“Writing is like breathing, ” Julia Cameron says in The Right to Write. I can’t help but laugh at the analogy. At least I laugh as best I can with baby crowding my diaphragm and an old back problem flaring up making breathing difficult. These past few days, whenever I get out of breath, I find myself retreating to the page for solace.
Writing is like breathing. Both should come naturally, but somewhere the love of words is trained out of us in preference for proper paragraph structure and well diagrammed sentences. Deep belly breaths are traded for shallow chest breathing as we try to “suck it in” and hide that extra 5 pounds. Then there are the injuries. The pain between your shoulder blades from poor posture, heavy backpacks, and too many hours at the computer. The dreamers are injured by that inner voice saying, “You’re just not good enough.” The writer’s block is created by that voice and the disapproval of a thousand others who seem to say, “You’re not a writer.”
Writing is like breathing. One day you learn a few simple exercises to stretch out the mucles or build better posture. One day you pick up a book with ome seemingly silly writing tools, but you figure “what the heck.” You practice, you exercise, you write ever day. One day you take a deep belly breath filling your lunghs with oxygen and forgetting about those five extra pounds. One day you write without concern for grammer and the words speak volumes about your passion.
After one day, life really gets exciting, the fun begins, and writing comes as naturally as breathing.
Being an artist is about giving yourself to others, and giving creativity is a delight. Even though being creative and giving is wonderful, it is also draining. As an artist–whether you are a writer, photographer, painter, or just a person who loves to create beauty–taking time to fill yourself and recharge your creativity is a necessary part of creating and giving.
Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way
, recommends “artists dates” to re-fill your creative tank. I have created a list of 50 possible artist dates to restore your creative energy.
- Watch a Sunrise
- Visit an Art Gallery
- Walk barefoot on the beach
- Call your best friend
- Read your favorite book
- Splash in a mud puddle
- Build a snowman
- Play on the playground at the park
- Jump out of the swing
- Watch a sunset
- Snuggle with a special person
- listen to classical music
- take a nature hike
- Learn a new craft
- Take a walk in the sunshine
- Buy yourself flowers
- plant a tree
- Try a new recipe
- Go for a nature walk
- Visit a museum
- Take a nap
- bake cookies
- Meet someone new
- Have coffee with another artist
- Go to the zoo
- COLOR–in a coloring book, with crayons
- Take a bubble bath
- Ride your bike
- Drink Hot cocoa–with lots of marshmallows, AND whipped cream
- Watch your favorite Disney cartoon
- Skip
- Wear your hair in pigtails
- Buy a giant lolly pop
- Buy a helium balloon and tie it to your wrist
- When you get tired of the balloon, suck out the helium and sing as loud as you can
- Blow bubbles
- Make daisy crowns
- Play with Play-dough
- or Lego’s
- or Lincoln Logs
- wear your funky clothes
- buy big fun jewelry and wear it.
- Dance, even if you don’t know how
- Learn to dance
- Do cartwheels in the grass
- play with buttons, sequins and plastic jewels
- make a sun catcher
- hang a prism or a crystal in your windows
- try a new recipe
- wear something reserved for special occasions
What do you do to recharge?
What do concert pianists, professional football players, and writers all have in common?
If they want to be good great at their craft, they all have to practice…daily!
As we sit back with our cup of morning coffee–or tea, if you prefer–we dream of writing. As every aspiring writer knows, when the time is right (when I retire, when the kids are grown, when life slows down, when I save enough to take a month off from my job…) that we will be able to sit down and pound out a Pulitzer Prize winning book.
And if you are ever going to get that published book or article, you need to start now. Drink your tea and sit down for some daily writing practice.
How do I approach daily writing practice?
The possibilities for how to practice writing are endless. Use any or all the following methods to stretch the author within you.
- Morning Pages–three pages, single spaced, handwritten, writing down whatever comes to your mind. Don’t stop writing until you reach the end of three pages. Don’t critique. Don’t correct. Just write. (this suggestion is from The Right to Write)
- Blogging–pick a niche you are interested in and research/write articles. Your blog posts today could become a published article tomorrow
- Maintain a swipe file– whenever you read a magazine, newspaper,website, or etc. Look for attention grabbing headlines, watch for topics that interest you. Collect these articles and use them later to create your own version.
- Writing Prompts–The internet is full of writing prompt lists and generators. My favorite writing prompt list is the monthly calendar from Toasted Cheese, a website devoted to helping writers pursue their craft. Other good websites for writing prompts are: Creative Writing Prompts, Writers Digest, and Prompt Generator.
- Books–Get a book on writing or creativity and do the suggested exercises. My favorites are The Right to Write
, Writing Down the Bones, and The Artist’s Way.
Start today. Write, and write often. Don’t critique. Don’t edit. Let the creative, imaginative, vibrant author grow and flourish.
You don’t have to be published to be an author and a writer. All you have to do is write.
