Letting It Flow

How do you get the juices going? In class we discussed this. Some people have to have absolute quiet, uninterrupted time. That's not always easy to come by, though. I like to clear my desk, it's just a metaphor, my desk is never clear. I just like to know that I have taken care of the humdrum things so that I won't have a voice in my head saying "You really should be doing . . ."

As a real estate consultant who works from a home office where I also write, I have to be sure to seperate the two. Fortunately, I come from a culture that includes making the sign of the cross. No, I do not bless myself before writing, but I have the distinct feeling of now I am in prayer and now I am out of prayer. For writing I use Tibetan chimes, the little gongs connected with a leather strap. "Chime" now I am writing and "chime" now I am done writing. I do not check emails, the news or other distractions between chimes.

I have a writer friend who wears one of her husband's old shirts in her writing time. This sounded good to me, but since I don't have a husband I went to the Goodwill to buy an old shirt. I came out of there with a shirt I didn't really like, but did get a table and chairs I still have a few years later. The shirt I eventually donated back to Goodwill.

What rituals do you have?

Writing Letters

In the first session of Writing Thru It we talk about writing letters. People who say that they don't write actually do at least leave notes for people or send emails. Some people in class say they miss the old fashioned letter that comes on paper in the mailbox.

Letters come in lots of forms and an example that I use in this class is the old song made famous by Fats Waller "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down". I heard this on NPR while I was driving the Sunday before I taught the class for the first time so I was excited. As soon as I got home, I googled the song title to get the lyrics which start like this:

I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
and make believe it came from you.

Letters can be to (or from) anyone. When I was a kid at summer camp, in the last few days I would mail myself a letter to get it in the mail at home. Shows there is foreshadowing in real life. Now I am suggesting that other people do something similar.

The homework for this section is to write a letter or note to anyone living or dead. It can be someone you love or someone you are not speaking to anymore. It could be to an organization or a whole branch of your family. It can be nice or nasty, just write it out. The twist, and there always is a twist, is that for a follow up letter write a second letter to that entity as if you had received a reply. Do not write the reply, that's too easy. Do not plan - that might stifle you. Write the first letter, pause an hour, a day, or a week, and then write the second letter. Again just let it flow.
If you have trouble letting it flow, don't worry. We'll be discussing that here, too.

Senior College

I had the honor of teaching my class, Writing Thru It, at Senior College in Belfast Maine this winter. Loved it! Got great reviews! Thank you. If you are unfamiliar with Senior College check out the link on this site.

Next Big News is that I will be teaching again at Senior College for 5 weekday mornings the week of June 16. It will be the same course only expanded.

The class is described here: Whether you want to preserve your memories, come to a better understanding of a period in your life, or work your way thru a difficult time or illness, writing is a tool that can assist you. The focus here is the process of writing, not the finished work. We will explore the possibilities available to us by working with letters, diaries, journals, fiction and poetry. No previous writing experience is required; both men and women are encouraged to attend.

At least once a week in this blog I will be discussing elements of the transformative power of writing. I welcome your comments.