Affiliates
Lapidus Scotland (some great writing tools here)
Mindfulness Resources
Writing Ideas, Crafting and Destinations
After Silence: Amanda Palmer Reads Neil Gaiman’s Stunning Poem Celebrating Rachel Carson’s Legacy of Culture-Shifting Courage This is a link to a breathtaking performance of a moving piece of writing dedicated to an astounding woman... no I cannot over state it...
4-step Daily Writing Practice
(inspired by William Stafford - and with help from Shantiketu)
The 4 step process of journaling is particularly useful when inspiration feels elusive, but if practiced every day it cannot fail to hone your writing skills:
1. Write the date... doodle it, feel free, connect with the day
2. Let the words running through your mind fall onto the page in uncontrolled order or describe moving events of the day before. Julia Cameron describes this in her book The Artist’s Way, and take the advice of Natalie Goldberg ('Wild Mind' and 'Writing Down the Bones'):
Keep your hand moving
Don't cross out
Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar
Lose control
Don't think. Don't get logical
Go for the jugular
These are all designed to tell the 'editor' to shut up, the one who says things like 'why are you bothering? You can't write, it's all been done before, you're wasting your time' and other negative thoughts. The editor has their - but later on in the process, once there's something on the page to work with. To use a gardening analogy: you can't prune a rose if you haven't planted it and given it the right conditions to grow.
3. Sit quietly with what you've written and see if you can come up with an aphorism, a life lesson or truth, either from what you've captured or from something new that may now pop into your head... and if this is nothing that is fine too, just stop here or continue journaling. Einstein is the champion, treat yourself to a google search of his aphorisms. Here you are, one of his plus some others:
“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.” ― Albert Einstein
"Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always." ― Rainer Maria Rilke
"Necessity is the mother of invention." ― Plato
"If your first two bites of a samosa are corners, you're going to lose your filling." ― Bev Schofield
4. If you feel inspired by what you've written consider crafting it into a poem or a piece of prose. This is your own writing journey
As far as possible follow this discipline daily, or as regularly as you can (be realistic), but do not spoil it for yourself by feeling guilty if you can’t manage. If writing feels impossible on a particular day just sit quietly, open your journal, write the date and then write that; it’s a matter of showing up for what’s important to yourself even when life presses in on your time, and inspiration.
Above all, keep breathing - deeply.