Greetings writers!
I hope you all made great plans for your “writing year” last night.
My apologies that I could not be with you all. Trust me, I’d rather been with you all. I’m sure that Sheri & Takako took great care of you. My energy and passion for literary arts is matched, if not exceeded by those two.
Our weekly writing prompts & the remainder of our work sessions through March will include finishing up The Artist’s Way journey. Then we’re going to be amp’ing things up, as I’ve taken inspiration from our fellow member Jackie Fedyk and am designing a do-it-yourself master in fine arts of creative writing plan. So if you’re like me and can’t pursue a course of study (undergraduate, graduate, etc.) because of family responsibilities and financial restraints, I think you’ll find this course of study to be very enlightening. Be advised, if you put your energies into this, it will push you out of your comfort zone and you will learn and expand your craft and your level of “artist.” I promise. Like everything we do together as a group — you get out of it what you put into it. But, SnoValley Writes! will happily direct, encourage, mentor and cheer you on as we do this path together. So clear your calendars for the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of every month. And join us at the North Bend Library between 6 and 8 p.m. Next work session is February 12th.
In the meantime the writing cafes continue. Come when you can; leave when you must. Come be inspired, network, get help, write with your head down or socialize.
Wednesdays – Sawdust Cafe – 6 to 9 p.m.
Fridays – The Black Dog – 9:30 a.m. to about Noon
Mondays – Pioneer Cafe — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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Today’s writing tasks continues in Chapter 9 of The Artist’s Way.
Visualizing: You have already done work with naming your goal and identifying true north. The following exercise asks you to fully imagine having your goal accomplished. Please spend enough time to fill in the juicy details that would really make the experience wonderful for you.
Name your goal: I am______________________________________________.
In the present tense, describe yourself doing it at the height of your powers! This is your ideal scene.
Read this aloud to yourself.
Post this above your work area.
Read this aloud, daily!
For the next week collect actual pictures of yourself and combine them with magazine images to collage your ideal scene described above. Remember, seeing is believing, and the added visual cue of your real self in your ideal scene can make it far more real.
Priorities: List for yourself your creative goals for the year. List for yourself your creative goals for the month. List for yourself your creative goals for the week.
Creative U-Turns: All of us have taken creative U-turns. Name one of yours. Name three more. Name the one that just kills you.
Forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for all failures of nerve, timing, and initiative. Devise a personalized list of affirmations to help you do better in the future.
Very gently, very gently consider whether any aborted abandoned, savaged, or sabotaged brain-children can be rescued. Remember, you are not alone. All of us have taken creative U-turns.
Choose one creative U-turn. Retrieve it. Mend it.
Do not take a creative U-turn now. Instead, notice your resistance. Morning pages seeming difficult? Stupid? Pointless? Too Obvious? Do them anyway.
What creative dreams are lurching toward possibility? Admit that they frighten you.
Choose and artist totem. It might be a doll, a stuffed animal, a carved figuring, or a wind-up toy. (Wrimos for Rhinos anyone?) The point is to choose something you immediately feel a protective fondness toward. Give your totem a place of honor and then honor it by not beating up on your artist child.
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And now your moment of Writing Zen:
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” ~Albert Einstein
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What did you Write today?
~Casz
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What did you Write today?
~Casz
Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites
“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron