Write about someone who . . .
You would like to have a meal with.
You want to have a do-over with.
You have a question for.
What is the question and why do you want to know the answer?
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Create a Hygge Calendar or List
Photo and heart, by Susan Lawrence We hear a lot about being grateful, giving thanks, gratitude lists, and silver linings.
But what if you just aren’t feeling it?
How about creating a hygge calendar? I read about this in a Facebook group.
Make a list of things to be mindful about, a way to help get out of the doldrums and into a feeling of calm, care, and positivity.
Pay attention to one item each day.
Personalize your calendar and use it as advent calendar, or as a way of looking at old things in a new way.
Hygge: A quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being, regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture.
Hygge Advent Calendar ideas, or a list of how to create a feeling of coziness:
1. Light a candle during meals.
2. Chalk a friendly greeting on a sidewalk.
3. Share an uplifting poem or a story with friends.
4. Bundle up and sit outside in the evening with twinkle lights.
5. Read children’s books about Christmas and winter.
6. Drive around and look at Christmas lights
7. Hold or look at an item that belonged to a beloved family member, or a beloved friend.
8. Phone a family member or a friend, just to say hello. Talk about a fun or memorable event you shared.
9. Make something, it could be a baked item or a craft item.
10. Sit outside for ten minutes and look at trees.
11. Write a thank you note or a note just to say “Hi, I’m thinking about you.” Mail it!
12. Boil cinnamon and orange peels to make the house smell good.
13. Turn off all lights except for a candle or two (recommend battery operated). Get comfy under a warm blanket. Sit with the quiet.
14. Look at family photos.
15. Send a donation or donate your time to helping others.
16. Make a nest of pillows and read a familiar and cozy book.
17. Stand at a window and gaze at the view.
18. Donate money or food to a food bank.
19. Make paper snowflakes.
20. Spend some time with a neighborhood pet.
21. Take a few, deep, nourishing breaths. Breathe in. Breathe out.
22. Soak feet in mineral salts while listening to music.
23. Zoom into GROOVE dance with Diane Dupuis, Yoga with Adrienne, Feldenkrais, Insight Timer meditation.
24. Write, using prompts from The Write Spot Blog.
Thank you, Susan Lawrence, a speech therapist, in Los Angeles for this inspiration. Susan created her Hygge advent calendar by making a heart shaped wall hanging with pieces of gold paper, each one has a cozy activity written on it and placed in the pockets randomly.
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Voices
By Ken Delpit
Individual voices are fascinating. They reflect uniqueness.They involve specific characteristics and abilities, both physical and mental. In tone and in lyric, they express specific perspectives and emotions. They can be soft; they can be harsh. They can be musical to some, grating to others. They can be up-lifting, but also down-putting. Voices may not define us completely, but they certainly represent us while the rest of us waits backstage.
But voices rarely come just one to a customer. Multiple voices can reside in a single person. This is certainly true for writers. Each fictional character, partially invented and partially native, taps into its writer’s own voice box. Voices within propel writers’ fingers, and shape their stories.
With few exceptions, it is also true that everyone has multiple voices, whether writer or not. Anyone who hides true feelings or conceals real intentions uses a voice convenient for the deceit. Anyone who senses that they could inflict emotional damage may give their real voice the hook, and push a kinder understudy out as stand-in.
United voices can swell the heart. They project multiplied energy.They promote commonality. They express hope and desire in ways that are much greater than the sum of their individual parts. And in a good way, they reduce us. They reduce us to not-so-different beings, with both interests and purposes in common.
Then, too, united voices can be daunting. When assembled spontaneously, they can give birth to future planned gatherings. When unanimous in pain, they can startle us into action. When joined in purpose, they can change societies. When unified in anger, they can erupt in revolution.
Voices. Both calming and rallying. Both music and weapon. Take care of your voice, as you would a fine French horn. Be careful with it, as you would a loaded revolver. And, remember to let it be silent much of the time. Absence of voice can often be the most commanding, and most harmonious, voice in your repertoire.
Hearing voices” is sometimes a sign of losing it. While that may well be true in his case, Ken Delpit clings to the notion that being fascinated by the many voices that surround and lie within us helps with his writing. Ken hopes to promote himself beyond his technical background (computers, mathematics) into credible and imaginative science-fiction novels.
