“Think of writing as an organic, developmental process in which you start writing at the very beginning – before you know your meaning at all – and encourage your words gradually to change and evolve. Only at the end will you know what you want to say or the words you want to say it with.” –Peter Elbow
Relax into your chair.
Escort your inner critic . . . your editor out the door.
Shed your ideas about what perfect writing means.
Give yourself permission to write the worst stuff possible.
Writing isn’t about talent, it’s about practice.
Creative writing is an act of discovery.
Take a deep breath. Relax into your breathing.
Rather than write for an audience, write from an instinctual level.
Immerse yourself in writing. Let go of your worries. Just let go.
Write to satisfy an inner desire and to go to a meaningful place, that’s all your own.
Go deeper into the recesses of your mind and really write.
Write to get to a powerful level – not for an audience.
If you notice thoughts and feelings that cause discomfort, take a deep breath and exhale. Look around the room. Get up and walk to a window, or get a drink of cool, refreshing water. Then get back to writing.
Write from the well that stores the fears. Let the tears come, let the stomach tie up in knots. It’s okay to write the story that is difficult to tell.
When you are writing, if you run out of things to say, or don’t like the direction your writing is taking, write “What I really want to say . . .”
If you want ideas about what to write, click on Prompts on The Write Spot Blog.
You can write about something that happened to you, something that happened to someone else, or write fiction. I look forward to reading your writing about Zazzle.
Today’s random words writing prompt: honey, drunk, fast, feet, power, languid
You can also use the photo below as a writing prompt.
It will be fun to see what you do with this!
Writing Prompt: Change
Or: Changes or Change is coming or Change is about to happen.
What do you have to say about change?
Do you like change? Hate it?
What about that change jingling in your pocket or purse?
Write about change.
What do you think about tattoos?
Do you have a tattoo? What is it? Where is it? Why?
If you don’t have a tattoo, would you ever get one? If yes, what do you envision it will be?
Imagine you are on a tropical paradise vacation.
Sitting on the lanai, hearing the waves lap against the shore.
Smell the ocean breeze.
Feel the soft wind on your face.
See the light curtain billow in the gentle breeze.
Settle back in your rattan chair, cool refreshing drink nearby.
Hear the ice clink against the side of your glass as you sip your refreshing drink.
Hear the gentle wind chimes.
Breathe deeply, enjoying the fragrance of fresh, tropical flowers – the heady scent of orchids, plumeria, roses. Perhaps pink, climbing roses.
See a piece of fruit. . . an orange. Feel the bumpy, heavy skin. Peel it. Feel the texture of the orange free of its heavy skin. See the uniform sections connected into a symmetrical arc of segments . . . .a globe. Carefully, slowly pull on one of the segments. So slowly that you see the burst of juice that squirts out. Inhale. Smell the refreshing fragrance that erupts as the orange is broken into segments.
Prompt: Write about a favorite time that involved family, friends or food.
Or: Write about a vacation.
Just Write!
Excerpt from The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury:There was a smell of Time in the air tonight.
What did Time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like, it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids, and rain. Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theatre one hundred billion faces falling like those New Year balloons down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded.
Marlene’s Musings: I love the idea of writing what Time smells like. . . sounds like . . . looks like. . .
Your Turn: Choose an item, an object, a thing, that interests you. . . what does it smell like? sound like? look like?
Picture the house you grew up in. Or, any house where you have lived.
Walk into the kitchen. See the table and chairs, the counter, the cupboards.
Open a cupboard door. . . or walk into a pantry.
Take a deep breath. Notice the smells.
Open the spice cabinet. Inhale and . . . what are those many and mysterious smells?
Prompts, multiple choice:
What food reminds you of the kitchen in the house where you grew up? Memories surrounding that food?
OR: What nourishes you?
Or: I grew up with . . .