Writers:

Greetings.

Quick administrative notes before we dive into this week’s writing tasks –

We need a “host” for the Write-Ins on Friday mornings and Mid-Day on Mondays.

Any volunteers?

Our Friday one is 9:30 a.m. to Noonish (currently at the Black Dog) and Mid-Day Muse is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (currently at Pioneer Café).  Locations could be changed, but SnoValley Writes! needs someone to volunteer to make sure that a table of writers is started. Let me know if you’re interested in  doing this.

Alright…now for our writerly workings for the week…

We’re working through the tasks of Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection within The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

Note:  Many of you have come to me and said that this work we’ve been doing going through The Artist’s Way has been enlightening, difficult, helpful, hard, and oh, so, inspiring. I’m glad so many of you are getting so much out of it. Like I’ve told you in the past, this is my third time through it and I still gather benefit from the exercises, tasks and stories within its pages.

Now for this week’s Tasks:

1. The Deadlies:  Take a piece of paper and cut seven small strips from it. On each strip write one of the following words: alcohol, sex, work, money, food, family/friends. Fold these strips of paper and place them in an envelope. We call these folded slips the deadlies. You’ll see why in a minute. Now draw one of the deadlies from the envelope and write five ways in which it has had a negative impact on your life. (If the one you choose seems difficult or inapplicable to you, consider this resistance.) You will do this seven times, each time putting back the previous slip of paper so that you are always drawing from seven possible choices. Yes, you may draw the same deadly repeatedly. Yes, this is significant. Very often, it is the last impact on the final list of an annoying, “Oh no, not again” that yields a break, through denial, into clarity.

This one is a lot of work and I really want you all to work on this one. So, be sure to get it done.

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.” ~Edgar Degas

Don’t forget, Writer’s Café tonight!  6 p.m. at Sawdust Café in North Bend.