“Voices” was inspired by Baba Yetu, Prompt #583 on The Write Spot Blog.
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Significant Events . . . Prompt #505
Make a List.
Start with the year you were born and make a list of significant events that happened in your life, both personally and historically.
If you are having trouble thinking of major events, here are a few:
1950-1975 Vietnam Conflict
1958 Explorer I, first American satellite is launched
January 1959 Alaska becomes the 49th state
August 1959 Hawaii becomes the 50th state
January 1961 John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president
August 1963 Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream” Speech
Nov. 1963 President Kennedy is assassinated
1964 Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show
April 1968 Martin Luther King is assassinated
June 1963 Sen. Robert Kennedy is assassinated
July 1969 Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin walk on the moon
1973 Roe v. Wade, legalizes abortion
1973 Watergate cover-up.
July 1974 Nixon resigns
1986 Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff
1990 Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, leading to Persian Gulf War
9/11/2001 Two hijacked jetliners ram two towers of World Trade Center
April 2009 Swine flu
June 2009 Michael Jackson dies at age 50
Writing Prompt: Take one item from your list and write in detail what happened to you that year. If you have time, take another year and write what happened to you that year.
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Tips To Unlock The Book Only You Can Write
Guest Blogger Jenn Gott writes about 3 Inspiring Ways to Unlock the Book Inside You.
Does this sound familiar: You’ve always been drawn to writing and have a mind brimming with ideas. You’ve always loved the idea of holding a book you have written — but somehow, despite all your best intentions and New Year’s Resolutions, it just hasn’t happened.
Or maybe you’re a writer who has started a thousand writing projects, only to abandon them all within a few pages. Perhaps you’re not even sure if you want to be a writer, but you’ve always wanted to write a children’s book for your kids.
Maybe you’re a poet, or a copywriter, or a journalist, and there’s a book you know you could write, if you just find the right words inside you.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. One day.
The trouble with “one day” is that it doesn’t exist — each day, there’s only today. Which is why I’m bringing you the three best practices that I’ve found to unlock and supercharge creativity. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a beginner who has always wanted to tell your story, or a seasoned pro who’s gotten mired in delays, worries, and self-doubt. Either way, these habits will have words flowing in no time.
1. Find your community
From National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) participants to your local writer’s group to authortube, it’s important to find your people wherever you can. Support is everything on your journey toward finishing a book, and it will inspire you more than anything else. To start, identify what kind of groups appeal most to you. Would you prefer to interact online,where you can hang out in your pajamas and reply at your leisure? Or would getting out of the house and seeing people face-to-face reinvigorate you? Are you interested in a classroom setting, a critique circle, or just some supportive friends who will provide lively discussion? Do you want to learn from people who are much more experienced than you, or strive together with peers at your skill level?
Don’t feel you need to limit yourself to only one group. There’s nothing to keep you from making writer-friends on Twitter, and in person at bookish events, and through workshops. In fact, the more avenues you explore, the more likely you’ll find “your people.” Consider going to conferences, book signings, and events at your local library.
Your community doesn’t need to be all writers. While it’s important to know some — to understand exactly what you’re going through, and bounce ideas off each other — a supportive and understanding friend or partner can go a long way. As you seek out connections, make sure to you surround yourself with people who believe in you. Remember, helpful and constructive criticism is good — how else can you learn the skills you’ll need to edit your book to perfection? But ragging on you and your work is toxic for everyone involved.
2. Fill your creative well
Sometimes the reason we’re not writing is simply that we’re emotionally tapped out. There are many factors that can cause creativity to dry up — everything from stress to poor mental health, to overwork, fatigue or illness, and creative burnout. And while it may feel silly to take time off to recharge if you haven’t been writing lately, sometimes that’s exactly what you need to do. Think of it like an arrow: pulling back first, in order to shoot forward.
It’s important to make sure you’re recharging the right way, though. Scrolling through social media may be satisfying, but is it really going to inspire you to sit down at your laptop and write? Or would that time be better spent going for a walk, seeing a play, or reading an exquisitely written book?
If you’re having trouble writing, take a minute to sit down and make a list of the things that energize you — physically, mentally, and creatively. Maybe plays aren’t your thing, but poetry is. Maybe a walk exhausts you, but yoga centers your mind. It really doesn’t matter what it is (truth be told, sometimes a movie or a video game inspires me). You just need to walk away from it refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to tackle your big creative project.
