau that he’s back on some case and must come immediately—effectively stopping the bout.

            So why am I writing about The Pink Panther in a blog about writing and learning?  Because, too often, we need to shake ourselves out of habits of resistance. Like most everyone, in order to maintain my integrity and individuality, I have had to resist parents, bosses, toxic people, teachers, media—anyone or anything with an agenda. What I practice is what I learn is what I practice. Once the honeymoon period with writing ended for me—as much with larger concerns such as choosing it as a career, as with the smaller choices of individual writing projects—I started to resist it.  After all, resist is what I did in other aspects of my life.

            I committed to disciplines that suited my habits of resistance—making unreasonable demands on myself:  too many projects to be done in too little time with overambitious requirements for quality, pressures to publish, and no room for enjoying the process.  This would provide me with ample opportunities to practice my habits of resistance—procrastination, resentment, indecision, and addictions to television, overeating, shopping and distracting people with whom to grapple. I had to learn healthy ways to circumvent my habits of resistance to get to the beloved page.  I thought about the nature of inspiration, and realized that at its core, inspiration is about surprise.  Inspiration is about Cato!

            So, I take myself by surprise—I am the Cato to my resistant Clouseau—the inspector who navigates the world; has to respond to his boss, Dreyfus; who is embroiled with toxic people and the unknown; who is constantly in the way of other people’s problems and agendas.

Faithful Cato shows up for me.  As for example, with this post.  I hadn’t committed to a topic for my weekly post.  So, I ambushed my resistance and sat down to the computer, anyhow—without a plan other than to arrive.  And, faithful Cato was there to energize me—What just happened? Where am I? What am I going to do?  That got my adrenaline going.  With Cato at the ready, I knew I couldn’t escape unless I performed. Cato goes for my throat, each time, squeezes out the blocks, and then comes the inspiration—the breaking up of old shut doors and window; the shattering of old ways of thinking and being.  I decided to write about the element of surprise in initiating the writing process.

            These days, I don’t wait for either inspiration or “the right time” to write. If my husband is dallying when I want to get out for our walk, I sit down to my computer and start a poem.  It’s amazing how much I can accomplish in the five minutes it takes him to change his socks and retie his shoes.  If I feel I’m standing on the supermarket line behind an insistent customer with a credit card that doesn’t take, I text myself some ideas.  I trust that writing itself will create its own inspiration—because it always does.

           

            Prolific poet Anne Sexton once said that the only discipline is to write when the inspiration comes.  So, when I am inspired, I Cato myself—get off the highway and wiggle into a space in a parking lot.  Stealth! Over-ride! Ambush! Surprise!  I Write Now!

           

            Of course, what we do in our lives will determine how we are as writers.  The more I name and detach myself from those activities and people that encourage habits of resistance, the more creative and inspired and in-the-moment I am.  Name what and who makes you practice resistance.  Defang those enemies in your life. Change your habits to make way for creativity.

           

And then be creative.  Ask yourself, “How can I take myself by surprise?  In what unexpected ways can Cato intervene when I’m running a Clouseau day?  How can I stop practicing resistance to practice inspiration, instead?

Just before Clouseau leaves to return to the precinct, he always turns to Cato to compliment him: “Very good workout today!  Every day you’re getting better.” Your inner Cato is lurking in wait for you. Hiya!

Work Cited

The Pink Panther