Dandelions and Daydreams

“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.

1. Watch a Sunrise
2. Visit an Art Gallery
3. Walk barefoot on the beach
4. Call your best friend
5. Read your favorite book
6. Splash in a mud puddle
7. Build a snowman
8. Play on the playground at the park
9. Jump out of the swing
10. Watch a sunset
11. Snuggle with a special person
12. listen to classical music
13. take a nature hike
14. Learn a new craft
15. Take a walk in the sunshine
16. Buy yourself flowers
17. plant a tree
18. Try a new recipe
19. Go for a nature walk
20. Visit a museum
21. Take a nap
22. bake cookies
23. Meet someone new
24. Have coffee with another artist
25. Go to the zoo
26. COLOR–in a coloring book, with crayons
27. Take a bubble bath
28. Ride your bike
29. Drink Hot cocoa–with lots of marshmallows, AND whipped cream
30. Watch your favorite Disney cartoon
31. Skip
32. Wear your hair in pigtails
33. Buy a giant lolly pop
34. Buy a helium balloon and tie it to your wrist
35. When you get tired of the balloon, suck out the helium and sing as loud as you can
36. Blow bubbles
37. Make daisy crowns
38. Play with Play-dough
39. or Lego’s
40. or Lincoln Logs
41. wear your funky clothes
42. buy big fun jewelry and wear it.
43. Dance, even if you don’t know how
44. Learn to dance
45. Do cartwheels in the grass
46. play with buttons, sequins and plastic jewels
47. make a sun catcher
48. hang a prism or a crystal in your windows
49. try a new recipe
50. 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.

1.   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)
2. Blogging–pick a niche you are interested in and research/write articles. Your blog posts today could become a published article tomorrow
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.