Unclutter for August

The Ginkgo Biloba Bonsai loses every leaf to become a stick. It unclutters in order for new foliage to emerge.

A new month encourages my need to unclutter in a ritual I call - throw don't stow. A tug toward a turtle's simplicity pulls during observation of my office and closet. Ah, to have a paperless office and a closet with minimal clothing and shoes. How to push past clutter to keep life's essentials?

I envision a wide-mouthed vacuum to suck until my surfaces shine in emptiness. After the purge, I'd add to my desk: one tall vase with a daisy and my Magician. As my desk charmer, he sits with hands in the air, eyes closed. His white beard reveals a sneaky smile. Light bounces from a crystal ball beneath his belt that rests on the robe. Of course, I'd have to keep my fountain pen stable.

Over the years I have perfected a clearing ritual to deal with clutter. I call it the Two Box Trick. If I have an article to re-read, letters or items that might call to me later, I make notes on my calendar or in my Journal. Then go into a red box hidden in a corner of my office. Brochures from exhibits, play programs or items from writers' conferences go into a green box. Receiving and paying bills online has assisted to avoid paper in that category.

In three months, if these objects haven't sneaked out or begged for safekeeping, the two boxes deliver contents to the black trash container outside. When this brutal ritual began, I peeked into the boxes before release. An hour later they dispersed themselves around the room. Now with confidence I can: release - relent - let go! 

These techniques apply also to writing. I've often searched in vain for the beginnings of a poem or essay. In angst, I have rewritten. What a difference the distance made. When later I discovered the original brainings about the piece of writing, my ability to make it better resulted from its loss. Now I lose a poem or two on purpose.

Creative Write: Part 1: Take fifteen minutes today and open three drawers in your writing space. Take out the contents and put them in a box. Go without them for two months. If you can do it - don't peek - throw them!

Part 2: Lose two pieces of writing today. Give them a month of hiding. Then - go ahead approach them from scratch. You'll discover a brilliance.

Dessert for Writing

Dessert for Writing

Add spice and imagery to your writing by avoiding worn out modifiers and phrases.When you write an overused image like blue sky consider what else you could use in sound, scent, taste or texture to pique the reader's curiosity and gain attention.

Notice the difference in imagery:

a broken tool          half a pair of scissors


a rusted car            Cadillac dappled with rust

beautiful woman     woman with a piano player's fingers

quiet day                even the birds overslept

good friend            tasty as triple chocolate cake


Try these:  summer day, hot morning, wet dress, cheeping bird, frustration, anger, anxiety.

Creative Write:  Where will you go with sensory metaphors today?

Take a Detour

What has been spoiled through human mistakes can be made good again through human work.- Richard Wilhelm

Become an outlaw and break writing rules as an exercise.  Take a detour and sneak past the rules.

Make a list of the correct grammar, syntax, and style issues you wish to attack before your begin your destruction.

For example:

Omit a verb and see where the sentence action goes.

Dangle a participle.

Over-modify nouns with stacked adjectives.

Overwhelm verbs with adverbs.

Avoid subject and verb agreements and use a singular subject with a plural verb.

Add commas everywhere to splice sentences.

Use myriad exclamation points rather than have the sentence do the work.

Split infinitives.

Misspell.

Write for ten minutes making outrageous grammatical and syntactical mistakes.

Take detours into kooky.

Use apos'trop'h'es to emphasize a musicality in words.

Create and dabble in your own language.

Make up words to suit your style.

Seize Silliness.

Write in two or three languages at once.  Esta ici now?

Just go fliberative.  Jibberate as you fabricate.

Notice what happens when you intentionally break the rules. Does it help to shake up stale concepts?  Do you feel energized and on a hunt for surprises?  Take a risk you haven't tried before.

Write about your experience as an outlandish outlaw of writing rules.