Just Write – Page 3 – The Write Spot

In this Just Write post, we’ll take a look at the idea of listening to your body as a way to get past blocks toward your creativity.

First, turn off your cell phone or put to vibrate. Unplug from Facebook and emails. Eliminate as many distractions as you can.

If you are experiencing extreme grief or pain, please get professional help. This post, of course, cannot replace the need for professional assistance.

Ready? Here we go.

We all experience grief, trauma, sadness. And we have our own ways of handling those stresses. There is no one right or wrong way to handle these difficulties. What is right for one person, may be wrong for someone else. What works for me, might not work for you, so take what works for you from this post, ignore the rest.

Let’s take a moment now to breathe, relax and get settled.

Take a deep breath in and let out with a whoosh.

Deep breath in. Relax. Let go.

Drop your head to your chest and rotate in a circle.

Rotate shoulders in a circle.

Scan from head, down to your toes. Check in with your body.

Notice places that are tight. Notice any uncomfortableness.

As you scan your body, become aware of any place that draws your attention – notice what part of your body calls out to you.

Place the palm of your hand on the part of your body that calls your attention. Or bring your breath there if it’s not reachable with your hand.

Allow your hand to be filled with the information of that place.

Take a deep breath in. Let it out with relaxing sigh.

Thinking about that place in your body that calls out . . . what do you notice? Who hangs out there? Who do you see?

If you could have a conversation with that part of your body, what would it sound like?

If you have blockages in your life, your work, or your creativity, your body can tell you what’s going on. If you are stuck, notice where you feel it in your body.

When you pay attention to that stuck feeling, you can work past it and then you will be free to work as you wish. Discover what’s really bothering you.

When you are ready, write about what you have discovered. Write about that place in your body that wants attention. Or just write about whatever is on your mind.
This is “Rebecca Lawton Week” on The Write Spot Blot. Today’s inspiration for “Just Write” is from her book, Reading Water, Lessons from the River:

The water-level fluctuations, both daily and seasonal, gave us regular lessons in how the river varied depending on flow. The thalweg, or deepest or best navigable channel, didn’t always follow a direct path. On one key day early in my training, I followed a boatman friend named John through the long, straight, placid reach of the Stanislaus below Razorback Rapids. As I rowed down the middle of the river, choosing the course where the main flow had been weeks before, I noticed John’s boat meandering from one side of the river to the other. He kept his hands on the oars but barely exerted himself, simply using the oars to adjust his boat’s position on the water surface. He moved briskly downstream through the calms with little effort. Even as I rowed steadily to keep up, he beat me by finding the strongest flow and doing the bare minimum to stay on it.

“It’s true,” John told me later. “You’ve just got to use the current. It’ll carry you if you don’t fight it.”

Note from Marlene: Sometimes our writing meanders, like John and his boat, and that’s just fine. Find the current in your writing. Let your mind wander and let your freewrite take you on a meandering route and you might find the rhythm for your best creative writing. Just Write!

Photo by Breana Marie.

Click here for Rebecca Lawton’s website.
Writing prompts on The Write Spot Blog are designed to encourage writing that takes the writer on a journey of discovery.

Our freewrites can refresh our memories and remind us of times past. It’s like excavating — digging deep and dredging up memories.

You can start writing very simply — with pen or pencil and paper or keyboard.

To go deep into your writing — rest both feet on the floor, rest your hands lightly on your lap or on the table. Take in a deep, nourishing breath and slowly let it out. Another deep breath in and s-l-o-w-l-y release. Sink into your breath and relax on the out breath.

Review the prompt and start writing. If you get stuck and don’t know what to write next:

~ Write the prompt . . . sometimes re-writing the prompt brings up new ideas.

~ Write “I remember. . . ” and go from there.

~ Write “I don’t remember. . . ” and see where that takes you.

~ Write “What I really want to say . . . ” This is my favorite to inspire deep writing.

Whatever methods you use . . . just write.
It’s difficult to shake off judging ourselves and our writing. Our inner critic is a hard one to let go — it’s been with us for so long.

What I especially like about freewrites is that since they are very rough first drafts, they can be just awful and no one should care because, after all, they are just first drafts.

The beauty of freewrites is getting Self out of the way and going with the flow. Let your writing flow with no judging. When you are in the zone and writing. . . time flies. There is no space for the inner critic to hang out. It’s just you and your creative mind playing with words.

Let go of your worries about your writing.

Choose a prompt from The Write Spot Blog. Set your timer for 12 minutes and Just Write.
In honor of Memorial Day, Sharon Hamilton sent the following to be included in our tribute to military personnel.

Sharon shares these photos and thoughts: We owe a lot to the men and women who have fought on our behalf, so we can have an ordinary life. Memorial is just one day we remember and vow to always remember all of our military personnel.

Photo of Sharon Hamilton’s Great-Great-Grandfather’s brother, who served in the Civil War, like her Great-Great-Grandfather. General Daniel Cameron gained his citizenship by fighting for the North.

Navy Seal Uniform

Cover of Sharon Hamilton’s latest book, SEAL My Destiny.

