How to write without adding trauma.

This week we’ll discuss how to write the hard stuff without experiencing trauma while you write. Notes and guidelines Whenever a writing prompt is suggested, feel free to write whatever you want. You never have to stay with the prompt. Don’t stop and think, just follow your mind and write wherever it takes you. What’s on your mind is more important than the suggested prompt. Keep writing, don’t cross out, don’t erase, don’t stop and think . . . keep your pen moving. If you get stuck: Rewrite the prompt. Literally, write the prompt and see where that takes you. Or write, “What I really want to say.” And go from there. If you don’t like where you’re going, start over. Start over by rewriting the prompt. Or just start writing about something different. When we have an emotional situation, we tend to replay it in our minds. Perhaps we…

I just want to . . . Prompt #709

Today’s writing prompt: I just want to . . . If you have been following this blog, The Write Spot, you know what to do with this prompt. If you are new to this blog or new to freewrites, here are some posts about freewrites: Freewrites Another post about freewriting: “Natalie Goldberg talks about writing practice” “Freewrites: Opening Doors to Discoveries” How to Write Without Adding Trauma A freewrite, using the prompt I just want to . . . Just Write!

Healing Starts When You . . .

“Healing starts when you write about what happened and how you felt about it then, and how you feel about it now. And in order for our writing to be a healing experience, we need to honor our pain, loss and grief.” — “Opening Up By Writing It Down” by James Pennebaker “The Write Spot: Writing as a Path to Healing” has an expansive section on how to write about difficult subjects without adding trauma.

Presence and Connection

Guest Blogger Dr. Doreen Downing talks about public speaking, especially for writers. As a writer, you may be able to put words on a page, but … do you have the confident voice to access your words when you must speak in public? If you don’t feel confident, and if you feel anxiety, doubt yourself, hold yourself back, then what you write won’t reach as many ears or as many hearts as you’d like. When I ask my clients what holds them back from feeling at ease speaking about their work, the answer is always fear. And, bottom line, it’s the fear of being judged. It’s true that a judge could be sitting in the audience, listening for your mistakes, and counting your um’s, but more likely than not, the judge that criticizes you the most is perched right inside your own head. In fact, you could be your own…

What if we could change the past? . . . Prompt #671

What if we could change the past? According to Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox, in “Your Mythic Journey,”  we can change the past simply by retelling it differently than we usually do. “The past is open to revision because memory is a function of present intention. You can turn your story over (and over) and find new perspectives on past events and emotions.” —Sam Keen Think about some stories you have told over and over again. It could be a little thing or a big thing. It could be something that happened a long time ago, or recently. It can be repetitive thoughts you have. Choose one story or one repetitive thought. In your mind, “see” that story you have been telling and re-telling. Pause, while you choose a story. See this scene as if you are looking at a wide screen. You can see everything in this scene. Where…

Write About Your Loss

Write About Your Loss By Ninette Hartley “Well, he has a broken leg but that’s the least of his problems. He has suffered some trauma to his head. In this country we . . . how can I put it? . . . we would say he is brain dead.”   On the 13th of January 2011 my twenty-seven-year-old son Thomas was rushed to intensive care in Porto, having fallen through a skylight whilst searching for somewhere to paint graffiti. I received a phone call from a doctor in the hospital, and when I asked her how bad it was she explained his injuries to me. Her English was good, but I couldn’t quite take it in. His step-father and I had to get from Italy (where we lived at the time) to Portugal as quickly as we could. The hospital was waiting impatiently for me, his next of kin, to…

The Seagulls Came and I Knew

Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. The Seagulls Came and I Knew By Norma Jaeger The seagulls came to the back yard. We didn’t live that close to the coast, Portland, about 80 miles inland. We had never had seagulls in the yard before, as best I recall.  But there they were, drinking out of the bird bath, flapping around querulously, and generally making strident seagull noise, breaking the otherwise early Saturday morning quiet.  I had returned the night before from an intense, two-day job interview in Seattle.  With the seagulls in the backyard, such gulls and their cries, being ubiquitous in Seattle, I knew I would be offered the job. Because I had become disenchanted with my job in Portland, I was pretty clear I would accept the job. What I did not know, but realistically what I should have considered,…

Adversity . . . Prompt #665

The idea of using prompts is to inspire writing in a freeform style. There are no rules, except to write without too much thinking. Let your thoughts flow and capture them in writing. Give your inner critic time off during this writing. The challenge of freewriting is getting Self out of the way. With freewrites, you are writing for yourself, not for an audience. Give yourself permission to be open to whatever comes up while you are writing. Writing Prompt: How do you handle adversity? There are several prompts, ideas about freewrites, and resources about how to write without adding trauma in “The Write Spot: Writing as a Path to Healing,” available from your local bookseller and as both print books and ebooks on Amazon.

Resilience . . . Prompt #664

“Resilience is the ability to scrape yourself off the floor relatively quickly after a giant trauma, medium-size setback or everyday disappointment. Resilience is a set of coping mechanisms we develop over time. This quality is determined by how we take care of ourselves, the people we surround ourselves with and what we do to find meaning and purpose in our lives.” — “How to Bounce Back From Anything,” by Elaine Chin, M.D. and William Howatt, PH.D, Good Housekeeping magazine, July 2018 Writing Prompts How do you define resiliency? What are your coping mechanisms? What do you do to take care of yourself? Is there someone in your life who hinders your ability to be resilient? Write about the times you have been resilient. #justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter

Writer Wounds and Scar Tissue

By Rebecca Evans We tell stories. But before we tell them, we hold them, think them, sometimes, we thank them. We recall and carry and live with them in our bodies. We embody them. Sometimes, they embody us. Some of our stories are built from sandbox and rhyme-singing childhoods. Others, built from bullies beneath the monkey bars. Many are the stories told to us, about us, some true, though most are not. And still others, the most difficult ones, are born from experiences. Someone one asked how long it took to write my memoir. 55 years. Yes. All of my years, because I lived through the experiences first. The truth is that we don’t just live through our experiences. We also don’t “get through” or “get over” the tough stuff—grief, loss, trauma. They live in us. If we’re lucky and wield pens, we push them out and onto the page….