Tiny Writing Windows

Writing (Photo credit: jjpacres)

 

I have been playing hooky from posting. Deliberately so. There has been an expansion in other areas of my creative and professional life which has accompanied the ebb of blogging. A flow of creativity towards novel writing, setting up a new office space, writing and designing inspirational cards and just generally enjoying the glorious summer, have sprung from this brief break.

 

I took a writing class offered by SARK called Write it Now with SARK (WINS) Just phenomenal. The results with my writing and my life were amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone drawn to pen and paper (or fingers to keys).  The support from the community of fellow writers was wonderful. Plus the fact that you get to ask SARK questions and receive support directly from a pure laser beam of love.

 

I am writing my novel in gathered minutes I gleaned while waiting for my son at the playground or over a morning coffee. So far I have over 3000 words written all from little slivers of time that have become tiny windows into this creative journey I am on with my characters.

 

Lotus HKU 2011 (Photo credit: yuen_long)

 

The beauty of stepping back from the daily commitment of blogging has been as wonderful a process as the initial process of writing publicly daily. Ultimately both have been about side-stepping the inner critics which stall the flow of words and creative ideas. This is what I learned:

 

• Make friends with your inner saboteur;
• Fall in love with your own words;
• Open up to the flow of words and let yourself be surprised;
• Appreciation launches dreams, criticism crushes them;
• Be unfailingly devoted to the spirit of the work;
• Be willing to set aside your own need for approval to write that which wishes to be written;
• Give yourself permission to fail, spectacularly;
• Every work has an audience, honour your fans by keeping the pen moving;
• Write from the heart and write often;
•  Tiny pieces of time are profound moments of writing.

 

Inner Ally vs. Inner Critic

My writer’s group homework this month is to make friends with my Inner Ally and ask her “What makes me great?” as a writer. A large part of our discussion centred on the dynamic between our writing selves and our inner critic. We tend to have very well developed inner critics with very loud obnoxious voices, but our inner allies are … where are they… what do they sound like…what do they say?

The idea of activating your inner ally comes from SARK’s book “Make Your Creative Dreams Real“. It is a wonderful resource for anyone in a creative field. It is filled with many wonderful ideas to kick your butt out of bed to start living your creative potential. Highly recommended.

The inner critic is gruff, grumpy, easily dissatisfied, easily distracted, scared, tired, and demanding. The good news is that the critic is easily distracted. I like to visualize my inner critic as a demanding, bratty child that is just causing trouble because they are bored. I give my little critic something fun to do while I work like going to the playground. I have spent a lot of time with my inner critic, but not much with my inner ally.

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My inner ally has a voice like a good friend, she is kind and patient, she is enthusiastic like a cheerleader. She is also strong and can happily say no to things that pull her off track. She can roar as loud as any goddess and is always looking out for my best interests,like a mama bear protecting her cub. She is the part of me that speaks up whenever I say ‘No, thank you”, and whenever I say “I choose…”. She is soft and comforting, like a warm hug, but just never try to convince her that it is ok to compromise your spirit. She is no pushover and that is a very good thing. If I were to draw her, she might look like Wonder Woman, feminine and strong. Or she might look like a fierce goddess like Kali, who slays demons of ego, but saves babies on the battlefield. Or she might be like a jungle cat, nursing her babies in between hunts. Or she might look just like me.