Posts Tagged ‘process’

A Mere 425 Miles

August 5, 2015

HUGH HOLBORN’S PREPARATIONS for his upcoming hike of the southern quarter of the Appalachian Trail (a mere 425 miles!) continue. He’s adopted the moniker “Teatime” for his Big Stroll. Signing trail registers with trail names, he says, make individual hikers’ journeys easier to follow. Now, his blog, Teatime on the AT, has been picked up by TOTALLY ST. AUGUSTINE, an arts and entertainment site focused on happenings in Hugh’s hometown.

But why “Teatime”?

Our world, Hugh says, has become a reckless gyroscope spinning wildly out of control. One needs a weapon to guard against its assault. A tool, if you will, to separate the future from the now. Tea provides the perfect punctuation. Taking time for tea says, ‘Pardon me, World, I am getting off at the next stop. You folks continue onward. I will rejoin the hootenanny a bit later.’

We will encounter places along the trail high in the Smoky Mountains, with thousands of vertical feet separating us from the life that exists below, he continues. There, we shall put down our packs and stop the motion of our trail-weary selves. Then, I shall reach deep in my pack for a small stove and round pot, boil enough water for the three of us, and announce to my boys, ‘Brace yourselves, young princes of the Appalachian Trail, it’s time for tea!’

Writing Prompt: Got Journal? Tarot’s Kelly-Anne Maddox

May 3, 2015

FOR WRITERS, THE SIMPLE (NOT EASY!) act of writing every day keeps us in the game. Not working on a creative project? A daily, intrapersonal chit-chat keeps our writing arm loose and warm. Whether we call it “journaling” or “writing practice” or “morning pages,” daily writing knits us closer to our selves. Then, when do write for public consumption, we’re already in the habit of uncovering content unique to us.

In fact, author Heidi Julavits’ latest book, THE FOLDED CLOCK, collects two years of her daily jottings, each launched by the flood-gate-opening phrase, “Today, I …” Listen, as Heidi discusses her process with DIANE REHM.

Writing prompt

Need encouragement? 750 Words: Write Every Day offers a playful way to a consistent daily word-count. And Kelly-Ann Maddox’s excellent video Tips for Journaling and Automatic Writing reveals detours around journaling resistance, shares tried-and-true approaches to automatic writing—and includes a rock-star list of resources to blast your journaling practice into the end zone!

Tarot Writing Prompt: Charming the Muse

April 28, 2015

MUSE DISAPPEARED? NEVER FEAR! Tarot poet Tabitha Dial and oracle creator Carrie Paris present … a muse you can fold into your pocket: The Muse Board!

The Muse Board’s playful directions jump-start creative-writing adventures. Click the image for your free, downloadable Board and print it. Then, like Arriety in THE BORROWERS, collect tiny household objects for game pieces. A needle threader, an acorn from last fall, a bead, a bullet (eek!), or an incense cone, will do nicely. Or ransack your game closet for Monopoly tokens or Scrabble letters.

Tarot Writing Prompt

After gathering your charms, toss a few onto The Muse Board. Now, free-write about the interface between your charms and the directions on the spaces where they fall! Have dice? Tabitha says, Toss a die or two before casting your charms. Let your roll indicate the number of sentences you’ll write, the words per line for a poem, or characters per story.

A random creativity-generator, The Muse Board is a great way to launch a family story, a poem-with-kids, or a lazy-Sunday-morning musing. (Sorry.) (Nah, not really!)

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Writing Prompt: The Sharp Edge of Your Tongue

April 26, 2015

IF MY SISTER’S SNOW WHITE, THEN I’M ROSE RED.* She: All dew drops and diamonds, pearls from her lips. Me: Devils and demons, nothing but thorns when I speak. She, of the kids, the dogs, the big heart. Me, of the razors, the sandspurs, the scars. Yet, alone on the prairie, marching my march, I’m glad to be this and not that: Not the good one. The kind one. The precious, big-bosomed home. Not Queen of the Hearth.

Tarot-ist pal Laura Mary Fitzgerald responded to the recent Queen of the Courtyard prompt with this: Right now, she says, I’m Queen of the Unexpected. I’ll write something about that when I can do it from a place of gratitude.

