Write A Way: Journey to Creativity

The Writing Life: A Closet Writer's Ink Well By Sandra Lee Schubert
On my desk sits a box. Inside is a bottle of ink, paper and a glass pen. My friend crafted the box for my birthday. All the items inside were handmade including the glass pen. Also on my desk is a book of poetry given by another friend. On the cover are an inkwell and a quill pen. These are not unique images of writing implements. It was not that long ago when fountain pens were the norm. When you wrote you got ink on your fingers and blotches on your paper. Learning to write was an art in itself. I can imagine Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson at their desk with quill in hand pondering their next word as ink drips onto the paper. It is a somewhat idealized image but it gives me some pleasure.  [More...]


Planting Seeds ~ One Word at a Time By Sandra Lee Schubert
I am not good at making New Years resolutions. It is just too dark and cold to think about taking action of any kind. 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.  [More...]


Telling Your Healing Story By Sandra Lee Schubert
A woman I once met, named Sarah, told me her story of how she had once a successful practice as a doctor until she suffered a major mental breakdown. Sarah shared the cause, her treatment and the after effects of her illness. She would never be the same again. Her career as a doctor was over. As we talked, I realized healing takes many shapes. Her healing was not becoming well enough to practice again but regaining her soul. She had to tell a new story about health and well being encompassing her new reality. Healing is a transformation, honoring that which has passed and accepting what has emerged as a gift.  [More...]


Words That Heal: Writing Leads to Wellness By Sandra Lee Schubert
Human beings have an innate need to express themselves from handprints left on ancient cave walls to graffiti scrawled on public places. Some expressions reflect a desire to translate a high principle and others only make sense to the creator. Nonetheless, we need to express ourselves whether through the arts, work or our families.  [More...]


Over the Rainbow, A New Tale is Waiting to be Told By Sandra Lee Schubert
The Broadway musical Wicked features characters from the familiar story of the Wizard of Oz. . . It is also a play about following your dreams and the truth that resides in your heart. In surprising ways it tells the story we had not known. How did the witch become wicked, or green? Why were those red shoes so important? …It also reminded me that there is more then one side to a story. . . [  [More...]


When Writing of Love, Love the Artist Within By Sandra Lee Schubert
When writing about love, the surprise is in what gets revealed… If we can't love the artist within us, we won't create. Through loving ourselves and creating we can love others more fully. The best gift to give the world is our creativity. Love takes courage. It requires an open heart, it asks us to. . . [  [More...]


Poetic Spam? The Quest for Inspiration By Sandra Lee Schubert
Inspiration can be found anywhere if you look for it. Daily I weed through emails, separating out the friendly from the Spam. This task has frustrated, annoyed and offended me. One day while visiting the Spam folder to see if friendly mail had been sucked into the void I noticed something. . . [  [More...]


Movies for the Writer By Sandra Lee Schubert
There must be hundreds of movies based on books. Finding one that reflects the writing life is a little trickier. Movies, if they are good can be inspirational and spark creativity…They allow you to imagine personas and observe facets of life and human nature that you might not get to observe on your own. But movies can also reflect an aspect of your life that you may not have been able to name... Here are five movies that spark creativity or allow you to peek into the writer's life... [  [More...]


The Myth of Time: Improve Your Life One Deadline at a Time By Sandra Lee Schubert
Along the way I picked up some real bad habits about doing things on time. Unlike the commercial that admonishes me to "just do it" I will do anything else. So if you tell me how difficult it is to get to your writing I will understand. I am right there with you, in fact we should go get coffee and talk. We can get back to pen and paper later. Who am I kidding? Life is about meeting deadlines. Whether you like it or not, a deadline can improve your creativity ... [  [More...]


Write A Way: Becoming Alive In Every Sense By Sandra Lee Schubert
Each day we gather information through our senses. Most of it is assimilated without much consciousness. The speed and amount of information is too much to absorb all at once. Nonetheless, we all can become a little more aware. Times Square, New York City is sensory overload... Since I work right in the heart of Times Square, I have... [  [More...]


Write A Way: Family History ~ Making the Past Present By Sandra Lee Schubert
A narrative of events or a story, your particular history is unique. One perspective does not define a family history. If you can relate the tale of how you came to be, then creating great feats of imagination is easier. There is intrigue, drama, love, deep sadness and incredible happiness in all our lives. Once you have identified these traits in your own family, it... [  [More...]


