ALPHABET FOR A WRITER

A – at last.

B – be still.

C – care for your spirit

D – dream

E – eat, with deep pleasure

F – feel

G – go without knowing your destination

H – have, in abundance

I – instinct, rather than rules

J – – just this one day

K – kindness toward your own mind and body

L – let wild creatures, wild places, teach you

M – meander

N – name yourself she (or he) who is a writer

O – open to a blank page

P – put one word on the page

Q – quickly add another word and another without looking back

R – relinquish all judgment

S – stop//sleep//solitude

stop when you are tired and do not scold yourself
sleep extravagantly; sleep toward the writing
solitude – claim the sort you love. It is essential

T – trust your own voice and your own process

U – very gently return to your page

W – wait  if you feel stopped,  rest, then ask your unconscious for an image

X – X out anything that displeases you, but don’t erase in a first draft

Y – Yes is a beautiful  word.  Say it to yourself

Z – when your pattern doesn’t work, abandon it.  Go back to A.

 

Pat Schneider