Write Now

Happy New Year!!! 

I’ve been away working on another writing project, however, I told myself that I would get back in here, back to one of my first babies (this blog) and give you guys some new inspiration for the new year! So, here we go!

Oftentimes I find myself at a brick wall creatively.  I wake early, get quiet, turn on my laptop or pull out a notebook but still the words don’t come.  I think at some point in time every writer is faced with this dilemma.  In Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way, she helps writers, actors, and artists tackle the underlying issues behind writer’s block or hitting a creative brick wall.  She suggests that we complete a daily activity called Morning Pages.

Morning Pages are meant to help release all of the thoughts, fears, insecurities, or anything that is preventing the creative energy to flow through.  Julia’s instructions are short and straight to the point. She challenges writers to write three full pages non-stop. Write not type. There’s something about the way the pen feels against the paper that makes the process feel almost like therapy.  Most of the time I walk away feeling like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and now the real writing can begin. Other times I find myself on page nine still venting about this or that or praying to God. Either way, I’m writing.

Outside of writer’s block, I sometimes come up with excuses like:

 “I don’t know what to write.”

“I don’t have time to write.”

“I can’t write that.”

“What will others think of what I write?”

Simply put, writers write.  

You don’t have to be a bestseller to be considered a writer or host your own blog.  A runner doesn’t have to compete in competitions in order to feel like she’s a runner. Every day she puts on her sneakers and her feet hit the pavement she’s a runner. The same goes for writing.  I didn’t see writing like this at first.  I put so much pressure on myself to write a certain way to complete a certain number of pages.  From the time that I wrote the first words in that little purple diary back when I was in the fourth grade I became a writer. And I’ve been writing ever since.

Nowadays when I feel blocked or just not in the mood to write I remember that little purple diary and how excited I would be to crack open the pages and just write.  I get the same feeling today when I open a cute new journal or a journal with an inspirational quote (see above) on the front.  Even if I have no idea what I’m gonna write about the words somehow string together, my shoulders become less tensed, and sunshine replaces the clouds hanging out above my head.

Writers write.

Find the tools and instruments that spark your creative juices and don’t look back. 

Be You!  Be True!  Be Great!  

- C.A.C.H.