A Guide for the Writer’s Journey

I. The Magic

Art is rare and sacred and hard work,

and there ought to be a wall of fire around it.

- Anthony Burgess

The Hand Maiden of Creativity

"What is creativity?" you ask. "Where do I find this mysterious flow? How can I keep the surge alive day after day?"

My! You’re full of questions. My feet are tired and this looks like a good place to set up camp for the night. Come, set your belongings against that oak tree and gather some wood for fuel, and I’ll gather stones to border our campfire.

We’ll get a cheery blaze going, put some food in our bellies and as we work I’ll try to answer your questions.

Each of us is born with a capacity to be creative. Creativity goes beyond intelligence, knowledge, learning and reasoning, beyond skills and talents.

What is creativity? Is it the ability to bring something new into existence? The process involves being open to fresh ideas, new ways of thinking. Draw on your memories and past experiences. People who challenge their muse continue to learn and are less stagnant creatively. Our minds organize and juggle multiple tasks and creativity grows stronger in a multitasking environment. Creativity happens when you least expect a new idea, but sparks and background processing fan the ongoing activity. The more you trust your creative process and your intuition, the more creative you become.

Children’s creativity must be nurtured. We need to cultivate this precious resource. A child’s squished creativity can be re-established in later years as long as the individual is open and honest with oneself. Creativity grows well in a nurturing setting.

Writers need to make plans to build around establishing and maintaining a creative environment.

Creativity is more than some place in your mind that throws ideas at you. Add a pinch of warmth from your heart and a dash of light from your soul. Mix these ingredients in a pan containing the essence of your experiences. No, Mystique, dinner’s over. Lie down, wash and take a nap. Good girl.

I’ve been known to tell writers that creativity is cousin to intuition. Creativity is an intangible, like intuition, and we sometimes struggle to get our hand around this fleeting element, but like sand we find it sifting through our fingers. This is not true creativity; we see but the shadow. The true essence of creativity lives inside each of us, sometimes alive, sometimes locked behind a maze of doors. The harder we search, the more difficulty we have grasping that which we seek.

Creativity, like intuition, is an aspect of what makes us human. The elements of creativity include: ease of ideas, withholding judgment, tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility and imagination, concentration, and fondness for disorder.

Ideas flow around each of us every minute of the day, including our sleep time. Our ideas include originating innovative associations that we find constructive. These are the ones we need to learn to pay attention to.

Why withhold judgment? A thought might seem too crazy at first, but if you hold fast, you might find a way to twist the thought around to be something useful. First impressions can fool you and prevent the further generation of new ideas. Stand back, let the pot simmer and see where you are led.

Are you willing to accept uncertainty, to not jump to conclusions, and not to categorize? Be willing to see the universe as a place where there is no right or wrong. The key here is to keep asking questions.

Feed your childlike ability to wonder. To maintain creativity, nourish your imagination and flexibility. See the world through eyes of "what I might create."

To be creative, you are determined and have the ability to concentrate. You don’t let boredom or frustration distract you.

A fondness for disorder has nothing to do with being messy. You enjoy shaking up things, to see the asymmetry in the physical and nonphysical. You can think nonlinearly when you need or want to.

Maybe we go about this in the wrong way. Instead of searching for creativity, we should invite it in. Open ourselves to experience the element inside us. Our inner voice is always talking to us. We need to be quiet and pay heed.

Everyone is creative. Everyone. Our creativity sustains us in times of trouble, brings joy to ourselves and to others, and keeps our minds vibrant.

Something to think about

Who’s the most creative person you know or know of? What makes this person creative? What talents, skills, and attributes contribute to this person’s creativity? What qualities do you share with this creative individual?

EXERCISES

1. Give animal-like characteristics to humans. Write down the names of five animals. List at least three characteristics for each animal. Write down the names of five characters (either new ones or existing ones). Match a character with one of the animals. How might you describe the character with the animal-like characteristics?

2. Create a new super hero or heroine. Give the power of imagination to your character. How might this power help the character? What adventures might the character have with the power of imagination? What foes might there be for him or her to conquer?

3. The Power of Imagination. What does that phrase mean to you? Can you use the phrase in your everyday life to think of ways to be creative? Use the phrase as a title and write what comes into your mind.

