Lori Ann Bloomfield's Blog, page 5

Use Your Writing Practice to Feel More Alive

Image courtesy of franky242. What if you used your writing practice to feel more alive?  To wake up to the world?  What if instead of using your writing as a way to escape the world, you used it as a way to embrace it?  To make your life feel more vivid, juicy and beautiful?

Because you can.  

 Every day we have moments of quiet joy. But usually we ignore them.  We tell ourselves we are too busy to look at the stars, that we need to do the dishes.  We tell ourselves we are too busy to savour an orange, that we need to work through lunch. 

 And this is our great loss.  Both as people and as writers.

 Think of it this way: how many really great, really big moments do we get in one lifetime?  How many times do we fall in love?  Have a child?  Buy a home?  Win a Nobel Prize? 

 I know.  And yet in many ways we are living for only those rare moments.

 Yet every day we are blessed with small, perfect moments we throw away like spare change we’re convinced will never add up to anything.

 But they do add up.  They add up to an amazing life filled with wonder and attention and gratitude.  All we have to do is notice them.

 Start catching them with your writing.  The next time you see something beautiful, or feel a quiet ping of joy for no reason I urge you to dive in, wake up and turn on all your senses.  Grab your pen, slow down, become aware, and try to write what you: see, hear, smell, taste and feel.

You don’t need to include all of these, but use your senses to touch your ecstasy with ink.
Go ahead and grab that amazing sunrise with your pen.  Jot down the thrill of coffee.  Outline the first smell of spring with your words.

Do it every day and your wonderful life will suddenly fill a notebook.  What you formally thought of as dull, routine days will reveal pockets of magic.  And the best part?  The more of these moments you notice, the more of them you will experience. 

Let your writing teach you how to come alive.  It may be the best gift you ever give yourself.

Feeling the Pressure as a Writer?

Image courtesy of stockimages/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sometimes it feels like there is a lot of pressure on writers these days.  We are encouraged to build platforms and attract more followers than a cult leader.  We are expected to be writer, editor, publicist and bookseller (whether we are traditionally published or self-published).  We are supposed to write not only books, but blogs, tweets, guest posts and newsletters (often while having a paying job on top of this).  And we are to write all this at the speed of light (so our followers don’t forget us.)

But none of these expectations are as potentially damaging to our creativity (or our sanity) as the expectations we place on ourselves.

If your writing has stopped being fun and instead feels more like running on a treadmill set to the highest speed, you might want to have a look at your own expectations of yourself.  Read over your ‘to do’ list.  If it seems like something that would make a droid cry, it might be time to stop listening to the noise about what you should be doing and re-evaluate. 

Maybe you need to reconnect with all those original impulses that drew you to the page in the first place.

Remember: there is no rule book to being a writer.  As Fleetwood Mac said, “Go your own way.”

This means you get to define what success is (and isn’t.)  Don’t get sucked in by somebody else’s definition.  And don’t write something because someone tells you that you should.

You started writing because it was fun.  If it is no longer fun, figure out why and make some adjustments.  Do what you have to reconnect with a sense of play. 

Make writing the one area of your life that is light and light-filled.  You deserve that.

How to Gain Confidence as a Writer

Image courtesy of Feelart/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net Confidence comes from doing.  The more you do something, the better you get, and the more confident you become.  This applies to basketball, baking a cake, driving a car, and yes, even, writing.


If you would like to feel more confident as a writer try following these steps:

Commitment

The first step to gaining confidence is to make a commitment to your writing.  Do this by deciding on a writing schedule.  I think it is better to aim for writing for a short while every day rather than trying to write for two hours every Sunday.  If you’ve only got fifteen minutes you’re not going to waste it staring out the window, whereas that two hours on Sunday may get frittered away watching the neighbour mow the lawn while you wait to ‘be inspired.’

So, step one is to decide on a writing schedule, whether it is to get up fifteen minutes early, write during your lunch break, or even write in your car for a few minutes after work. 

Consistency

Once you’ve decided on a writing schedule it is important to stick to it.  A well-planned schedule is worthless if you never follow it.  You’re not going to feel confident calling yourself a writer if you make a schedule but only follow it for two weeks, are you? 

So, the second step to gaining confidence as a writer is to write consistently.  Someone who writes five days a week consistently for two years is going to feel like a writer. 

Confidence

You don’t need to land on the bestseller list to feel confident as a writer.  You just need to feel authentic and honest when you say, “I am a writer.”  Even if you are only talking to yourself.

