A Fresh Start
- At January 27, 2020
- By Write in Community
- In Blog
6
Prairie Sunrise
I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.—Juansen Dizon
Welcome to our blog! And to our past readers, welcome back! After a hiatus of some months, we are back again, extending an invitation to you to join in community, to write in community. We believe that each and every one of us have great immeasurable creative potential, and we want to be a source of encouragement and inspiration as you go about your writing lives.
How are you doing this January? And how is your writing? For some (I mean for me) it can be difficult getting back into the writing groove, especially at this time of year—restless, unable to settle in for what I call “deep work.” Does this sound familiar at all? The January blahs? According to psychologists, the mid-winter blues are a real thing. The letdown after the glitter and joy of the holidays, the low light for those of us in the northern hemisphere.
So if you’ve been in a slump lately, the good news…DRUM ROLL!… is that there is always a chance to start fresh, to start all over again. As Juansen Dizon says, every sunrise can be a new chapter. For those of us who like to send our time scribbling on yellow legal pads, it can be a new poem or a chapter of a new book.
With every blog we will feature writing exercises, and we suggest you give them a try. Allow yourself at least thirty minutes to complete the exercise, taking it slowly, one step at a time.
Writing Exercise:
- Think of some modes of transportation: a truck or tractor or perhaps a chugging locomotive. Make a list of these, at least 6-8 items.
- Choose one mode of transportation that you think best describes your writing the last couple of weeks.
- Now consider the characteristics of that mode of transport. Is it steady-as-you-go, lurching? Where and how does it spend its time? Then, write, starting with this as a first line:
Lately, my writing has been like a __________
(a tractor or steamship, whatever you select) - Go on from there describing how your writing, lately, has been like that tractor. Does it come into your yard and blink its lights at you? Does it let out a sad little putt-putt? Write quickly, allowing first thoughts to appear on the page, keeping pen to paper, with no cross outs. Set a timer for 15 minutes and when it rings, see what you have. Have fun!
Kathy Timperley
My writing right now is like an ‘85 diesel pickup that’s been sitting for months, air slowly seeping out of sun hardened tires, battery long since drained and cracked, glove box full of mouse nest. Motivation, like gasoline fumes, is but a dim memory. It just might be easier to haul it off to the scrapyard and plant grass in the bare spot.
Write in Community
Hope you get that pickup running!! Thanks for commenting.
Kathy Raabe
I’m rewriting my first draft of a novel. Added new characters and a new beginning. It’s so much more interesting! Crossing my fingers on all the rest.
Write in Community
It’s wonderful to enter another world for awhile. Good luck!
Jodi
Lately my writing has been like a skateboard, racing down a hill toward a deadline and then slowing until I approach the next one. The skateboard promises a thrill, but it won’t propel itself. To feel the rumbling and excitement of the creative force that stirs a heart or speaks truth, I have to jump on with both feet.
I wish I my writing could be like a sailboat, gradually picking up with the wind, the words floating across the page without a second thought.
Write in Community
I love the idea of a skateboard, Jodi, and jumping on with both feet. Nicely done! And yes, the sailboat…