4. Name the most creative person you know, have heard of, or read about. What makes him or her creative? Did the person grow up in a supportive family? What attributes of this person do you admire?

5. Who has supported you in your creative endeavors? Family? Friends? Teachers? Others? How have you supported yourself?

6. Who are you when you’re at your most creative self? What do you feel? How does this make your body feel?

What Makes a Writer?

You are a writer. What skills, talents, and characteristics will you need on your writing journey? Hold that thought! Don’t answer yet.

What? Yes, Mystique, you may go now. She’s off to exercise her hunting skills. She’s passionate about keeping her skills sharp.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes. What makes a writer? One who’s good at putting words together? What if the writer has no fire - no passion? There’s a great deal about good writing that anyone can learn if he’s motivated. A writer’s passion drives him to become the best writer possible.

Do you have this passion? What other qualities does a writer need? Here is a list of writing skills and talents.

- Creativity/Imagination

- Curiosity

- The need to grow

- Passion

- Persistence/Determination

- Writing Ability

- Good research skills

- A working knowledge of the publishing business.

- Self Promotion

- Likes to work alone

- Networking

- Emotionally prepared for rejection

- Motivation

- Strong-willed

- Vision

After all is said and done, your attitude toward yourself, the writer, will be your strongest ally.

EXERCISES

1. What are your writing strengths? Where might you improve? How will you accomplish this?

2. How can you capitalize on your strengths? What ways can improve on your weak points? What do you need to do to achieve this?

3. Maybe there’s something missing from the above list. Can you think of skills and talents not listed above that you possess that help in your writing journey?

4. Write about yourself, the Writer.

Passion, Passion, Burning Bright

Welcome back. I’m delighted you decided to continue your journey. Please, pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. I had a feeling you’d find your way back to me.

Oh? How did I know that you’d come back? Well, I seem to be a magnet, drawing others with the passion for writing to me.

You have this desire, this need to write. What if you’ve lost touch with your passion to write? Continue to write. Push through this time when the flame of passion dims. Some writers think that you must have passion to write. Poopy! If you want to write, you can become a good, maybe a great, writer. This is not for someone else to define. This is up to you and you alone

So now, what should you do with your passion and need? There’s only one answer: Write!

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Let’s look at this idea of writing and see how you can achieve your goals.

What’s that? Goals? Well then, this is your first assignment: What goals do you want to achieve in your writing for the coming year? Can you think of five? Go ahead, here’s paper and a pen.

Examples:

- Write for 30 minutes every day.

- Complete one article (one story, three poems) every month.

- Before the end of this year I will submit at least one article/story/poem.

- Keep a personal journal in which I will write every day.

- Set a time for my writing each day.

- Have the first draft of my novel completed in nine months.

Done? That wasn’t so bad, was it? Now that you have written goals, print them and put them somewhere you can read them often. Remember to ask: how can you go on a journey if you don’t know your destination?

Now what?

You’ll need a designated space in which to do your writing and you might want to set a time. Do you have an office or a room for your computer? Some place you can write without being disturbed? Where is the perfect space for you to be creative? No, I didn’t mean Hawaii!

Maybe you like to write outside, on a bench in the mall, or in a favorite restaurant. Sometimes a change of scenery can inspire our creative flow. Seek out places where your creativity runs wild here you feel your passion burn.

What about a time? Do you want to split your writing time into two sessions? Are you a morning person? A night person? When can you write and not be disturbed?

Let’s write a simple contract, a contract for you and by you. Feel free to change the words to suit your situation.

Example:

I, (your name goes here), am committed to:

1. Write (for at least 30 minutes a day after dinner in my home office, or whatever your goal might be).

2. (Second goal)

3. (Third goal)

I promise myself that I will keep this contract with myself, as this will enrich and satisfy my passion to write and tickle my muse.

Signed: _____________________ on this day ___________________

Here are some additional ideas for using your contract:

1. Look up quotes about writing or living your dream and add these to your contract.

2. Read your contract and quote at least once a day.

3. Print out your contract and display it in the area(s) where you write.

4. Put another copy of your contract in a place where you’ll see it several times a day. Maybe the bathroom mirror or some place in the kitchen. Have a day job? Keep your contract at work for motivation and encouragement and to remind you that you are, indeed, a writer.

