Spell, Caress, and Shine: Three prompts

In our journaling group we recently did one of my favorite writing activities: single word prompts.

This is how it works. The leader chooses some random word and says it aloud. We all have just 3 minutes to write whatever comes to mind. Then after 3 minutes, the buzzer goes off and we are given another single word. We write spontaneously to that word for 3 minutes. Again the buzzer, and again a new word.  We do not begin this activity knowing the 3 words; they are presented only one at a time.

Three minutes is not very long to write, so we know we don’t have time to think and ponder, and certainly no time to craft that perfect sentence/paragraph. The words are randomly chosen, so they may or may not have any connection to one another. It doesn’t matter. This activity is not a brainy thing, but rather a practice in spilling forth the words that lie tangled or dormant. When we did this last week, our words were spell, caress, and shine. Usually when I do this activity, I end up with 3 very different pieces of writing and there is no correlation at all between one and another. This last time however, I experienced the flow from one to the next in a way I’ve seen others do, but have never done before. I thought I’d share what emerged here on The Nitty Gritty of Writing.

Note – I do not claim these to be good pieces of writing, only fun ones.

 Spell

Spell bound: B-O-U-N-D. No, not spell “bound”, spellbound! Spellbound for love, for passions, for manic drive. Spellbound by juicy spices that prick the soul and make it bleed beauty – spellbound, you fool! Spellbound to the glory place where blind begets vision and pain turns inside out and the raw becomes truth and the truth returns feeling to the place where pain had numbed the skin and layered it into thick, dead callouses….

Caress

Caressssss the callouses and tenderize them with pressure. Yes, pressure applied, then released, then reapplied with movement, a rhythm, a stroke, a pause, a gasp, a sigh. Ahhh! Caressssss

Shine

Shine on! Shine on, Harvest Moon! I ain’t had no lovin’ since… ah, the caress –

the caress that sets me spellbound. Spell caress: 

C-A-R-E-SSSSsss.

Yes!

the caress that puts stars in my eyes and makes them sparkle and shine.

Shine. Shine!

Shine-o-mize. Shinomize me. Oh yeah, Shinomize me! Shino-licious!

Shine.

"I Practice Writing"

Say it Out Loud

“I Practice Writing”. Go ahead. Say it.

I practice writing.

Is it difficult for you to say? How does it feel on your tongue? How does it sound rolling around in your head?

I practice writing.

It’s the word practice, isn’t it. Somehow, to say “I practice writing” sounds like a wanna-be looser. It conjures up all sorts of sarcasm and ridicule. It connotes a hope, a dream, a desire to be something not yet attained.

And yet, this is precisely what I do: I practice writing. Once I get past that wanna-be connotation and throw it out a wide-open window in my mind, I can tell you that I like the truth in that statement. Yes, I like it because you can’t be a writer unless you practice your craft.

Think on this a minute: the two most prestigious professions in our culture use this term, “practice”: medicine and law. They refer to their work as a practice. When we say, she practices law, there is no connotation of a wanna be. We say he has his own private practice and we are impressed, swelling with admiration and respect.

So what is it with the writing profession? People just think that somehow you become a writer; they do not consider the daily practice that put your name on a collection of work. If you write, you are a writer. And you are only a writer if you practice writing.

Lawyers work with clients; doctors work with patients, and writers work with an audience. Unlike lawyers and doctors whose clients and patients are real living bodies in front of them, writers work with an added element of the unknown – we have to do a little more guess work about what ales our audience and what they want. In essence, we practice alone. The pay off however, is that we have full liberty of creative expression and very few rules to bind us up.

Uh – oh, I feel the surge of passion beginning to pulsate in my blood. I feel the urge to go off in a tangent about the thrills of being a writer… but I really just want to stay on track here and discuss this idea of practicing writing.

Deep breath. Back on track. OK.

Writers need to understand this concept and promote it proudly in our culture. You see, everything we do is a process, a progression, a constant and steady evolution of change and growth. My writing has evolved over the years; I continue to gain new skills and discover new ideas. This all happens of course, because I practice writing.

So now I say it out loud when people ask me, “What do you do?” I say to them, “I practice writing.” Then I giggle in my head because it still sounds funny to me, but my facial expression is truly serious. So to you, my fellow writers, I want to say to you, be proud of your practice. Your writing practice is significant… oh, so very significant, in ways beyond your own understanding. Accept that as true and get on with your writing. Tell people you are a writer – go ahead, say it out loud. And then say, “I practice writing.”

OK writers, let’s get on with our practice!!

Brainstorming: The Freewriting Technique

When you’ve got a new idea for a writing project, how do you brainstorm to develop that idea? There are a lot of different ways to brainstorm from making lists to mind mapping, but the one I like best is freewriting. Freewriting is simply writing as quickly as you can to spill from your mind everything that comes into it. In freewriting, you do not allow yourself to stop and contemplate the organization of your ideas or the validity of the ideas. You also do not allow that inner critic to condemn you for grammar and spelling errors or to trip you up with doubts about the quality of your work in any way. In freewriting you are truly “free” to let go.

The act of freewriting is exhilarating. It invigorates me and makes me believe in myself and in the impossible. While freewriting, I really get to go to those “forbidden” places such as the sky, the depths of the earth, the places where ideas run rampant. In freewriting the unpredictable takes charge and takes me on a wild ride. Freewriting is equivalent to driving in the country with the top down on the car on a beautiful spring day with the radio blaring and me singing at the top of my lungs.

The most common propeller for freewriting is the use of prompts. Take a prompt and freewrite to it, knowing that there is no such thing as the “right” way to write to it. Let your imagination run and just see where it takes you. This is a natural high and makes you believe that you are potentially the best writer on earth! If nothing else, it is cathartic.

Another common use of freewriting is as a brainstorming technique for an idea that is percolating in your head. You’ve got the idea, but need to let it develop before you begin the actual writing. OK, so freewriting is the most effective way to do this in my opinion. Ask yourself “what if…” and write out the possibilities. The key is to not think first, but to let the thinking happen as a result of what emerges on the page. Thinking first puts your mind in control and kills the element of freedom. Freewriting is designed to go down into your mind where conscious thinking can’t go. In the process of freewriting you go to the places in your mind where magic happens!

Freewriting is wild and passionate! For me, freewriting is the open door where my muse comes in to play with me. Freewriting is a ritual for me, and it is absolutely the most enjoyable aspect of writing.

There are many ways to brainstorm and I believe that brainstorming is an essential first step to any writing project. Sometimes listing works best for me; other times it is mapping or webbing. But always I include the act of freewriting even if I do not consider it an exercise in active brainstorming because without freewriting, I often miss the one key element that makes the difference between good and fantastic!