Stream of Consciousness

I am currently reading Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf for my book club.  This book is written with a "stream of consciousness" narration. I find this style of writing very challenging to read and wonder how hard it is to write this way and still make sense. Rambling senselessly would be easy. I can do that but to actually write a book that has structure but is in a Stream of Consciousness narration has got to be a challenge. I have people in my life that seem to run on Stream of Consciousness conversation all the time. I admit it makes me a bit crazy. Please, just get to the point. 

But I find the idea itself very intriguing. I am not a writer. I paint. I draw and do other things that involve paper, paint, ink, and any other art supply. But I do think my work is done in "Stream of Consciousness".  I start out with not much structure. I just start laying things in and jump around from one idea to another with much cohesion. This is probably why my work has many layers. I move on from one thought to another. But I do eventually get to a point. At least the pieces I consider successful get to a point. I find a thread somewhere in my stream and pull on it. Things started to come together somehow. Its not planned and I have no idea that I'm doing it until very close to the end.

This is one of the reasons I love my book club. There are 12 to 15 ladies in this group and we are all very different. We all bring very different view points and life experiences to our reading. We end up with a very diverse set of books that we read over the year. Often these are books I would never choose to read on my own. Even if I hate the book I get something out of it. I'm not sure I would ever have chosen to read Mrs. Dalloway but I'm glad I am because it has given me new insight to how I approach my work. I don't know that I would have looked at it from this point of view.