You have established goals to work toward, a space to write, and a timeframe in which to work. You have a contract to keep with yourself. How do you tap into your passion when you set a schedule for writing? Is it possible to fulfill your need to write and to be creative on a schedule?

Yes, you can!

How, you say? Simple, by doing it, by writing each day for the amount of time you have decided in your special space. Remember this is your contract. From time to time, adjust your contract as your needs change.

You’re afraid that you won’t be able to write on demand? That the words won’t come?

Never fear! That’s part of the reason I’m here, to guide you through this passion and need you have to write. To help you discover the who, what, when, where, and how of your writing process.

What, Mystique? No, of course I’ve not forgotten. I’m getting to the journal writing now.

Let’s get started. If you don’t already keep a journal, start one. This can become your personal journal, your writing ideas journal, your dream journal, or anything else.

What can you write about in your journal? It’s a personal decision. Write about your day, your work, your feelings, your dreams, or write about writing. Perhaps start out by telling your life story to your journal, writing as if telling your story to a new friend. Whatever you do, write.

Don’t forget to review your goals. Are you on track? Is there something you need to add or change?

In the upcoming days, we’ll journey together to discover where you are going with your writing and how to get there.

So get packing and don’t forget to bring your passion! You’ll definitely need that!

EXERCISES

1. If you haven’t done so, create your writer’s contract.

2. Keep a log of your goal successes. When you track successes, you’ll get a feel for what goals work for you and which ones don’t. Create realistic goals but always challenge yourself.

3. Several times a year, review your contract and update as needed.

Maintenance of the Writer-Muse Relationship

Your muse is more than a best friend, but one whom you let into the darkest parts of your heart and soul. You share everything with the muse, and I do mean everything. No secrets allowed. A writer learns to write from all parts of her soul and the dark, hidden areas give the writer depth.

Hold that thought. Someone’s knocking at the door. Mystique will keep you company until I return.

* * *

"Look who I found, Shana McAlister. Do you know each other? No? Shana, this is the writer I told you about, the one who’s invited me to share her writing journey.

I take the armload of books she carries and place them in a chair. "Do you know of Shana? She’s a writer also. Maybe she should tell you her story. Shana?"

"Sure." Shana tosses her head to one side and her reddish brown hair gathers in wisps around her face. "I write online, mostly experimental fiction and poetry. I also keep a blog at my website."

I sit beside my friend. "Now, I know you have a secret. Do you wish to tell my young friend how you got started?"

"Started? Oh, I understand what you mean." Shana leans forward. "It’s not a secret. Just a bit unusual, I guess. I was born a character. Yes, that’s right, a character. Guess I became a little too real and I decided to take off on my own. Surprised the author, especially when she discovered my website and the fact that I’d become a writer." She stands up. "But I must get going. I dropped by to return some books I borrowed and need to get back to my writing. Nice to meet another writer. I hope you enjoy your journey with Esumera and Mystique."

* * *

Fascinating, isn’t she?

Can you image creating a character who runs off and creates a life for herself? Shana’s blog is full of her life, thoughts, feelings, and adventures.

Are you this free, even to yourself? What you’re afraid to write in your diary or journal - your muse knows. What you’ve never told your best friend - your muse understands. What frightens you in your dreams - your muse experiences with you?

Your muse is your shadow-self, the grand combination of everything that makes you, you. Your muse is your physical, emotion, and mental twin.

How do you maintain this relationship with your muse, day after day, word after word?

Your muse is fashioned out of thoughts and emotions, made live with your soul and breath, and feeds on your words. Do you go days without writing? Are you starving your muse?

EXERCISES

1. Your muse wants, no NEEDS you to write. Write every day (or set your own schedule, maybe you wish to write three times during the week and for a certain number of hours during the weekend, etc.). She doesn’t care if you write twenty words or twelve thousand words a day. Write in your diary or journal; write ideas for future stories, articles, or poems, draft a plan for a novel.

2. Your muse is your friend. Give her, or him, a name. What does your muse look like? Dream about your muse. Put your muse into a story or poem. Draw a picture of your muse, or go through magazines and find a picture that you imagine is your muse.

