In my boxes of childhood memorabilia I found books I had written and illustrated, bindings sewn with needle and thread. I hadn't planned to be a writer. I was one.
The urge to write pushed through me; the act of writing delighted me. But after college, I detoured to law school, eager to change the world.
I didn't begin a regular writing practice until my house burned down. As my three-month rebuilding project entered Year Three, my skin was broken out in hives, I couldn't sleep or eat and went catapulting over the handlebars of my bicycle, trying to work off the stress.
Desperate, I consulted a Zen priest, assuming she'd tell me to meditate longer each day. To my surprise and relief, she said, "You should be moving, not sitting still. I'd tell someone else in your situation to do prostrations, but since you like to write, why not establish a writing practice?"
Beginning with Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, I found that writing is a form of meditation, a way to be present and tap into inspiration and creativity.
The essential unit of a writing practice is the timed writing. It's important to continue writing during the entire time you commit to, so I began with just 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week, and built up to longer blocks of time.
Now, some days I polish a piece for publication, but I always include time to "free write" in my week. Writing without a destination, I follow the twists of my mind and allow the writing to flow from pen to paper or onto my computer screen. It's like working out in the writer's gym, toning my writing muscles, so I'm ready when the writing is ready to come.
I have circled back to my center and no longer practice law. I feared the "wherefores" and "heretofores" had knocked the whimsy right out of me, but the sparkles and twinkles have returned. Writing fully engages me, and this is where the pleasure lies.
To get started, here are Natalie Goldberg's guidelines for free writing:
- Keep your hand moving. Whether you're writing by hand or on the computer, don't pause to think or reread what you've written. Writing is the practice of being present, whatever comes up.
- Don't cross out. You can come back and revise later. For now, you're the creator, not the editor.
- Don't worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar.
- Lose control.
- Don't think. Don't get logical.
- Go for the jugular. If something comes up in your writing that is scary, dive right in. It probably has lots of energy.
Let the quirks of your unique mind come through, uncensored by what is socially acceptable or polite. When you're "in the zone" you can feel the energy move through you, and you write without worrying about what you "should" see, think or feel.
Remember, one of the cardinal rules of free writing is you're free to write the worst garbage in the world. Fertilize, plow and compost, and beautiful stories will bloom.
Try this writing prompt: "My father's car." Write for 10 minutes, whatever comes up.
Copyright © 2011 by Laura Deutsch