Write A Way: Beating Resistance: The Fulfilled Life, Create it Now! By Sandra Lee Schubert
Resistance sits on your shoulder not like a dear friend but a vengeful inner critic. What are your unlived dreams? Why aren't you pursuing them right now? Writing is the one thing that I always wanted to do. Yet, as I get closer to writing the tougher it is for me just to sit down. I am reminded of those nightmares where you are running towards something but the harder you run the further away it gets. In September, I wrote of my bad habits; how procrastination would have me doing anything else but what I want to do. I will happily or mindlessly watch TV. Do laundry. Eat. Nap. I will feel myself pulled towards the computer or the pen and still switch the channel to see what else is on. What is going on here? [  [More...]


Party Like It's 2005: Making Dreams True By Sandra Lee Schubert
The start of a new year - how wonderful, glorious and promising it is. We can't help but feel the excitement of new beginnings. Or that knot in our stomach. "What if I fail again?" There is a mixture of feelings when faced with the possibilities of a brighter future. Our hopes and dreams are important to us. What are your dreams for 2005? What possibilities are in your future? The landscape is wide open to make plans and watch goals come to fruition. [  [More...]


Write A Way: Fact Finding in Writing By Sandra Lee Schubert
On my desk sits a box. Inside is a bottle of ink, paper and a glass pen. My friend crafted the box for my birthday. All the items inside were handmade including the glass pen. Also on my desk is a book of poetry given by another friend. On the cover are an inkwell and a quill pen. These are not unique images of writing implements. It was not that long ago when fountain pens were the norm. When you wrote you got ink on your fingers and blotches on your paper. Learning to write was an art in itself. I can imagine Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson at their desk with quill in hand pondering their next word as ink drips onto the paper. It is a somewhat idealized image but it gives me some pleasure.... [  [More...]


Forms, Forms and more forms By Sandra Lee Schubert
Daily, we are inundated with forms to fill out. There are forms for taxes, to get married, to join an online group, or to participate in writing contests. While forms can occupy our time, using a form in writing can give our words structure [  [More...]


Write A Way: In Celebration of Life By Sandra Lee Schubert
June is a month for beginnings and for endings. Graduations have come and gone, and weddings are all around. We may be packing up to move to a new city and a new job. Or we are beginning a new life with a new person and leaving behind what we once knew. June is also the month when summer hits and we can kick off our shoes and relax a little. We can begin that new renovation project on our home. Read a good thick and juicy novel. Or finally face the blank page and begin writing.... [  [More...]


Write A Way: If I Were An Alien By Sandra Lee Schubert
I just saw the remake of the movie, War of the Worlds by Stephen Spielberg. In this alien movie, there was no first contact, nor a friendly greeting like we saw in Spielberg's other alien movies. This was an attack on the planet. What was their motivation? What did they really think of us? Why was there no getting to know you moments?.... [  [More...]


Write A Way: A Circle of Creativity By Sandra Lee Schubert
Creating is a solitary act. It is just you and that darn blank canvas, paper or camera. Many hours are spent alone figuring out what do with an evolving creation. If you are lucky, the art is all consuming and the time passes and you feel exhausted but happy. On the other hand, you could be pacing the room in turmoil because you can't figure out what to do next [  [More...]


Write A Way: Spiritual Writing By Sandra Lee Schubert
The holiday season brings with it the rush of parties, shopping and vacations. Many of us look forward to this time of year for its festive air. The sting of winter can be thwarted when you enter into a store or home with music and decorations that capture the eye. But the one thing that can get lost in all of the hobnob is the spiritual aspect of the season. When we get lost and want to go back to the original roots of the season, we can turn to books for our inspiration. Writing on things spiritual can be tricky. There are all kinds of... [  [More...]


How Our Senses Influence Our Creativity: Vision By Sandra Lee Schubert
According to the dictionary "vision" is "a special sense by which the qualities of an object (as color, luminosity, shape, and size) constituting its appearance are perceived and which is mediated by the eye." What if using this special sense we look at our lives in a new way? [  [More...]


Planting Our Creative Garden By Sandra Lee Schubert
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... [  More...]


Exploring the World with Your Senses: Touch By Sandra Lee Schubert
As an artist, it is important to engage in all our senses as fully as possible. Think of a potter out of touch with her clay. She might create technically correct pieces yet they would lack a certain feeling to them. There is a potter's work I love. I like to hold her pieces. They have a wonderful feel to them. Each piece seems to have a special energy. Her whole family is involved in her work. Helping create and sell her pottery. Each item in her collection has a feeling of love in it. Wouldn't each of us want our work to elicit that kind of energy? [  [More...]


Exploring the World with Your Senses: Hearing By Sandra Lee Schubert
Artists use their senses. Everything is a playground for the muse. The way the light hits water can lead us to a great piece of art or an interesting story. Walking down the street with a friend we discussed the insanity of our senses. How we can become over-stimulated, fractured by the sounds, the shapes and the colors that surrounds us. At the same time, we were in a state of wonder about... [  More...]