However, be careful not to let this turn into further procrastination. Remember, the point of these activities is to inspire you, not consume you. Always take a few minutes afterward to reflect on which parts of the experience spoke to you, and how you might use similar themes, moods, or ideas and blend them into your own work — or which mistakes you’ll want to avoid.
3. Create your own writing retreat.
Of course, we’d all love to go to a week-long retreat at a fancy cabin in the woods, but for many of us that simply isn’t an option. Luckily, there are ways to recreate the retreat feeling without venturing far from home or taking a lot of time out of your busy schedule.
First, start by identifying any and all locations near you that might offer some peace and solitude. This can be as simple as locking your bedroom door, or as elaborate as a nice hotel nearby where you can book a room for a night or a weekend. Coffee shops, parks, or trains, and subways can do the trick, especially with a good pair of headphones! The point is to find someplace where you can block out thoughts of the outside world, including all your daily responsibilities. If you’re lucky enough to have a home office or a “room of one’s own,” try to find someplace else for your retreat — someplace you don’t work in every day.
Next, consider what approach would best make that space feel more “writerly.” Would music help you, and if so, what kind? Would you feel more soothed with a soft blanket, a hot water bottle, or a big glass of wine? Candles, fairy lights, or other mood lighting can also help set the stage of your imagination. Remember, the point of this is to feel pampered, so don’t skimp on the creature comforts.
Once you’ve identified where you’re going to take your “retreat” and how you’re going to cozy it up, the final step will be scheduling. This is, admittedly, the hardest part of your task, but with a bit of effort you can make it work. Try to block out a whole day, although even a few hours will be a huge boost.
For magically productive people, just showing up might be enough to get the words flowing. For the rest of us, it might take a little more work, and a few handy tips and tricks. If you find yourself frozen at the prospect of getting started, consider freewriting as a warm up.
Still unsure what to write about? Writing prompts might just be the kick your brain needs.
Whatever you do, don’t stress out if your first “retreat” isn’t as fruitful as you’d imagined. Any progress is still progress, and the more often you repeat the writing habit — in any environment— the faster your creativity will kick into gear.
Above all, remember: only you can tell your story. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and tell your story. Today.
Jenn Gott is an indie author and a writer with Reedsy, so she basically spends all her time either writing books, or helping people learn how to write books. She firmly believes there is no writing skill you cannot learn with practice and the right guidance. When she’s not working, she enjoys keeping up with the latest superhero movies, reading, and swimming. -
NaNoWriMo-Is it for you?
Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month.
“NaNoWriMo believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.” —NaNoWriMo website
“A month of NaNoWriMo can lead to a lifetime of better writing.” Grant Faulkner, founder and creator of NaNoWriMo.
NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.
Each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand-new novel — but that’s not all that NaNoWriMo is!
NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization that supports writing fluency and education.
It’s a teaching tool, it’s a curriculum, and its programs run year-round.
Whatever you thought NaNoWriMo was, it is more than that. — NaNoWriMo website
The following is excerpted from an article by Grant Faulkner, Nov/Dec 2016, Writers Digest magazine.
“Wharton professor Katherine Milkman and her colleagues found that we’re most likely to set new goals around ‘temporal landmarks’: a birthday, a holiday, the start of a new semester—or a new month, such as National Novel Writing Month. These milestones create a new ‘mental accounting period’ (past lapses are forgiven, and we have a clean slate ahead of us) and prompt us to turn our gaze toward a better vision of what we want for ourselves and how we can achieve it.
NaNoWriMo invites you to generate many new ideas—to rip through failures, learn from them and build on them.
“I like to think of Nano-ing as excavating. You uncover different things at the 30,000-word mark than you do at 10,000,” says Erin Morgenstern, who wrote the rough draft of The Night Circus during NaNoWriMo.
A sense of playful wonder is important for writing mastery, and NaNoWriMo teaches you to trust the gambols of your imagination, to test your ideas on the page. When you stop demanding perfection of yourself, the blank page becomes a spacious place, a playground. So what if your writing feels a bit sloppy? It’s just a first draft.
NaNoWriMo gives you the opportunity to reflect on your writing, to understand what creative approaches work for you, and to develop the grit, resilience and can-do gusto of a true master.
How to find time to write when you have no time.
