We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in\u00a0introspection.<\/p>\n
– – – Anais Nin<\/p>\n
Writing\u00a0is a simple act that involves arranging and rearranging twenty-six letters on a\u00a0blank page \u2013 with some punctuation thrown in for clarification. I call it simple, but there are a lot of challenging decisions to make along the way.\u00a0Your array of letters are at the ready in your virtual tool box. Your screen or\u00a0the page is like a vision board that reminds you where you are, where you\u2019ve\u00a0been, where you’re going and where you want to end up. Your ideas are beacons
that light up the path and your mind is like a stovetop with pots simmering on\u00a0every burner, waiting for your attention.<\/p>\n
When\u00a0you\u2019re ready to begin and you feel inspired, the pots boil over faster than\u00a0your hands can skim across the computer keys. Like a planchette gliding\u00a0soundlessly over a Ouija board, your fingers seemingly move without your assistance.\u00a0You get so immersed in your alternate world, you lose time and place as you set\u00a0out to create something that didn\u2019t exist before. It\u2019s like waking up, chasing
a dream and finding a way to seize it and hold it firmly in your grasp.<\/p>\n
When\u00a0you\u2019re ready to begin and you\u2019re not inspired, it takes a world of patience and grit to stay focused as you hope and pray for the creative muse to grace you with her presence. It could take a long time or she may show up in a minute. Or not at all. Like a hummingbird, flitting, sipping sweet nectar from scarlet poppies and purple petunias and taking off again, the muse is here one minute, gone the next. But whether or not she comes and however long she stays, your job is the same \u2013 to keep on writing.<\/p>\n
Although\u00a0the well known adage, A Writer Writes, sounds pretty straightforward, it’s no easy task to allow the process to unfold in its own way, in its own time, without trying to control it. We human beings abhor being out of control, but that\u2019s\u00a0what good writing requires. We have to learn to live in the midst of chaos and
tolerate not knowing where we’re headed or what might show up. None of the\u00a0steps are quick, easy, or tie themselves up in neat little bundles. We have to keep\u00a0moving forward anyway, blindfolded and trusting, loose ends hanging everywhere,\u00a0hoping that we end up with something heartfelt and authentic.<\/p>\n
A writer\u2019s life is made\u00a0up of unfinished ideas, dangling participles, and flashes of memory that seem\u00a0unreachable, all powered by a yearning to tell a story, share a teaching or\u00a0heal a wound. Moving forward takes determination, organization, stamina, more\u00a0stamina, a willingness to listen to informed criticism, and a mighty desire to
express yourself and your ideas without filters. It also takes a lot of love,\u00a0both for yourself and for your work.<\/p>\n
You start out as a\u00a0leader, dreaming up ideas, shaping your
material and placing the words where you think they belong. But with a little\u00a0luck, you become a follower as you watch the words start automatically pouring\u00a0out and rearranging themselves as if you had nothing to do with it.\u00a0This is what every artist yearns for
\u2013 getting into the zone and allowing the progression to simply happen. It\u2019s\u00a0like watching a wave crash onto the shore and ebb out, leaving crabs, colorful\u00a0seashells, and strings of seaweed in its wake. These are the pearls of wisdom, the\u00a0hidden gems that inspire you to dive into your psyche, unearth the secrets that\u00a0are hidden away, illuminate new ideas and use them boldly.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0may take some discipline to zero in at first. Pearls, in all their pristine\u00a0beauty, are created as a response to an irritant, a grain of sand, that annoys\u00a0the oyster so much, it begins to produce layers of nacre as a defense\u00a0mechanism. In much the same way, the things we create are responses to\u00a0challenges that need to be faced and dealt with. But we artists like a good\u00a0challenge. We like how it awakens us mentally and creatively.<\/p>\n
After\u00a0trying to break down the steps in learning to write, I don’t think you can\u00a0teach yourself to do it in the literal sense. What you can do is make friends\u00a0with your inner critic, remove the obstacles to your creativity and allow your\u00a0natural talent to shine through. When you make a commitment to trust your\u00a0instincts and flex your writing muscles day after day, they will become strong,\u00a0consistent, dependable and available.<\/p>\n
Writing\u00a0can make you laugh, cry, or it can change your perception of history. But this\u00a0can only happen when you forget about good or bad, happy or sad, and get down\u00a0to the business of writing. Whether or not you get that book deal or you get on\u00a0the bestseller list, whether somebody else likes what you\u2019re creating or thinks\u00a0it\u2019s boring, you can still derive satisfaction and excitement from your work\u00a0with no particular agenda besides telling your story, unburdening your heart, and\u00a0speaking your mind with a mighty determination to believe in yourself all along\u00a0the way.<\/p>\n
As\u00a0you do your best to create something that is uniquely you, you may be pleasantly\u00a0surprised to see what you feel drawn to. Or not. When my students listen to a\u00a0prompt I offer them and settle in to see what comes up, they are constantly\u00a0surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u00a0had no idea I\u2019d be writing about this,\u201d is a common comment they make when it\u2019s\u00a0time to read aloud their pieces. In some cases, they suddenly remember\u00a0something they thought they had forgotten. In other cases, they want to forget\u00a0something but they find out that they have no choice as the hidden events come\u00a0bubbling up to the surface.<\/p>\n
So\u00a0pick up a pen or sit down at your computer and whatever you do, keep on\u00a0writing. When you stop second guessing yourself, your abilities and your\u00a0choices, creating can be a safe haven, a place to feel welcome, an outlet to\u00a0express your emotions and an escape hatch when the world around you seems\u00a0overwhelming.<\/p>\n
Feminist\u00a0Gloria Steinem says, \u201cWriting is the only thing that, when I do it, I don\u2019t\u00a0feel like I should be doing something else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in\u00a0introspection. – – – Anais Nin Writing\u00a0is a simple act that involves arranging and rearranging twenty-six letters on a\u00a0blank page \u2013 with some punctuation thrown in for clarification. I call it simple, but there are a lot of challenging decisions to make along the way.\u00a0Your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2423,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2422\/revisions\/2423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}