Exploring the World with Your Senses: Food as Muse By Sandra Lee Schubert
Food, glorious food. We can't escape it. The taste, the texture the way sugar dissolves on the tongue. How salt brings out flavor in our meals. Food thrills us. It can torment us with desire. I don't know many of us who successfully live with out food. Without it we die. Some much of who we are is tied to food... [Article includes culinary exploration writing prompts].  [More...]


Exploring the World with Your Senses: Heartfelt By Sandra Lee Schubert
Creativity comes to us in many forms. We are born with talent; or we earn it through study and diligence. But most artists know that training alone will not give you inspiration. It comes from many places. Senses help us to navigate the world and provide us with enough stimulation and inspiration to make a lifetime habit of our art. What wakes you up in the middle of the night with a burst of an idea? Have you ever had a feeling so deep and profound that it compelled you to...  [More...]


Write A Way ~ Creative Journaling: Goal-a-torium By Sandra Lee Schubert
I am calling for a cessation of any goal setting for the next month. That is right. One month and you don't set a goal. Not even a goal to not set a goal for a month. I am not saying goals are bad. They can give us a good roadmap for our creative life. But goals can become the crutch we lean on. Instead of doing our actual craft we create goals around it. You can't create because you have...  [More...]


Goals: Setting A Structure for Our Creative Lives By Sandra Lee Schubert
In my last column, I talked about giving up goal setting for at least a month. How did it go? If you were like me it may have been a little difficult to put aside goals. After all we look to them to guide us. Goals provide a structure to our life. You may have discovered that the goals you had coveted the most lost their appeal when the spotlight was taken off them. We can hang onto a cherished goal long past its time. All our hopes and dreams go into this goal, once achieved it will change our lives, make us money and finally we can be happy. Did the time away from your goals give you some clarity about which ones are important to keep and which ones can be tossed? [More...]


Write A Way: Self Publishing? Start Here By Sandra Lee Schubert
The novel could sit in your desk drawer for many years or you could actually get it published. If the thought of approaching a publisher frightens you why not consider self-publishing? There are several options open to you. The field is wide open with the advent the Internet and resources are amazing...  [More...]


Write A Way: Self-Publishing: Establish An Online Presence By Sandra Lee Schubert
If you would like to have your writing move past your page and into the hands of others, there are some things you need to do. It helps to have many friends on your side as you write and when you move to a published product. A writer who wants to be published has to use every medium at their disposal to promote themselves. The internet has some wonderful opportunities to create exposure without too much effort or money. Here are some advantages to establishing an online presence...  [More...]


Write A Way: You As Publisher By Sandra Lee Schubert
There are wonderful things that can happen as a writer. Having your first article published and seeing your byline in a magazine is great fun. Of course getting paid is a great benefit. Mostly I think many of us write because it is a creative urge we can't deny. We may not make a dime but will do it anyway. A novel may not get noticed by an editor but we still slug along. We write when we can and hopefully enjoy the journey along the way. Becoming a publisher is a natural extension of the creative process. You want to be with your book through its whole development....  [More...]


Writing for Life in a New Year By Sandra Lee Schubert
If you would like to have your writing move past your page and into the hands of others, there are some things you need to do. It helps to have many friends on your side as you write and when you move to a published product. A writer who wants to be published has to use every medium at their disposal to promote themselves. The internet has some wonderful opportunities to create exposure without too much effort or money. Here are some advantages to establishing an online presence...  [More...]


A New Direction for Your Healing Writing: Turning Books into Movies By Sandra Lee Schubert
Hey, I wrote a movie! Okay, not really but according to Erin Collazo Miller of About.com, in 2007, more than 70 books were made into movies. I knew that No Country for Old Men was adapted from a book by Cormac McCarthy, then there was Atonement by Ian McEwan and of course Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini but 70 books! Now that is just...  [More...]


Write A Way: Journey to Creativity ~ Accept Imperfection and Keep Writing By Sandra Lee Schubert
There are perfectionists that torment themselves and those around them. Nothing is ever done right in the struggle for perfection. The finely polished surface bears a lone fingerprint. Then there are others who strive for perfection and their actions produce something wonderful. They have a high regard for their work and the quality of their life. But they aren't just spinning wheels to get there. They don't stay stuck on the one imperfection. Their striving takes them...  [More...]


Write A Way: Journey to Creativity: The Business of Writing By Sandra Lee Schubert
What would you like to happen with your writing? There is a point in a writer's life when you want to take your work from the notebook or writers group and engage a wider audience. Are you there yet? I recently attended a publishing workshop. The publisher shared his experiences in the business and how his idealized image of the field and the reality crashed and burned quickly. He imagined publishing would be like the 1940's movies he loved. The writer and editor... Read on.