Your posts have a funny way of being exactly what I need when they arrive in my inbox. I've also been struggling with making writing not only a priority, but a sacred piece of my day. After tending the animals, after the coffee is brewed, I've been playing focus frequency music and breathing with that until my head feels less boggy and more open. This morning I smudged my writing room with rosemary and mugwort, to invite focus and dreaming. I think the smudging will become a regular part of my writing ritual. Hope all is well in your world. Peace...
Inspired by The Art of Brevity and so that journaling doesn't become sloppy and indulgent and all that I write, and also to practice being concise and editing, I write each day, after starting with Thaisa Frank's nonsense exercise, a 100 word journal entry. It's concise, precise, and, if I must say more, my rules for myself are that it has to be in 100 word increments, stopping exactly at 200 or 300, etc.
I also struggle with the "other things" invading my morning writing time. Your new ritual sounds inviting and I'm going to try that starting tomorrow. :) Great to see you at Beaverdale Books and hope to see you at Okoboji this year!
This is good Grant. Personally, it really helps to have an editor ask for work. That's why it's easy to write magazine articles. I always have an ask (or an implied ask, if they published you before you assume they will publish you again). With novels it's different. No one's ever asked. If they do, I'll rip one off faster than you can say Jack Spratt. Or somethin like that : )
Mmm.. an invitation. Yes, I so need to view the process, the act of writing that way. The Jan Your Story turned into a chore, and I ended up just dropping the ball. There were other forces, too, like loved ones and dogs dying, that distracted me. But still. I have a hard time finding that sense of anticipation for writing, rather than a task to get done unlike shooting images, painting or sketching, which I drop into without any effort and find great pleasure and satisfaction in the doing.
But a soul-calling, an imperative, keeps drawing me to my stories and memories that need to be written, need to be expressed and shared..
So, I can create ritual! I've done so with meditation. Candle light, burning sage beforehand. I can do the same with writing.
Your posts have a funny way of being exactly what I need when they arrive in my inbox. I've also been struggling with making writing not only a priority, but a sacred piece of my day. After tending the animals, after the coffee is brewed, I've been playing focus frequency music and breathing with that until my head feels less boggy and more open. This morning I smudged my writing room with rosemary and mugwort, to invite focus and dreaming. I think the smudging will become a regular part of my writing ritual. Hope all is well in your world. Peace...
I love the "smudging." Keep smudging!
Thank you for this! I like to pick out a random Tarot card before a writing session. Always puts me in an interesting place.
Oh, love this!
Brooke Warner wrote about The Book of Awakening, and that's how I'm starting my writing time now. The day's reading and then a 10 minute meditation.
Inspired by The Art of Brevity and so that journaling doesn't become sloppy and indulgent and all that I write, and also to practice being concise and editing, I write each day, after starting with Thaisa Frank's nonsense exercise, a 100 word journal entry. It's concise, precise, and, if I must say more, my rules for myself are that it has to be in 100 word increments, stopping exactly at 200 or 300, etc.
I also struggle with the "other things" invading my morning writing time. Your new ritual sounds inviting and I'm going to try that starting tomorrow. :) Great to see you at Beaverdale Books and hope to see you at Okoboji this year!
Yes, it was so good to see you at Beaverdale Books! I look forward to talking more at Okoboji!
I love this because I’m also finding it difficult to make writing time a pleasure instead of a chore. Thank you for these suggestions.
This is good Grant. Personally, it really helps to have an editor ask for work. That's why it's easy to write magazine articles. I always have an ask (or an implied ask, if they published you before you assume they will publish you again). With novels it's different. No one's ever asked. If they do, I'll rip one off faster than you can say Jack Spratt. Or somethin like that : )
Mmm.. an invitation. Yes, I so need to view the process, the act of writing that way. The Jan Your Story turned into a chore, and I ended up just dropping the ball. There were other forces, too, like loved ones and dogs dying, that distracted me. But still. I have a hard time finding that sense of anticipation for writing, rather than a task to get done unlike shooting images, painting or sketching, which I drop into without any effort and find great pleasure and satisfaction in the doing.
But a soul-calling, an imperative, keeps drawing me to my stories and memories that need to be written, need to be expressed and shared..
So, I can create ritual! I've done so with meditation. Candle light, burning sage beforehand. I can do the same with writing.