Since I was a little girl I always dreamed of being a writer but it wasn’t until I started doing daily morning pages that I gained the courage to face the blank page.\u00a0 And what are morning pages?<\/p>\n
Simply, first thing when you wake up in the morning, you write longhand in a notebook for twenty minutes without stopping. It\u2019s best if you practice morning pages for two or three months and you shouldn’t read what you’ve written until much later.\u00a0\u00a0The Artist\u2019s Way<\/em>\u00a0by Julia Cameron popularized morning pages but they’ve been around for decades.<\/p>\n Morning pages train your subconscious to write. It coaxes out the muse, and, trust me, the practice is utterly magical. Morning pages work best with new writers or writers who have abandoned the craft for a while.<\/p>\n Save the Cat!<\/strong><\/p>\n Storytelling is a skill separate from writing beautiful sentences and Blake Snyder, author of \u201cSave the Cat Strikes Back!\u201d explains plotting in the most eloquent and accessible way possible.<\/p>\n After reading his book, I knew I would never again plot myself into a corner or abandon a project because of structural problems.\u00a0 Although his work is written in a breezy style, there\u2019s something very elemental and old-world about Snyder\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n He died a few years ago, and even though he was a successful screenwriter, I think his insightful how-to books were his true legacy. I recommend all of his books but if you were only to buy one, I\u2019d get \u201cSave the Cat Strikes Back.\u201d In addition to giving structural advice, he shares the very personal story of how he changed his writing life around. An inspiring man who will be missed.<\/p>\n Pomodoro Technique<\/strong><\/p>\n The Pomodoro Techinque<\/a> is simple: Basically you write for twenty-five minutes, no interruptions, and then take a five minute break.<\/p>\n Repeat as many times as necessary. This method has increased my focus ten-fold. I no longer worry about being distracted by the Internet or e-mail, because during each twenty-five minute period, you trick the brain to attend only to the writing.<\/p>\n Rachel Aaron\u2019s Amazing Productivity Method<\/strong><\/p>\n Recently I decided I wanted to write first drafts faster, and I ran across Rachel Aaron\u2019s\u00a0advice<\/a>\u00a0on that very topic. Using her method,<\/a> I easily upped my daily word count from 2,000 words a day to 3,000. (Accomplished in a four-hour time period with brief breaks) The secret?<\/p>\n Aaron suggests writing a brief summary of what you\u2019re going to write each day before plunging in.\u00a0 Her advice should be worth a $1,000 it helped me so much. But I only spent $.99 on her book<\/a> .<\/p>\n Trusting Your Subconscious Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n Once during one of the best performances of his life, Laurence Olivier came off the stage and was approached by a reporter who was bowled over by his mastery. Olivier acknowledged he\u2019d done well, but he also said, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can ever repeat it, because it did not come from me.\u201d<\/p>\n The more I write, the more I understand that the best writing is achieved when I leave my ego outside the writing room, and surrender to my subconscious mind.<\/p>\n
![\"Karen](\"http:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Karen-Gillespie-143x300.jpg\")
<\/a>If I show up every day, the muse will arrive, and if I\u2019m humble and understand that I\u2019m only a conduit or co-creator at best, then good writing will almost always result. When I\u2019m co-creating, the supply of ideas are endless, and I never get stale. Maybe this gift was the most important one of all.<\/p>\n