3. Pick some item, maybe a pebble, a special pen, or a charm, and take it everywhere you go. This is a gift from your muse - to remind you every day that she or he is with you, always. Write about your special gift.

Writers Read

A good style simply doesn’t form

unless you absorb half a dozen topflight authors every year.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Do you love books? The cover artwork? The smell of a new book? The feel of the ink on the pages?

I live among stacks of books and overflowing bookcases. Mystique loves the clutter. Books provide places to hide behind and to sit upon. She even sleeps curled up on a good book.

Writers are readers. Avid readers. We can’t stop, nor do we wish to do so. I once heard that someone started a Writers Anonymous group, but no one showed up for the meeting because they couldn’t break away from their reading.

How do you feel about the books you’re reading? Do you let the author’s words transport you to distant worlds, to the big city, to the desert or oceans? Do you care what happens to the characters? Do they mean something to you on a personal level? Do you live in the frame of the story?

How many books have you read this past year? One? Ten? Hundreds?

Why is it important for the writer to read? Do you read in the genre in which you write?

Reading is entertainment and instruction. When you read a well-written book, you are learning POV tips, plotting, character development, how to use setting and description, and how dialog works as action. Fiction is three dimensional, like real life. You are creating a focus and building a framework for your stories.

Read voraciously. Read works similar to what you write, read books that are different and expand your horizons. Experiment; try something different. Take, for instance, Mystique. She’ll sleep on the same book for several days, then one day I’ll look for her and she’s not on that book. She’s moved on.

Reading the writing of other authors inspires you to improve, to reach for that distant star in your own work.

Don’t limit yourself to the bestseller list. Yes, do read some of those, but look for the gems buried in the shelves of bookstores. Try writers you’ve never read before. Read an author recommended by friends and enemies. Read the classics and read the ultra modern.

Creativity thrives on new experiences.

I can teach from my experiences, but you must want to learn. I guide, inspire, motivate, and support. I offer tips, hints and examples to improve your writing, but you do the hard work.

EXERCISES

1. Write down the number of books you’ve read during the past year. Write down as many titles as you can remember.

2. What kind of books do you like to read most? Biography? Mystery? Fantasy? Poetry? Write down the number of books from your favorite category.

3. How many books live in your house currently?

4. Do you have a library card? More than one?

5. Do you belong to any book clubs? How many? Which ones?

6. How do you feel when you open a new book and begin to read?

7. Describe the smell of your favorite book. How does it feel in your hands?

8. Name a book you read ten years ago. What was it about? Why is that book important to you?

9. Name a book you read this month. What was it about? Why is the book important to you?

10. Why do you love reading books?

11. Write a letter to your favorite author. What will you say? What do you ask? What do you share?

The Almighty Reader

You have an obligation to your readers, a contract so to speak. You, as the author do not write words that the reader absorbs one by one. Instead, an interaction occurs. The author skillfully crafts a mood, a scene and provides the right amount of detail so that the reader feels a part of the action, personally knows the characters, and lives vicariously as a shadow character in the world created by the writer.

Anyone who reads your words is a part of the story, experiencing the adventure along with the characters you’ve created. Your words are the movie screen upon which the reader sees and lives the story.

I also have a contract with Mystique. I provide her a place of safety, food, and water. She gives me companionship and wisdom. This is a tacit agreement between the two of us, and we are both active participants.

Be true to the characters, the plot, and the reader. Be honest with your readers.

What does the writer get from his readers?

Feedback. A stranger who has read your words is likely to give you honest feedback. If positive, your heart rejoices; if not, realize that not everyone is going to enjoy your work. Yes, negative comments and reviews hurt, but use them as stepping stones to growth. Study what they said; see where you may need improvement. Find something positive in everything, and you will learn and grow.

EXERCISES

1. Think of some books or stories where you felt the author let you down. What happened or didn’t happen that made you feel this way? What might have been done differently?

2. What do you, as a reader, expect from the book you are reading. Make a list. Think about books that disappointed you and others that you’ll always remember.

3. What are your reading goals? How many fiction books do you want to read over a specific period of time? How about nonfiction? List your reading goals for the coming month and the coming year.