Need ideas for when your stuck? How about doing a 15-minute freewrite as a warm-up before your writing? You can use writing prompts for freewrites and they might just end up in your novel, or help you get your characters from Point A to Point B.
Just Write!
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Freewrites: Opening Doors to Discoveries
Notes from Marlene Cullen’s talk about freewrites. Scroll down for links about how to use freewrites and how to write about difficult subjects without adding trauma.
I gave a talk about freewrites at the Redwood Branch of the California Writers Club. I’m sharing my notes so you, too, can enjoy the freewrite method of writing.
I love freewrites because they are so . . . freeing. Freewrites can open doors to discoveries.
I was thrilled to discover freewrites, unlike short story and novel writing, this was something I could do. I hope these tips help make your freewrites fun and successful in inspiring your writing.
What is a freewrite?
A freewrite is writing spontaneously with no thinking. Just putting down word after word, with no worries about spelling, punctuation, how it will sound, and no worries about the final product.Sometimes when you are engrossed in your writing project and the writing is coming easily . . . that’s like a freewrite. The difference is that, with a freewrite, there is no end goal in mind.
With a freewrite, you can write about what happened to you, what happened to someone, else, or you can write fiction, poetry, whatever comes up during a freewrite is fine. . . as long as you keep writing and don’t stop to think. Thinking is bringing the editor in and this isn’t the time for editing nor censoring.
Sometimes, with a freewrite, it’s the process, not the product.
Freewrites can be used to understand and work out things that are puzzling or disturbing or annoying. Sometimes it helps to write about something in order to understand it.
One way to start a freewrite is to use prompt: A word, a line from a book or a line from poetry and write from there. You can also use a visual item as a prompt.
One of the things I like about freewrites is the freedom to write whatever you want about any topic. Ideally, with no worries about what your writing sounds like . . . no worries about the outcome.
If you don’t want anyone to read what you’ve written, you can destroy your writing. Or you can save it in a secret place. But you have to remember where that secret place is!
Another thing I like is that since freewrites are very rough first drafts, it doesn’t matter what the writing is like . . . it can be fragments, or unrefined ideas, or mental doodling set in writing.
The challenge of freewrites is getting out of the way of yourself.
During a freewrite, let your writing flow with no judging.
What about that inner critic that we all have?
When you are in the zone . . . in the groove of writing . . . there is no space for the inner critic to hang out.
With freewriting, it’s just you and your creative mind playing with words.
Let go of your worries about your writing.
If you can talk . . . if you can think . . . you can do a freewrite.
One way you can use freewrites is to get past roadblocks in your writing . . . whether fiction or non-fiction.
If you are having a problem transitioning from one scene to another, or you are having trouble getting a character from Point A to Point B, do a freewrite.
As you begin a freewrite, relax your mind . . . have no expectations about the outcome. This is play time.
It’s the “What if?” game. What if this happens or that happens? What if your character says or does this or that? Play around with the possibilities.
You don’t have to use any of your freewrites in your final scene. But you may generate ideas that you can use. Be open to the possibilities.
How to be successful with freewrites.
Let go of your ideas about what perfect writing means. Give yourself permission to be open to whatever comes up during a freewrite.
You can think of freewrites as making discoveries.
Take deep breaths as you begin and then relax into your breathing and let the writing happen.
When you are writing in this free style, you are not writing for an audience. You are giving yourself the gift of writing for yourself.
During a freewrite, immerse yourself in your writing. Write at a place and a time where you won’t be interrupted.
Let go of your worries and just write.
Write to satisfy your desire to go to a meaningful place in your writing. You get to decide what that means.
During a freewrite you can go deep into the recesses of your mind and really write.
It’s okay to start with gut level feelings or to get to gut level feelings. It’s okay to go for the jugular as Natalie Goldberg says
As you write, you might notice discomfort, especially if you are writing about an uncomfortable experience or about a difficult memory.
When that happens, gently put your hand where you feel the discomfort. If you can’t put your hand there, put your thoughts there . . . your loving, caring, patient thoughts.
When you are feeling uncomfortable, you can either stop writing and come back to it later. Or, work through it.
To work through it, have a focal point, something you can look at that will remind you to breathe deeply.
If you know you are going to write about a difficult subject, have a plan before you start writing.
When the writing gets tough: Look out a window. Walk around. Look outside. Take a sip of water.
