Write A Way: Journey to Creativity
Have lost your focus? Are you looking for ways to get back on track? This month's column offers up some selected writing prompts to get you through the month. Try each for a week and see what kind of writing you produce. Take heart and keep writing.
"You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair 'the sense that you can never completely put on the page what's in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page."
~ Stephen King (1947 - ),
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Get Going and Write!
WEEK ONE- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:
Write. Write again. Write one more time. Each day write 50 words. Pick a topic or not. Observe - what do you see? Touch - what are the sensations? Listen - hear a piece of conversation and then write a story about it. You can write more but not less. Write with a friend. Go to the park and write for ten minutes and then go play. Write waiting on line. Just write. Don't think about it too much and don't worry about editing it. This is not your great novel. You are laying tracks, building the foundation, and developing the sense that writing is something you can do.
Read books like King's; pick up Ray Bradbury's book,
Zen in the Art of Writing,
or
One Writer's Beginnings,
by Eudora Welty. These books are great sources for observing how a writer takes from life and recreates stories.
Wherever you are in life; honor your journey. Create an environment to support your creative self. Surround yourself with people and things that feed your muse. Share your work with others and you may find that you are a happier and more satisfied person. Discover the brilliant, talented and wonderful person you are.
"I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork."
~ Peter De Vries
WEEK TWO- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:
Remember the first person or thing you loved. Was it a parent, toy, character, pizza? Take five minutes and write about that first love.
Take five minutes and write about the love that got away.
List 25 things you associate with the word heart.
As an example ̵ Valentine's Day, weddings, surgery, chocolate, babies, exercise.
Looking over the list choose a couple to explore. Write the word on the top of the page and begin to free associate. Let the words flow without editing for at least 15 minutes.
Look over what you wrote. Were you surprised by what you wrote? Disappointed? See if you can expand on it or pull a line or paragraph and create something entirely different.
Try this with several of the words on your list. You may find new thoughts and ideas emerge from your list.
"You know criticism when you get into this business. You accept the bad with the good, the tabloids and the positive side of it."
~ Carmen Electra (1972 - )
WEEK THREE- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:
In her essay Bad Writing, Julia Cameron gives us writers the task of going out and buying the tabloids we usually read secretively on the supermarket line.
Julia suggests looking over some favorite titles and creating your own "tabloid" story:
- "Alien baby is my love child"
- "8,000 year old man found buried alive in desert"
- "Writer's fear stepping out of the ordinary"...
You get the idea. Have fun with it. Create outrageous tales. If you do it with abandon and a sense of fun, you should find you are energized and want to return to your work.
Look for ways to expand how you create. If you paint, try coloring with regular crayons or making collages out of found pictures. Create poetry by cutting words out of magazines. Create poetry with found pictures. Creating should be deep, fun, joyous, exciting, and enlivening. Create with your arms wide open and allow inspiration to meet you in all places.
"Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature."
~ Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
WEEK FOUR- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:
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Observe: Become a people watcher. Look at how people move. Notice the color of their hair. Imagine them as children. Do you think they were happy? Do they look sad now? Pay attention to how people interact with each other. Look for the small movements. The way a man touches a woman's face. How children talk to each other. Do they snuggle against each other? Are they competitive or shy? In your daily routine, notice one new thing. Maybe it is the color of the marble in your building lobby. Or the way a street curves.
Listen: Eavesdrop on some conversations. Write down a sentence or two that appeals to you. Take copious notes. Write down all the sounds and smells you encounter. Make up new names for all the colors. Take in your environment in a new way. Sit down and begin to write based on your notes or discoveries. Make some simple observation or create a full-blown story. Try one page and then two. Discover one new thing each day.
"Not the senses I have but what I do with them is my kingdom."
~ Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)
BONUS - TAKE ACTION PROMPT:
1. The Box - Fill a box with different small items that have different textures and weight to them. As example you can include a couple pieces of fabric such as burlap, silk or velvet. Put shells, rocks, marbles, keys, etc. into the box. Explore it with eyes closed. Are you afraid of what you are touching? How do things feel with your eyes closed? Bring them to your face; sniff them. See if you can identify the items without looking at them.
2. Taste Exercise
You can choose to do this with eyes closed or opened. Take some different fruit or food items preferably items that have different textures. Some examples would be an orange, avocado and piece of bread. Spend time looking at the items as if seeing them for the first time. Notice the shape of the avocado. Feel the texture of the orange. Sniff the bread. Take time with each one tasting, exploring and learning about these new things you have discovered.
3. Create some of your own sensory explorations. Listen to new music. Walk barefoot. Run one block really fast.
4. Write about the above as if you were an alien. What did you discover? How would you describe this new planet? How do you feel about the people you have met? How did if feel to be blindfolded in a new planet?
Copyright © 2009 Sandra Lee Schubert. All rights reserved.
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