Most writers are like deer in the headlights of a car when they sit down to write something. Even the phrase "sit down to write something" can strike terror into one's mind. Frozen, we sit looking at our computer or our page, and we are terrified to begin.
The river of our unconscious mind turns into rapids. What if it's no good. What if it isn't in sequence. What if the characters, setting, theme are too bland, not developed enough. Who am I to think I can do this?
There is an antidote to all this who-ha negative thinking: write one word. Just one. Write it on your calendar, write it on your to-do list, write it on a post-it note and put it up on the refrigerator door. It doesn't matter where you put it - what matters is that you write it.
I recommend writing one word on your calendar each day of the week. Just one word. Pretty soon you have a writing prompt data base from which you
can draw a game changing word.
When you are frozen in space, borrow a word from your own lending library of words and begin with that word or incorporate that word in your beginning sentence, then write as fast as you can and see what happens. You will be delighted at the results because within us are all the words we need to tell our story, they just get to talking with each other and forget to talk with us.
So we need to nudge them out of their own conversation and invite them to join us in the daylight of our creativity. Do it. Suddenly there are your many word friends - each of them wanting to be on the stage of your work. Some may want to be in the shadows, some in the spotlight, but all of them, like any ensemble, will support each other in telling the story you want to tell.
The river of our unconscious mind turns into rapids. What if it's no good. What if it isn't in sequence. What if the characters, setting, theme are too bland, not developed enough. Who am I to think I can do this?
There is an antidote to all this who-ha negative thinking: write one word. Just one. Write it on your calendar, write it on your to-do list, write it on a post-it note and put it up on the refrigerator door. It doesn't matter where you put it - what matters is that you write it.
I recommend writing one word on your calendar each day of the week. Just one word. Pretty soon you have a writing prompt data base from which you
can draw a game changing word.
When you are frozen in space, borrow a word from your own lending library of words and begin with that word or incorporate that word in your beginning sentence, then write as fast as you can and see what happens. You will be delighted at the results because within us are all the words we need to tell our story, they just get to talking with each other and forget to talk with us.
So we need to nudge them out of their own conversation and invite them to join us in the daylight of our creativity. Do it. Suddenly there are your many word friends - each of them wanting to be on the stage of your work. Some may want to be in the shadows, some in the spotlight, but all of them, like any ensemble, will support each other in telling the story you want to tell.
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