A struggle for balance, solved by beginning

By Nolan Bruno
Navajo Times

I usually have a lot on my mind, as most journalists do. A story’s elements can often feel like a hundred scattered puzzle pieces.

The challenge doesn’t just exist in gathering the puzzle pieces, but it also exists in finding how they connect to form a single, clear narrative. In addition, there is pressure to be creative within a period of time. Nobody has unlimited time. How do I find a balance?

The work I have done over the past couple of months, along with the experience I have gained and the relationships I have built, makes this question quite easy to answer.
Writing for the Navajo Nation, and the Navajo people, has changed me. I have learned to switch my mindset from deep thought before writing to deep thought through writing. I found that the best ideas, my best ideas, emerged from the very act of writing itself.

As for the creativity in my writing, being a half-Navajo writer, it was staring right at me the entire time. Hearing Diné stories these past couple of months, I realized the creativity was already woven into each story. My job wasn’t to invent a new narrative, but to simply capture the creativity and cultural aspects of the individuals I spoke to and the events I reported on. The culture provided all the creativity I needed.

I’ve interviewed several prominent Diné figures, from university professors to culinary entrepreneurs. Each of them provided me with something I could not have come up with on my own. The rich history, as well as the authentic, personal perspectives, brought me to a realization. On the Navajo Nation, it will never be difficult to find a unique story.

When talking with Mr. Jake Skeets, the new Navajo Nation poet laureate for 2025-2027, he said something I simply couldn’t pass by. “I’m always trying to tell audiences that the stories they have of reservation life are enough. They are ingredients to write really amazing poetry and novels. It’s just a matter of writing it down.”

Skeets, as he explained in the interview, grew up listening to his aunties talk about their history in the kitchen. There would be serious elements and there would be humorous elements to their stories.

When I visit Farmington, I listen to my ancestors speak. They speak in the way that Skeets described. The words they say all have a tone to them, a tone of authenticity. When I hear them describe the road trips they used to take or the jobs they used to work, their voices become a living history of life on the reservation.

Until I started reporting at the Navajo Times, I struggled to find ways to make my mark and continue this Diné voice. Reporting for the people came with its own personal challenges.

I’d spend an excessive amount of time just mulling over how to write and where to begin my stories. Where would I even start? The puzzle pieces were dropped, scattered across the floor.

I will always believe that creativity deserves the luxury of time. As I mentioned earlier, however, time is limited. Time is a finite resource. I struggled. I couldn’t find a way to balance discipline with giving creativity the respect it deserves.

Just start writing.

By simply starting to write, these past couple of months, I found that my best ideas emerged from the very act of writing itself. I discovered a more natural flow. It began to feel like balance. It began to feel like hózhǫ́.

Rick Rubin is an American record producer. He is a music production legend, having worked with the Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C., Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many other iconic groups. In his book, “The Creative Act: A Way of Being,” Rubin perfectly states, “discipline is not a lack of freedom, it is a harmonious relationship with time.”

He describes it beautifully. One of the most creative minds in the world, a man who has devoted many years to thinking, proceeds to describe a deadline. I learned time was not merely a constraint, but a collaborator on my pieces.

Reporting for the Navajo Nation these past months has changed me in ways I could have never imagined. The scattered puzzle pieces finally came together. Ahxéhee’.

Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.

 

---