Dear friends and
writers, for whom I am so thankful:
Merry Christmas! I hope you are
decorating gingerbread houses or opening gifts or sleeping late instead of
reading this newsletter first thing in the morning. (I’m not up writing it – I
found an email program that I could set up to send it today…) Next Tuesday I’ll
introduce the shared weekly writing project for the new year. A hint: it’s
focused on the idea of inspiration.
Happy year to you and thanks for
reading,
Elisabeth
PROCESS: THE
RELUCTANT BODY
What if the reluctant body refuses to get into the chair, or if in the
chair, refuses to write? This happens to everyone at some point. What I do
first is read. Often I opt for books about the writing process, but most
recently it has been an odd pair of books: one by Collette, the French writer
whose sentences are as beautiful as anyone’s I’ve ever read (possibly excepting
F. Scott Fitzgerald); and then a manual on how to organize a home. For some
reason these two get me excited again. Maybe it’s because they touch the two
parts of writing: the simple beauty and lushness of each word, and then the
masterminding organization that is required to pull a work together into a
coherent, internal order. But if the books don’t work, I step away and go do
something else. The body who wants to write will always find its way back to
the desk, when it feels ready.
Try this: Be kind to yourself if you don’t feel
like writing. When you are ready, you will write.
FEATURED VENUE:
SOMEBODY IN YOUR LIFE
One of the
primary reasons we write is to connect with others. It is not accidental that
most books are dedicated to a “you” (the May 22 Tuesday Writer spoke to this). Using print-on-demand technology, or
a pen on a piece of origami paper, put something you have written into tangible
form and give it to somebody else.
Print-on-demand websites: lulu.com OR a thousand
other ones.
PROMPT: CREATE YOUR OWN
This idea was a
gift to me from Kelly Lynae Robinson, Boise songwriter, who in turn learned it
from Michael J. Bugeja’s book, The Art
and Craft of Poetry: make a three-columned list of the highlights,
lowlights, and turning points in your life. Each one is a prompt, tailored to
you and you alone. Give yourself one of these prompts every Tuesday, or
any time you have a spare 8 minutes and feel like writing.