But why? Why wait until we can sprinkle powdered sugar and fairy dust on our attitude, our circumstances? Why not embrace the dark, sing it loud? Of course, we’re all Snow White and Rose Red. This week, though, let’s let Red have her way. Allow our lizards and toads to splatter out onto the page. Sure, doves and powdered sugar have their place. But this week? Add a little blood to the mix.

Writing Prompt

Write about a situation that makes you—or a character—less than happy. Be sure to dip the rough edge of your tongue in the ink before you start.

* Oops. Wrong fairy tale. The story I was thinking of is “Diamonds and Toads,” by Charles Perrault. But you know what? I like my opening the way it is. And my creative license is up to date.

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Writing Prompt: Tarot Poetry

April 17, 2015

WITH ITS 78 (DRAMATIC!) ILLUSTRATIONS of human experience, it’s no wonder poets find inspiration in the tarot! For instance, when poet and tarot reader Tabitha Dial needed a fresh take for her poetry thesis, she dug out her Universal Rider Waite tarot deck to prompt her—and created from those prompts the book-length collection of poems she needed to complete her degree!

Now a tarot reader with an MFA in poetry, Tabitha teaches others how to use the cards for inspiration. She suggests we pick a card, start by listing its visual elements, and see where that takes us. Lists, she says, can be powerful and stand as their own poems—take for example [Tabitha’s poem] “The Banner (The Sun),” [which] stems from descriptions of the image and lays claim to a more general idea of what it may symbolize at the end.

The Banner (The Sun)

Red, blood’s rich mania,
fabric’s flow,
doubletwist
in the small grasp
of the child
in a brightness
that is too much.

(Learn more about Tabitha at Tarot and Tea-leaf Readings.)

Using a slightly more interpretive approach to description, artist/teacher/tarot reader Andrew Kyle McGregor, proprietor of Toronto’s The Hermit’s Lamp, wrote this poetic riff on the Tarot de Marseille’s Trump XIII:

Trump XIII

Your footing now so blue and untrustworthy,
as to make your heart pound in your throat.
The shadow of your face always
casting backwards,
as your leg bone refuses to sing
like it used to.

(Andrew’s new book, SIMPLY LEARN TAROT, is available now!)

Tarot Writing Prompt

Your turn! If you’ve got a tarot deck at hand, pick a card (any card) and start naming what you see—then tweak your list poem-wards. Don’t have a deck? Choose a card image from the hundreds (thousands?) on Aeclectic Tarot. (And while you’re there, take a look at Aeclectic’s dedicated Tarot Haiku thread. Jump right into the limited-syllable sandbox for a tarot-2-poetry play-date!)

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Writing Prompt: Poemcrazy

April 13, 2015

I REACH FOR SUSAN GOLDSMITH WOOLDRIDGE’S POEMCRAZY whenever I need a dose of creative encouragement. Wooldridge invites such playful abandon with words, it would be a stiff upper lip indeed that didn’t curve reading her!

In “The Answer Squash,” Wooldridge talks about labeling objects in her home with word tickets. A squash in its basket bears the label answers, and a worn scrub brush at the sink, diamonds. Like all innovative use of language, these labels make one rethink the objects to which they are attached—see them in a new light.

And “new names seem to change people,” too, Wooldridge says, offering us a chance to reconsider our identities using randomly chosen word tickets. In “Our Real Names,” Ronnie, a young man doing time in juvenile hall renames himself thus:

Let’s talk about death.
Yesterday my name was James.
Today, it’s tossing helium dream.
Tomorrow, my name will be
Gerald Flying off the Cliff,
Dave Mustang.
Inside my name is
dying heart,
sorrow
guilt
and a lotta hope.

Writing Prompt

Try it yourself! Make a batch of scrap-paper labels and affix them, willy-nilly, or with poetic precision, on items around your abode. Take a break for a cup of tea, then wander up to one the newly-christened items and find some writing inspiration in the quirky tension between the object and its moniker.

Alternatively (or additionally), add a word ticket to your mirror. How does what the word say alter how you see yourself? Start writing to find out!

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Writing Prompt: It Didn’t Always Belong to Me

April 5, 2015

Novel Writing Coach?