If you show up every day and write, if you know that you have made writing a priority, and that writing is important enough for you to commit to and practice consistently you will feel confident when you say, “I am a writer.”

What Kills Your Creativity?

Image courtesy of khunaspix/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net It is good to know what inspires you and what feeds your wild creative spirit and fill your life with these things.

But…






It is also good to be aware (beware!) of the things that sap your energy and kills your creativity.

So, make a list.  What brings you down?  Makes you go grey and listless inside?  What tasks?  What people?  What places?

From that list decide what you can jettison from your life.  Get rid of as many things that are counter-creative for you as possible.  Put them on a ‘Not to Do” list.  (Seriously, try this.  The feeling you get by writing down that you’ll never do some dreaded thing ever again is like inhaling freedom.  And once you get start thinking this way you may be surprised how many things you are doing simply because you vaguely feel you ‘have to.’) 

Look at the remaining things on your list and see if there is any way to infuse some of them with inspiration and playfulness.  Doing the dishes will always be dull but I now do them wearing bright pink gloves.  The laundry has been getting tedious lately but I am thinking of buying some fancy French lavender linen spray to spritz the dryer with.  It will make doing laundry feel wonderfully posh. Small things like this do make a difference. 

In the end you will probably be left with a few unavoidable things that you can’t get rid of now.  Or maybe ever.  But that’s okay.  They will balance you.  If every hour of the day was filled with sunshine we’d never know darkness.  And without darkness we’d never know how wonderful the sunlight is. 

The thing to remember is: we can make a ‘Not to Do’ list as easily as we make a ‘To Do’ list.  We can limit the things that drain us and we can add more of what inspires us.  It is a choice.

Make a ‘Not to Do’ list so that you have more time for what inspires you. 

Then be inspired.  Write.  Make art.  Create beauty. Be happy.

Because happiness is contagious and we can all use a bit more of it. 

Want to Change the World with Your Words?

Image courtesy of Kookkai_nak/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net There has never been a better, freer, more empowering time to be a writer.  Because of the internet you can now publish whatever you want, whenever you want.

But with this freedom comes the ultimate challenge for us writers: if we can say whatever we want, whenever we want, we have to figure out what it is we want to say.



Before this question was a much smaller one: not easier, just smaller.  Our task was to think up words someone else would publish.

The gatekeepers are gone if we want them to be.  Freedom arrived with the Publish Now button.  And so did choice and responsibility. 

A lot of writers are still thinking like this moment hasn’t arrived.  They’re still thinking and writing like they need someone’s permission.  Which means they aren’t thinking about what they want to say. 

I want you to think about your message.  What is it you were born to say?  Spend some time thinking about what your deepest beliefs are, about how you would like the world to be and how you can be a part of that change.

Because as a writer you now have that power.

Two Ways to Deal With Fear

Image courtesy of Arztsamui/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net Sometimes when I coach writers they tell me they aren’t writing.  Or they tell me that they aren’t writing as much as they would like to.  Then we talk about why this is.  Often they offer up reasons and often these reasons sound very plausible. 



But beneath their words I hear the hum of fear.

Here’s the thing about fear: nothing crushes as many dreams as fear.  But you are never going to stop feeling fear.  Feeling fear is part of being alive. 

There are two ways to deal with fear: you can either let fear bully you until your life grows so small and boring you rarely get off your sofa, or you can learn how to deal with fear, keep chasing your dreams and continue to grow.

The choice is up to you.

I want to share with you a couple of things I’ve learned about fear:

When I try to articulate what it is I am afraid of I usually discover my fears are vague or foolish.  It helps me to grow braver when I realize what I am afraid of is wishy-washy or just plain silly.

And when I ask myself, “What is the worst that can happen if I do this thing that I am afraid of?” the fear dissipates.  This is because chasing my dreams is rarely deadly.  Usually all I am risking is a bit of embarrassment.  I’ve found that articulating the worst is often enough to get me over my fear hurdle. 

Our dreams make us really, really nervous.  That’s because they ask us to be bigger than we currently believe we are.   But to really feel alive, to really be proud of ourselves, we need to walk right up to the edge of our known abilities and sit down.

Then as writers we have to write from this place.

I’m not saying it isn’t scary:  I’m just saying, it’s worth it. 

Writing Prompt

Write about: being lost.

Writing Prompt

Use these random words in a story: jump ladder, awkward.

Writing Prompt

First Line: Ronnie knew that Eve wanted something so felt nervous.

Writing Prompt

Use these random words in a story: ordinary, struggle, hit.