Journaling ~ Creative Writing Prompts
"Any ordinary favor we do for someone or any compassionate reaching out may seem to be going nowhere at first, but may be planting a seed we can't see right now. Sometimes we need to just do the best we can and then trust in an unfolding we can't design or ordain." ~
Sharon Salzberg, O Magazine, The Power of Intention
Write A Way: Journey to Creativity
(with creative writing prompts)
Planting Seeds ~ One Word at a Time
By Sandra Lee Schubert
Spring to me is the perfect time to make plans and set goals. The
air begins to vibrate, as everything starts to wake up. The birds are a bit perkier and
lunchtime is for walking outside and not just huddling in warm offices. The ground has
thawed enough for planting to begin. What we plant now will blossom and bear fruit in the
summer and the fall. It is also the time to seed our creative gardens.
My grandmother's garden took two forms. Her front lawn was well thought out, manicured
and beautiful. A wayward dandelion knew not to rest in her grass. Flowers lined her house
leading to the backyard. At first glance it mirrored the front lawn with well-placed bushes
and trimmed grass. But to the back there was a line of demarcation. Behind the careful
planning she gave her garden over to its natural desires. The garden was a riot of color
and textures, a cornucopia of sensory pleasure. Wild flowers grew with abandon, trees
linking with shrubs. Bees had their choice of nectar. My grandmother loved her perfect
garden but relished her wild one. As did her grandchildren. We could walk through her
wild garden and deeper into the woods where we reached a stream that we followed to
all sorts of adventure. We literally entered into the creative world, wild, free and full of possibility.
As with gardening it is a good idea to plan our
writing life.
Goals can provide a foundation
for even greater creativity. Think about what you want to accomplish through writing. What
do you have to say? Whom do you want to reach? Words, like seeds, are ready to take
root and flower. How will you let them blossom? As with my grandmother's garden there
is wild side we can also explore beyond the order and planning. In her book,
Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write
(2002), Gayle Brandeis asks us to connect again with our organic roots, our bodies and our creative
nature. She says, "Writing is self-propagating. A fruit holds the seeds of future growth
inside its skin. So do we. The more we write, the more we create seeds for further writing."
This Month's Creative Writing Prompts:
Create your own wild garden of creativity. First, get outside. Take along your pen and
paper, even a camera or drawing pad. Walk around your neighborhood and see it for the
first time. Imagine you are a tourist. What is your first impression? Notice the colors, smells
and sounds of where you live. Write about it from that point of view. If you brought along
a camera and something to draw - take some photos, sketch your next-door neighbor.
Later create a collage of what you wrote, add any photos and drawings you might have.
In the coming weeks, choose a flower or fruit of the week and write about it. Describe the
color, smell and shape of it. Create a collage that represents the flower /fruit. As an example,
if you picked a rose, your collage might reflect images of love, flashes of red color or pink,
maybe a wedding photo. Whatever the writing reveals, try to recreate it visually. It doesn't
have to be perfect. Like my grandmother's garden it can be all over the place. Think what else
could be allowed to thrive in your creativity garden. You might even write out your writing
goals and add them to your collages as flowers or plants that are ready to blossom. Be
outrageous and see where it leads you.
Copyright © 2004 – 2008 Sandra Lee Schubert. All rights reserved.
Give your intentions power! Share them with rest of us.
What creative seeds will you plant this month? How will you begin?
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