THIS DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE PROMPT HAS LAUNCHED AT LEAST one successful novel! Julie Compton dove straight into the first draft of her acclaimed second thriller, RESCUING OLIVIA, from it. (I’m not saying it guarantees you a bestseller. I’m just sayin’ . . . give it a try.)

Writing Prompt

First, carefully describe an object that now belongs to you (or to one of your characters) but that once belonged to someone else. Next, tell how the object came into your possession: Inheritance? Purchase? Theft? Or did you borrow it? Win it at Bingo? Find it by the side of the street awaiting trash pickup?

Dig deep. Who knows what you’ll find? And, hey! It’s National Poetry Month, so maybe there’s even a poem in there somewhere.

Many, many thanks to Jamie Morris. She’s a master at getting to the heart of a story. I was fortunate to have her at my side from the beginning on this one. —Julie Compton, acknowledgements, RESCUING OLIVIA (Macmillan)

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Writing Prompt: Walk, Write

March 29, 2015

JOAN MANSSON AND HER PUP TOOK A WALK THIS QUIET MORNING. I want to share this with someone, she writes. The morning is oddly silent. We walked at 6:30. The clouds were like smoke, huge, but not even as fully formed as the steam vapor over the Hatch Nuclear Plant. No stars were visible. And no moon. But more than that it was silent. The birds hadn’t wakened yet, and the frogs were asleep. I felt as if I were stepping into another reality. Even Renard was quiet. He didn’t even protest when I picked him up and carried him in to avoid [neighbor dog] Jake, who noticed us, but didn’t seem interested. Now, it’s a quarter of 7:00 and still so quiet. Eerie and pleasant. I need to fix my puppy’s breakfast and make some of my own.

Writing Prompt

Go ahead. Walk out your front door. Then report back. In writing.

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Crack that Writing Whip!

March 23, 2015

IT’S TIME FOR ANOTHER WRITE-IN AT WRITER’S ATELIER! Join other Central Florida writers at the Atelier’s Monthly Write-In this Saturday, March 28th, from 12-2 pm. There’s no charge, but do RSVP Racquel at racquel@racquelhenry.com. Then drive your writer self to 336 Grove Ave., Suite B, Winter Park, FL 32789, ring the bell, pour yourself a cup of joe, put your butt in one of the Atelier’s comfy chairs, and hit the keys for thirty minutes. After a mini-break, you’ll go again. Because that’s how we get writing done.

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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(It’s Not too Late to) Develop a 21st Century Mind

March 22, 2015

WHEN I LIVED IN SEATTLE IN THE EARLY ’90s, I found Marsha Sinetar’s DEVELOPING A 21ST CENTURY MIND oh-so-helpful. A little lost, I hadn’t given up my dream of making music, but was also interested in creative writing. But I didn’t know how to make the leap.

Some of my clients find themselves in a similar position: Quite accomplished in their working life, they have an unanswered passion for writing. And they’re left with a chasm to leap. A wide chasm. There are people who pace along the edge of that chasm for years, trying to figure out how to clear it in a single bound, how to go from having no committed writing practice to having a novel on THE NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list.

And that’s just not going to happen. Not because the publishing industry is filled with a bunch of meanies, but because we make our way—we live our way—to our bigger goals through the accomplishment of smaller goals.

In 21ST CENTURY MIND, Sinetar outlines a process for getting from where we are to where we want to be. First, we explore what we want—let’s say, “mental flexibility.” Then, we create a small-scale model for that goal. For instance, if we connect mental flexibility with physical flexibility, we might take a yoga class. Having increased physical flexibility via yoga, we might choose a ropes course next, which requires both physical and mental flexibility.

Likewise, if we want to serve as mayor of our town, we might first make a bid for a seat on our home-owners’ association board. Or we could sign up to play Facebook’s Social City, an online game that allows us to create and run our own city!

If we want to publish a book, but haven’t been writing consistently, we start small. We blog! Tweet! (There are writers creating their novels 140-characters at a time!) We submit letters to the editor! We join a writing group and publish an anthology of members’ work as a first foray into making our work available in book form.

Our models—small, interim goals—help us foster a sense of success and increased capability. No need to invest in a jet-pack to power us across that gap. We take it step-by-step. The possibilities, the models that will get us there, like our 21st century minds, are limitless.

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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