For you writers among us...
Have you noticed how hard it is to change something you’ve already written?
The sound of the words keep coming back, and you want to shake them loose, but somehow, they resist, like plastic you can’t crumble.
I’m heavy into a manuscript I began over 40 years ago. At the time, I could write in the first person, but using an omnipotent point of view escaped me. I noticed how language, converstion, description past and present were all mixed up, and in the hands of a master, beautiful. But, I’m not a master.
However, one day, it came to me. I felt that I got the rhythm of it. I had a story, but it was too short, so I continued on with it, and the second one wrote itself.
Can you relate to this?
Sometimes the best thing is to put the old aside and completely rewrite the entire chapter.
Way back post:
“Boy do I have an answer for you."
A comment from a fellow writer:
“I was interested in how you center yourself and clear your head prior to writing. I have had trouble clearing my mind in getting my ideas out. I truly do enjoy writing but it seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or hints?”
Okay, here goes. This is one of my favorite writing techniques. For those who have heard me speak of it, sorry to repeat myself, for those who haven’t, come, get on board.
This technique was coined by Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist Way. It is writing your “Morning Pages.”
Your First Fifteen Minutes Are Not Wasted.
Writing Morning Pages is a mind dump.
Morning Pages are an exercise is to write out what’s on your mind, that junk that likes to cycle and recycle.
Morning Pages are those first pages writers used to crumple up and vigorously heave into the wastepaper basket. Now, with the keyboard, we are missing that satisfying crumbling and throwing, and I suppose ripping the paper out of the typewriter has a satisfying ring to it. Using the keyboard is the same sort of writing though, without the throwing or ripping.
Writing your thoughts instead of allowing them to circle allows you to put a period at the end of a sentence. Our fingers get tired of writing the same old thing over and over. That’s punishment, like sending a kid to the blackboard to write out the error of their ways.
So, write for those 15 minutes, all the junk you don’t want anyone to see. Keep them or delete them.
You’ll find that after writing those few minutes, that you have exhausted your mind’s ramble, and something of importance begins to worm its way in.
I look at those pages as a sort of meditation/cleansing. And it tells your muse you mean business.
After I heard that the simple act of writing longhand (cursive) brings forth creativity, I now think we ought to write our morning pages longhand, Probably compose that way as well. But, we probably won’t. It’s easier to type, as I am now doing.
Apparently, there is a mind/brain connection with the act of writing with a pencil or pen. The movement of the arm connects the brain somehow, it is a feedback system.
I believe so strongly in Morning Pages, that I think non-writers ought to use them.
I’m thinking specifically of those individuals who will tell a story, then retell it, then tell it again.
They have a mind loop.
I know they have a need to tell particular stories, for they have some latent emotional impact, often trauma. It’s a sort of Post Traumatic Syndrome. One psychologist commented, “Tell your stories as often as you want, but I think 10 times is enough.”
Put a period at the end of the sentence.
Stop.
Have you noticed how hard it is to change something you’ve already written?
The sound of the words keep coming back, and you want to shake them loose, but somehow, they resist, like plastic you can’t crumble.
I’m heavy into a manuscript I began over 40 years ago. At the time, I could write in the first person, but using an omnipotent point of view escaped me. I noticed how language, converstion, description past and present were all mixed up, and in the hands of a master, beautiful. But, I’m not a master.
However, one day, it came to me. I felt that I got the rhythm of it. I had a story, but it was too short, so I continued on with it, and the second one wrote itself.
Can you relate to this?
Sometimes the best thing is to put the old aside and completely rewrite the entire chapter.
Way back post:
“Boy do I have an answer for you."
A comment from a fellow writer:
“I was interested in how you center yourself and clear your head prior to writing. I have had trouble clearing my mind in getting my ideas out. I truly do enjoy writing but it seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or hints?”
Okay, here goes. This is one of my favorite writing techniques. For those who have heard me speak of it, sorry to repeat myself, for those who haven’t, come, get on board.
This technique was coined by Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist Way. It is writing your “Morning Pages.”
Your First Fifteen Minutes Are Not Wasted.
Writing Morning Pages is a mind dump.
Morning Pages are an exercise is to write out what’s on your mind, that junk that likes to cycle and recycle.
Morning Pages are those first pages writers used to crumple up and vigorously heave into the wastepaper basket. Now, with the keyboard, we are missing that satisfying crumbling and throwing, and I suppose ripping the paper out of the typewriter has a satisfying ring to it. Using the keyboard is the same sort of writing though, without the throwing or ripping.
Writing your thoughts instead of allowing them to circle allows you to put a period at the end of a sentence. Our fingers get tired of writing the same old thing over and over. That’s punishment, like sending a kid to the blackboard to write out the error of their ways.
So, write for those 15 minutes, all the junk you don’t want anyone to see. Keep them or delete them.
You’ll find that after writing those few minutes, that you have exhausted your mind’s ramble, and something of importance begins to worm its way in.
I look at those pages as a sort of meditation/cleansing. And it tells your muse you mean business.
After I heard that the simple act of writing longhand (cursive) brings forth creativity, I now think we ought to write our morning pages longhand, Probably compose that way as well. But, we probably won’t. It’s easier to type, as I am now doing.
Apparently, there is a mind/brain connection with the act of writing with a pencil or pen. The movement of the arm connects the brain somehow, it is a feedback system.
I believe so strongly in Morning Pages, that I think non-writers ought to use them.
I’m thinking specifically of those individuals who will tell a story, then retell it, then tell it again.
They have a mind loop.
I know they have a need to tell particular stories, for they have some latent emotional impact, often trauma. It’s a sort of Post Traumatic Syndrome. One psychologist commented, “Tell your stories as often as you want, but I think 10 times is enough.”
Put a period at the end of the sentence.
Stop.
Write for the joy of it whether the muse visits or not. Some wait for inspiration, nope, write anyway.
If someone tells you your dream is unrealistic, that's a sure-fire reason you should go for it.
"Your life doesn't get more sensational with more followers on twitter."--Seth Godin.
"Your life doesn't get more sensational with more followers on twitter."--Seth Godin.
Concerned about marketing?
Listen to this:
One woudn't think that Coca Cola, the originator of that flavored carbonated drink, the first in its field, would ever need to advertise, but they didn't for one month and Pepsi beat them out by 12%.
Unbelievable.
