Do you want to write but don't know where to start? Do you talk about writing but don't actually get to writing? Staring at blank screen can be intimidating; however, following these five basic writing tools can help stimulate your creativity and start your pen moving.
1. Journaling
A simple way to start writing is to keep a daily journal. Journaling is a personal writing technique where you are free to write about your feelings, impressions and experiences in life. Journaling is not only a way to create a daily writing practice, it also fosters reflection, an important element in the writing process.
A variation on journaling, writing morning pages, is also a helpful tool. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, introduces the concept of morning pages into her books on creativity. Morning pages are three pages of stream of consciousness writing meant to empty your brain of daily concerns and prepare you for writing. The pages are to be written in the morning before you begin your day. Cameron reveals that morning pages "...allow us to empty our minds and hearts of disturbing distractions and simultaneously open our minds and hearts to deeper reflections" (1998, p.85).
2. Read Books on Creativity
Two great books on creativity that can guide you in the writing process are Julia Cameron's The Right to Write and Sark's Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It. Cameron's book includes essays on topics about the writing process and exercises to stimulate your creativity and prepare you for writing. Sark's playful and artistic book is helpful for the beginning, blocked or out-of-practice writer. Sark writes about the writing process from the inception of an idea to the final product. One of the most helpful parts of her book is a section sharing a number of accomplished writers' thoughts on writing.
3. Writing Exercises
Often the most difficult part of writing is getting an idea and transforming it into words. There are many writing prompts or exercises. A great website is Creative Writing Prompts. The following are some exercises to get you started.
1. Pick a photograph from a family photo album. Study the photo for two to three minutes and then spend ten minutes writing about how the photo makes you feel.
2. Flip through a magazine and create a story around a picture you see, giving yourself twenty minutes.
3. Try starting a personal piece of writing with the following phrases:
- I remember...
- I don't see...
- I want to...
- I hate...
- I love...
- I have always...
- I know...
If you need to overcome writer's block, writing prompts are excellent tool.
4. Reading Your Favourite Genre
If writing were one side of a coin, reading would be the other. Part of writing well, whether you write poetry or creative non-fiction is filling yourself with ideas, images and the magic of writer's words.
Ask yourself what you love to read and make time everyday to read. Even fifteen minutes stimulates the imagination. The library is a great tool for exploring literature, as is your local bookstore. If you love to read, why not start a reading club. You can socialize and discuss writers and writing.
5. Nurture Your Creativity
Julia Cameron has another tool for stocking your creative well: artist's dates. Artist's dates are weekly activities that open you to the world. These could include trips to a museum, thrift store, art gallery, or coffee shop. The point is to stimulate your imagination through activity.
Another important tool for nurturing creativity is to take notes of your creative ideas. It may be helpful to carry a book around with you to record any ideas that pop into your head. Creativity hits at uncanny times and ideas can be difficult to remember later. Ideas come while walking, dreaming or chatting with a friend. It is important to capture the energy of these ideas and bring them to fruition.
Beginning writing may be the hardest step in the writing process. Use these five writer's tools and set your writer free.
Sources:
Cameron, Julia. (1998). The Right to Write. Tarcher & Putnam: New York.
Sark. (2008). Juicy Pens and Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories and Creating teh Time and Energy to Actually Do it. Three Rivers Press: New York.
Meegan Simpson-Cooke - I live with my partner and step-children on the West Coast. My passion is reading about spirituality, particularly Buddhism. I write about ...