Sharon Hamilton writes Navy SEAL romance, about military heroes who thrill strong women, who are lucky to love them back.

Sharon began her serious writing with freewriting exercises, using prompts to inspire her writing. You, too, can jumpstart your writing. Choose prompts from The Write Spot Blog or from The Write Spot Writing Prompts and just write.
In Escaping into the Open, The Art of Writing True, Elizabeth Berg (one of my favorite authors) writes:

Whenever people ask me where I get my material, I am genuinely befuddled. “Well . . . from life!” is what I usually say. . . . each of us, no matter who we are or what we do, is offered potential story ideas daily. The people we know, the things that happen to them and us, the random scenes we witness and the conversations we overhear — all of these things are rich with raw material; all of them are capable of serving as a vehicle or springboard for a good story, in one way or another. We need only be aware. We need only be awake, and curious, and willing to share.

Note from Marlene: Last night in the Jumpstart writing workshop that I facilitate, this very thing happened. I took a real life experience, wrote it in the third person, changed a few facts and ta-da . . . a freewrite based on a true experience.

Your turn: Start with something that really happened and write about it. Just write.
In Naked, Drunk, and Writing, Adair Lara writes “I grew up in the San Geronimo Valley . . . a bookstruck little kid sitting on a stump writing stories.”

She continues with “Writing was easy then. I used my dad’s square carpenter pencil to cover sheet after sheet with stories of dogs that rescued families from a flood or a fire.”

Note the details: Can you see the carpenter pencil? I see a yellow pencil and I can see that little girl hunched over, earnestly scribbling.

Adair began her writing career as copyeditor at San Francisco Focus magazine. Her friend Cynthia, the production editor, also wanted to be a writer. They started partner writing, swapping freewrites and returning them with the good stuff highlighted in yellow. “That first writing club, as we called it, changed my life. It made me a writer by giving me the confidence to be one.”

Adair has published “some ten books or so, including several collections of columns.” Her work has appeared in many other magazines and newspapers, both in print and online. She is currently a columnist for Grandparents.com

Adair teaches writing workshops, which I had the good fortune to attend in the summer of 2009. What a treat!

How about you? Do you want to write but don’t know how to get started? You can join a writing group in your community, find a partner to exchange writing with, or join an online writing community like this one, The Write Spot Blog.

Just write!
I love gorgeous writing and wonder how authors produce writing so vivid you feel as if you are in their world.

One idea is to watch what people really do when talking, use sensory detail and be specific.

For example, author Rachael Herron creates believable fictional characters. There is so much to like about her writing. One tool she employs well is the actions her characters engage in while talking. The dialogue develops character and moves the story along. The action makes the characters believable. Here are some examples from “How to Knit a Heart Back Home.”

Owen twisted the [plastic] spoon in his fingers. He would not rub the scar on his hip, which suddenly burned.

Lucy took the now mangled plastic spoon out of his hand and then threaded her fingers through his.

Dropping his eyes from hers, Owen watched Lucy’s pulse flicker rapidly in the hollow of her throat. For a moment there was no sound but the crash of the waves below.

Back to me. . . Oh, my. I can see and hear and feel . . . the mangled plastic spoon, feel the burning scar, see the hollow of her throat and hear the crashing waves.

Action: twisted, dropping, watched, threaded, flicker, crash

Specific: plastic spoon, hip

Sensory detail: burn, sound

Your turn: give us examples of exquisite writing that use strong verbs, is specific and employs sensory detail. Share your finds with us.

Write a scene or a vignette: a freewrite using action words (strong verbs), be specific (sycamore, not tree), sensory detail (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell).

Just write!
First, don’t take rejection personally. When you submit your writing for inclusion in an anthology, magazine. . . to an editor, publisher, agent. . . and you receive a “no, thanks” letter, or worse, you never hear back . . . don’t take it personally.

It may or may not be the quality of writing, but it’s definitely not a rejection of you personally.

My Submission Philosophy

You won’t receive rejection notices unless you submit your writing.

And if you submit your writing . . . you will probably receive a rejection note, or two, or more.

Welcome to The Club

I wrote a story about pesky gophers around 2007. Shopped it around. Submitted to a little contest. Won second place. I was thrilled. But really, this was a miniscule contest. Probably two entries.

So I shopped it some more. Got accepted. But the editor said since it was seasonal, I should submit the following spring (nine months away). I dutifully waited and re-submitted.

“Alas,” she said (or maybe she didn’t. Maybe that’s the storyteller in me).

“We can’t accept this since you don’t live in our geographical area.”

Hmmm. . . She couldn’t tell me that with the original submission (and acceptance, I might add and will add).

Submissions, semi-acceptances and rejections are quirky.

Time went by. I sulked, got mad and stomped around a bit.

A few years later, I was over my annoyance and once again submitted. This time my gopher story was accepted!

“My Way With Gophers” will be published later this year in Redwood Writers 2014 Anthology.

Moral of this story: If the writing is polished and perfected to your best ability — my gopher story was revised about 113 times and the title changed 67 times — go ahead and submit, because you never know. You might get lucky.

And you might as well Just Write . . . and Submit.