Set Your Voice Free

"What is a writer’s voice and how do I get one?" you ask. Good question.

Mystique has a voice and uses it with authority, part survival, part confidence and independence. She’ll voice her opinion about people, food, and well, about anything that concerns her needs.

What is voice? How do you use your voice in your writing?

What about your voice? Is it audible in your everyday life? Did you learn to quiet your voice in your childhood? Where is your voice and how do you use it?

Many people make this too complex. Voice is so simple that the answer is often overlooked: you are the answer. Your voice is always with you. You can’t lose it. Your voice is present when you write in your journal and when you talk with your closest friend. Your voice is the true you. It encompasses your sense of humor, your ways, how you think and feel. It is your essence.

To set your voice free you must clear your mind of clutter. All you need to do is one simple thing, listen. Mystique knows how to listen. She gives room for her voice to thrive and through her voice comes wisdom, power, knowledge, creativity, and intuition.

Sound too easy? It is, and it isn’t. Our commercial too-busy-to-slow-down modern day lives don’t encourage listening in any form. We fill our minds with radio and television, and with movies and music. What room have we left for listening?

You have many voices, and they are all different. You have one for work or play, or being a parent, teacher, student, and on and on. The trick is to find the voice behind them, the core voice, the voice that’s attached to your soul. This core voice is the one you were born with, who spoke before you learned language. The voice that cried when you were hungry or cold. The voice that your parents learned to understand before you learned language. How did they learn? By listening and through experience.

Tone

A book’s tone might be serious, formal, angry, loving, sarcastic, or sorrowful. On the other hand, it could be passionate, light-hearted, ironic, witty, or meditative. Tone encompasses the full range of emotions, and any of these might be the tone you choose for your story.

The story’s voice and style play a part in the tone of the story. The tone helps to create a ‘reality’, or a fictional framework, for the reader to experience the story. The first few paragraphs should set the tone for the reader. The tone might remain constant, or change with events.

EXERCISES

1. Writing with the other hand. Use a pen or pencil in the hand that you don’t normally use. Write a list of words that come to mind.

2. See the world through different eyes. You are a tree. Think like a tree. What’s it like to be rooted to one spot, to be exposed to wind and rain, to go through the seasons? Become a tree and write from that POV.

3. Listening. Once you have your characters developed, do you listen to them? Has there been a character or two who have almost written their own stories? If so, write about them and your experiences. If not, imagine how you might feel and how you would write if your characters were co-creators in your writing.

Romancing the Pen (Freewriting)

See Mystique? She’s sitting in that old lounge chair, staring at the wall.

"What’s she doing," you ask? She’s watching the shadows moving over the surface of the wall. "What shadows?" you inquire. See how the light from the window casts faint shadows? The shadows are so dim I can barely make them out, but Mystique watches them, and obediently follows to wherever they may take her.

I call this romancing the pen. She’s doing the human equivalent of free writing as she lets herself follow these mystery shadows without question. Take up pen or keyboard. Don’t think; just write.

What? Don’t ask! Write.

If a question forms in your mind, write it down. Wherever your mind roams, write.

No editing, no going back. Welcome to free writing. Writing that is free. Writing that flows out of you like sand through your fingers.

Don’t question. Words will appear as if by magic. They want to come out. Let loose the walls of everyday life and let the words free.

Use bad grammar and no periods. Write the same word ten times. Spell the way you want. Be free. Let go. The words are there behind the everyday clutter of your life.

Free your words, your thoughts. Why write without regard to grammar, punctuation, or anything else? Why not? Free writing is a way to nurture the muse. This is your private domain. You might never develop what you free write or you might take bits and pieces and create a work you wish to share.

Free writing is pure art. This is your primal voice speaking. At first words, thoughts, and ideas might survive in bits and pieces, and the more you write free, the more the words come from the depths and are heard.

The words are within you, buried behind events of the day, within the shadow of dreams. Still your inner editor, and the words rush forth, from dark, hidden places and stumble into the light for the first time. You give them life. You are the creator.

As your words tumble out, they take shape on your paper or monitor. You don’t look back, you only move forward.

