Some Tips

I was tagged by Kathy and Jill at The DHX with a Roar for Powerful Words award.  There are two rules that come with the award:  1. write three writing tips and 2. award three other bloggers. 

This was a good exercise for me because I've never really thought about my own writing tips.  I'm always the one reading other people's writing tips.  Tonight, while taking my evening walk, and listening to some Lucinda Williams, I thought about what I would tell someone who loves writing and words about my own process and beliefs.  I came up with a few more than three and I'm going to share them all.

1. Make it part of your life--So many of the most successful writers make it a practice to write everyday.  Ernest Hemingway wrote everyday.  John Steinbeck wrote everyday.  Ray Bradbury, ditto.  Natalie Goldberg. And most of you are familiar with Julia Cameron's morning pages.  For me it's important to make it part of your life for several reasons:  If it's important to you then you should make it a priority.  The more you practice the better you get. If it becomes like breathing then you find you're always open to what wants to flow through you.  It teaches you to trust your voice.  You don't have to write for an hour.  You don't have to write an entire poem/story.  But write something.  It's more about making it a life practice than it is about quality or quantity.
2. Stay awake and notice the details--I believe poetry, stories, etc. are always with in us and around us--kinda like God.  Some of my personal favorite pieces came to me because I paid attention to something around me.  Stand in the middle of the street and watch the geese flying above.  Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you.  Press your nose into the earth and breathe deeply.  Don't watch the sun set from the window; go outside.  Eaves drop on other people's conversations.  Memorize the smell of someone's skin.  All these little things in life make great poetry so wake up.  And I promise that once you start keeping your eyes and heart open you'll be surprised by everything you'll begin to notice.
3. Listen and Follow--One of my favorite writing practices/prompts is to sit quietly and let a phrase/word/sentence come to the surface, anything.  And then I like to follow it to see where it might lead me.  I'll write it down and then wait for the next little bit to come, and then the next, and then the next.  Sometimes I'll get from one piece to the next by asking myself a question about the previous statement/fragment.  I've written some stuff I've really liked by being willing to follow wherever my words wanted to go.
4. Let it go--Sometimes something I write will just come on suddenly and flow right through me without my really thinking much about it.  Sometimes it comes just like I wrote above--it will come as a word/phrase and I'll just follow it.  Sometimes it comes in bits and pieces, like a puzzle.  Sometimes it comes while I'm walking or bathing or eating or driving or, yes, even when I'm having sex.  And sometimes as badly as I want it to come it just doesn't.  I've had to learn to let it go.  Often I'll write an entire poem while walking but once I get home I can't remember a word.  I'll try to force it to come back but it just won't.  That's when I just have to let it go.  There are times I'll get bits and pieces and I just can't make them work or I can't find the other bits and pieces that go in between.  That's when I just have to let it go.  Some poems aren't meant to find their way to paper and as much as I hate that I've learned that that's just the way it is.  You can't force writing.  If it won't come then let it go.
5. Leave it alone--Sometimes I'll have a piece I really, really like but there's a word I can't get quite right or there's a section that isn't flowing the way I want it to flow.  I've learned the best thing I can do is leave it alone, walk away, and then come back to it a few days later.  Once my head has had a chance to clear I'll often find exactly what it was I was missing to begin with.  And if I can't then I'll resort to tip #4 and just let it go.  But there is something I have to be careful about when it comes to re-working a piece of writing.  I've had times when I've re-worked something hoping to make it more powerful when instead, by re-working it and re-working it and re-working it I've actually diluted it. 
6. Keep a Dictionary and Thesaurus handy--they come in mighty handy when you know what you want but can't quite get it.
7. When all else fails go to a source of inspiration--Find someone whose writing really speaks to you, whose style resonates with you, or someone who's written a book about writing or writing prompts that you can fall back on when you want to practice but feel creatively empty.  For me it's Susan Wooldridge's book Poemcrazy.  This book resonates with my style so it's a great source to turn to when my creativity has checked out but I still want to write something.
8. Finally, find what works for you--All the writing tips and/or advice and/or prompts aren't worth crap if they don't work for you.  Find a time of day that works for you.  Find a style that works for you.  Find a practice/discipline that works for you.  Write but make sure you're writing works for you or you'll just end up frustrated, burned out, wiped out, empty, and hungry.  Get to know your writing style/preference and disregard anything that doesn't support that style/preference.

The three bloggers I'm choosing to give the Roar of Words Award to are Christina, Delia, and Liz.  If you've already been tagged then ignore this and if you haven't been tagged and want to play along please do so and let me know because I'd love to read your tips.    

Comments

[Delia]

Thank you for the tag...an honor, of course. Hmm...now I'm off to think mine up!
Love,
Delia

[Alex]

Wise woman! Really enjoyed your tips and how you delivered them :)

[Swirly]

GREAT advice!! Thank you!

[Marilyn]

Wonderful tips. I'm really enjoying reading everyone's...and especially because of #8...because it just goes to show how individual the process is.

[Frankie]

Wonderful tips! And what a great prompt! I love hearing how writers go through the process, especially writers I admire so greatly. I'm sure I'll look back upon this post in times of utter frustration!

[gkgirl]

these are great tips to keep in mind.

[gkgirl]

these are great tips to keep in mind.

[Andrea]

Hi Michelle,
Great tips, thanks for sharing! I really like number 2 about details, using your senses and how it's all poetry. I hope it's okay with you,I put a link to your blog on my post today.
~Andrea

[claire]

What great tips - thank you for sharing. I am always interested to know how artists do their thing. I will give this some thought and post my tips too (even though I'm just a beginner really).

[Jill]

Oh, thank you! I wanted to read your tips very much. Number 2 is speaking to me especially.