When writing about a difficult subject, let the tears come, let your stomach tie up in knots. It’s okay to write the story that is challenging.
Get through the barriers to go to a deeper level.
See your story and tell it.
This is a lot of information. Let’s take a deep breath.
More ideas for successful freewrites:
When you are writing, if you run out of things to say, write down, “I remember. . .” and see where that takes you.
Or write, “What I really want to say . . .” and go from there.
Writing Prompt
Let’s try a type of freewrite now.
Get comfortable.
Relax into your chair. Both feet flat on the floor.
Rotate your shoulders in a circle. Opposite direction.
Rotate your head in a circle. Opposite direction.
Bring your shoulders up to your ears. Let them down with a harrumph sound.
Escort your inner critic out the door. Shoo! Good-bye.
Give yourself permission to be open to whatever comes up.
Take a deep breath in. And let it out.
Go back in time to when you were 4 or 5 or 6 years old. See yourself at this age. Perhaps you can see a photo of yourself at this young age.
Now, we’re going to travel up in time, starting with a memory of when you were 4 or 5 or 6.
As we do this, pause when you feel energy. You might feel a flutter in your stomach. Or a tightening in your jaw. You might feel a constricted throat. Notice as you travel through your memories where you have a physical reaction. Stop there. Pause. Think about that time. If you want, you can put your hand on the place on your body where you feel this energy. If you can’t put your hand there, put your thoughts there.
Deep breath in. Let it out.
See yourself when you were twelve.
Another deep breath in. Release. Let go.
See yourself at 16 or 18.
Remember when you were a young adult, early twenties. Mid-twenties.
Choose one of the memories you just thought about that brought a strong physical reaction. The reaction could be joy, pain, pleasure, or discomfort.
Choose one event, or experience, and think about what you were like before this event happened. Then the pivotal event happened and you weren’t the same after.
Drill down to the precise moment the pivotal event happened. Look closely, like looking through a microscope or a telescope.
See the details of where you were, who was there. What happened?
Write about it now . . . Freely . . . with no thought of the outcome. No plan to ever share this writing. Just write.
When you are finished writing.
Breathe. Take a deep breath in. Release your breath. Shake out your hands. Stretch.
Take a moment to transition from writing to being back in the room.
LINKS
What is a freewrite? Why should you do it? How is it done?
Get Started. How to use writing prompts.
Don’t think. Don’t plan. Just write.
Don’t think. Don’t plan. Just write.
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Secret Anniversary. . . Prompt #429
From Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach
From the June 15 page:
“The Secret Anniversaries of the Heart”
The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart,
The secret anniversaries of the heart . .
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This is the traditional month for orange blossoms, lace, and rice, but wedding anniversaries aren’t on my mind. Today I am thinking of singular rites of passage, the secret anniversaries of the heart. These are the anniversaries we never talk about, kept in silence and apart. You might remember a first kiss, while I can’t forget the last time I held my father’s hand.
I was speaking to a good friend this morning on the telephone. She was enjoying the preparation of a special dinner for a marvelous new man in her life. Last year her marriage of twenty years ended and she says she’s grateful her husband told her he was leaving in late summer, when everything was withering on the vine. She says that she never would have gotten over it if he had left during the holidays. I think I know what she means, but I pray I never find out for sure. As she reminds me, it’s the “feel” of the year that can trigger a secret anniversary of the heart. Another friend recalls the ritual of her mother braiding her hair whenever she walks out into her backyard in the spring and the first lilacs are in bloom. There was always a bouquet of lilacs on her mother’s dressing table.
Secret anniversaries of the heart are not restricted by the passage of the years. . . . I need to share what I’ve held in my hart for so many decades but have never expressed. It took a secret anniversary of the heart to remind me that there is always time enough to remember. But there is never time enough to commemorate what we cherish, unless we pause to observe, when they occur, the holiest of all holidays.
Prompt: Write about a secret anniversary.
You can write about your personal experience, someone else’s
experience, or respond as your fictional character would respond.
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Shhhh . . . Prompt #428
Today’s writing prompt:
Opening line from Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts:
“You must not tell anyone, my mother said, what I’m about to tell you.”
Or: You must not tell anyone . . .
Or: My mother said . . .
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What would you do, if . . . Prompt #418
What would you do if you weren’t afraid?