A Piece of My Mind: Something to Ponder
     Bennet Pomerantz

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.
   ~ Doug Larson

I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying.
   ~ Charles C. Finn

Master Po: Ha, ha, never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?

Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.

Master Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?

Young Caine: No.

Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?

Young Caine: [looking down and seeing the insect] Old man, how is it that you hear these things?

Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

           From The series Kung Fu

I was at a workshop and someone asked for an easy exercise participants could do after the workshop. I pondered and came up with this exercise that is easy and will spur your creative juices.

I want you to think about this the next time you are at a mall or a busy shopping plaza.  Close your eyes and listen for two minutes to the sounds of things around you. I want to hear the voices. I want you to hear the hum, whistles and thrums of machines around you. Hear the music and the sounds of what people do not say in words. Listen creatively to what real dialog is.

After the two minutes, take out your writer’s pad and write as many things you can think that you heard. Listening without seeing is a bold move. You can see more when you paint an image from what you hear.

This is one reason I like audiobooks and audio theater. George Lucas once said “On a screen I can only put so many spaceships. In your mind, the spaces battles can be larger and more indepth than anything I can put on the screen”.

I hope it will inspire you. Let the ideas flow out from what you heard. I heard from a few in that workshop who said this exercise was one of the best things that took away from the workshop.

So Until next til, REACH FOR THE STARS!!

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About the Writer:

Bennet Pomerantz is a media review columnist in 175 newspapers with his weekly column AUDIOWORLD. His fiction and reviews have appeared in the pages of Affaire De Coeur, Gateways, Mystery Scene, Power Star, The Hot Corner, Washington Entertainment Magazine, and many others. He is also known for his review appearances on the MCN Forum. View his web site at Audioworld.