At first, a few drops, a word or two leaks out, then a gush from quiet still waters into a rapid flow, across a barren land, and down a waterfall. They crash free at the bottom in the white spray and rapidly run downstream and become a river.

Each drop is a work of art and the writer’s function is creator and recorder. Banish that dreaded editor. Embrace the pages and pages of art and enjoy words that sing and dance and play.

Free writing is pure art. Words that define voice, the writer at her/his best: the muse let loose.

The writer shouts from the vast darkness and the words light and empower art.

EXERCISES

1. You are the liberator of words being held captive in an evil land. What is your plan to set your words free?

2. Where do you write? Make a list. Where have you never written. Make a second list. Choose a place from the second list and write in that place.

3. What time of the day or night do you normally choose to write? Pick a different time to write.

4. Think back to Mystique and her free-willing shadows. If you followed the movement of the shadows on the wall, what would you see? What might they tell you? Spend time freewriting about these shadows.

A Writer’s Ritual

Why a writer’s ritual, you ask? Sound too weird for you? A ritual is anything from a routine to an elaborate set of events.

We perform rituals in our everyday life, so why not develop a writer’s ritual? Children might follow a ritual that involves taking a bath or shower, brushing teeth, having a story read to them before they fall asleep. Rituals can be this simple or as complex as needed. Some rituals are every day activities that you might not think about as such or something that has spiritual meaning.

What is your morning routine? You might do morning activities in the same order, so you don’t have to remember what you need to do in order to start your day.

You can also develop a get-ready-for-writing routine or ritual. This readies your mind and body for the challenge ahead. The goal of a writing ritual is to prepare you for what is to come. If you feel that this is not something you wish to do, that’s ok! But, why not give it a try. Experiment, try something new and different.

How formal, creative, or spontaneous you wish your ritual to be is up to you. You may choose to give your ritual a spiritual flavor, or maybe pull something out of your childhood memories to open you to the creative process. Whatever you decide, do what you find works for you.

Me? I see my writing, creativity, and the creative process as magical. My writing rituals tend to lean toward mythical and spiritual aspects. Creating ritual is a way I can create sacred space, my place for putting words on paper. Sometimes I draw a card from a tarot deck at the beginning of my ritual, or I might randomly pick a song to listen to. I’ve also taken a blank index card and wrote the first word that came to my mind when I picked up my pen as the starting point for my writer’s ritual.

Ritual can be anything from playing Solitaire until you win, to a series of events that you undertake to set the stage for your writing adventure. Ritual is the way you get ready to write.

Once the mood is set, a spark is lit inside you. Now is the time for you to take up pen or keyboard and create words.

Here are examples you might wish to incorporate or to think about in planning your writer’s ritual.

Examples:

- Create a circle around yourself of items from your childhood. Let your mind go free, and let the memories flow.

- Take a word or phrase that you heard recently or one that has been reoccurring to you. If you can’t think of something, use the first words that come to your mind. Clear your mind and keep only your one word or phrase running around inside you. When you’re ready, write the word or phrase. Keep writing.

- Take a long, hot (or cold) bath or shower. Let your body experience the water. How does it feel against your skin? In your hair? On your face? Against your lips?

- Place a candle in the center of a table (away from anything flammable, please). Light the candle and stare into the flame, clearing your mind. All that exists is the flame and you.

- Remember any song from childhood. (London Bridge is Falling Down, Three Blind Mice, etc.) Sit in a comfortable place, close your eyes, and sing it over and over to yourself. When you’re ready, begin writing.

- What rituals might you invent to spark your writing? Experiment; try new things. Writers explore, so don’t hold back.

EXERCISES

1. Design several rituals, or try some of the examples given here. What works for you? Can you guess why certain things light the spark and others don’t?

2. Pick a place you feel would be impossible for you to write. What makes this place inadequate for your writing needs? Make a list. For every item on your list, make another list of the opposite of what you wrote on the first list. What if you did go to your impossible writing place? What might or might not happen?

3. Pick one of the example rituals. How might you change the ritual to be your own?

4. Write a letter to someone you knew in childhood, who’s no longer available to you. Use this letter in a writing ritual.

5. Write about some of your writing ritual experiences. What works for you and what doesn’t?