Why Write?

". . . sometimes your fingers say what your heart feels better than your mouth."  

                                         - Charles Martin

Why do you write?  Get into your heart and write five reasons.

Detective of Details

Try a day of mindlessness to understand mindfulness. It becomes a way to avoid worry and fret less.  Let the mind stray from its monkey madness.  Observe consuming thoughts and let them float away.  

Set yourself on a journey as a detective of details.  

Carry a notebook all day.  Notice the shapes, sizes and connections of items you encounter during the day.  Don't include anxieties or judgments. Move into a focus on concrete imagery, specifics, and the senses. 

Become deliberate.  Open your awareness to moment-to-moment experiences.  Taste your food with attention to sweet, sour, texture and aroma. Pull the straying mind into feelings and sensations and away from distractions. Listen - really listen to conversations without interrupting.  Take in sounds of nature and the mechanical world.  Feel warm and cool breezes and your body's reactions.  Breathe with intention and observe the breath.

When you have gathered your perceptions, do a freewrite without referring to the notebook's list. Use a pen that flows in a color across the page.  Notice how the day has percolated into your senses and through your fingers to decorate the paper.

Continue to pursue moments in movement. You'll become a sleuth of sensory to add to writing skills.

Flat and Round Characters

When E. M Forster refers to "flat" and "round" characters he says if you can express an individual in a single sentence that's a flat character.  Rounds take more description and detail.

In fiction and life, some characters seem like allegorical embodiments of vices or virtues.  Others can't be pinned down except to say they are inconsistent or unpredictable.

Flat characters:  con artist, bully, fanatic

Rounds:  no mold.  They have good and bad sides and vacillate.

Creative Write:  Develop a flat character.  Then add dimensions to round him or her.

Redacting Judgment

For many writers just the word itself - judgment - sends fits of anxiety and discomfort.  In a world where negativity and judgment bombard on all levels, how do individuals write beyond them?

Begin with yourself and the inner critic.  Can you move through the day without blame or judging yourself? Why-did-I do-that or why-is-this-happening-to-me syndromes can consume one's life.

Spend the time writing the difference between what you perceive and what you judge.  Do you notice a difference between negative judgment and wise insights?  Replace negative thoughts and let insights arrive word by word. 

Are you able to forgive your foibles and feast on humor?  How do you respond to critiques of your writing?

Write three areas to work on.  Here's a start.

Laugh through difficult emotions.

Use self-compassion to hug yourself to emotional well-being.

Motivate yourself by dialoguing with kindness not criticism.

Savor the positivity in your life.  Write about ways to move past judgment to possibility.  Keep a list of creative ways you can rely on during challenging times.

Brake for Humor

"Seven days without laughter make one weak."   -  Joel Goodman

The use of humor in writing helps redeem moments lost to pain, fear, despair and loneliness.Scientific studies have determined that humor makes an impact on degenerative changes associated with neurocognitive decline as we age.  Random acts of comedy activate regions of the brain. This neural stimulation changes brain function to improve memory and promote neural plasticity.

Each individual has a unique funny bone.  What appeals to one person may not cause a giggle in another.  Regardless of your tickle sensation for laughter, develop what feels humorous to you. Adding comic relief to stressful situations will add to your talent for observing silliness in all situations.

Begin with a series of mishaps. Target negative situations. Give them a twist and add a spark of hope with humor.

Here's a start:   What if you awaken ten minutes later than planned?  Then toothpaste lands on your shirt. You trip on a rug, landing on your funny bone on your way to the car. There's a maintenance vehicle in the middle of the street with someone pushing wires into the sewer. What is going on down there?  The technician looks suspicious.

By now you're not going to make it to work on time.  Then what?  Keep progressing through the chaos and add lines of humor.  What if you decide to alter your day and skip work?  What funnyness for an excuse will you devise?

Create random acts of comedy as you alter the details. Brake for humor and laugh out loud at a stop light with your window down.  Daily practice will enrich your brain power. Take a day to rejuvenate with laughter and play.

Define Yourself

"What myth am I living by?" - Joseph Campbell

In the history of the Universe, there is only one you. You share aspects of ancestors in remarkable combinations. 

Who are you?  Which stories, ancestors or heroes impress you? Describe objects and colors that surround and greet you from walls and surfaces of your home. Does music define your space?  

Which aspirations motivate? Do fantasies and adventures call?

How would you revision yourself?

Today, spend your freewrite rediscovering all about You.

Dictionary Play

‎"Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more ­effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it." ~ PD James

Inspiration in word exploration begins with the dicionary.  Open it at random and write down five words whose meaning is unfamiliar to you.

Write a paragraph using your new words.

Open to another page.  Find a word that intrigues you with its rhythm.  Begin the first line of a poem.

Play in the dictionary daily to enrich your writing.