3 Quick and Easy Ways to Generate Story Ideas

There are many ways you can generate ideas you can use for your stories, articles and other creative pieces. Start with the three ways given below:

1. Put Your 5 Senses to Work

A simple but effective way to generate fresh ideas from a single concept, idea or object is to describe or illustrate it using the 5 senses -- sight, smell, touch, taste, sound.

For you to do: Generate 5 specific images or concrete examples (one example for each sense) for the following:

• vindication (what's the smell of vindication? how does it taste? how does it sound? what does it look like? how does it feel?)
• hesitation
• celebration

2. Take Advantage of Your Conflicts

Conflict is a part of life. It's also a source of creativity. You only need to look at yourself and examine your experiences to come up with ideas based on conflicts.

For you to do: What's stopping you from doing something? Who is in the way of you getting what you want? What's stopping you from taking a career leap? Brainstorm for conflicts in your life and come up with at least 15 in your list.

3. It's OK to Call People Names

Generate nicknames or terms that capture the lifestyles, attitudes or characteristics of certain groups of people.

For example, the nicknames I came up for the kind of people I encountered on the bus when I used to commute to work and back were: space-hog, slumper, fidgeter and refined. The terms described how the people on the bus behaved as they sat. [They were useful because I was able to avoid the space-hogs and the fidgeters when choosing a seat. Sitting beside a slumper was all right, since most slumpers kept their slumps within their space ;o)]

For you to do: Generate nicknames or terms for the following groups of people:

• cashiers
• waiters
• teachers
• employees
• actors

Begin using these 3 simple ways of generating ideas today. Before long, you'll be churning out one idea after another with ease. That's creativity at work!

About The Author Copyright (c) 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ Shery is the developer of creative, motivating and fun e-mail courses for writers. Sign up and take an e-mail course today...free! http://writingbliss.com

5 Benefits of Keeping a Personal Journal

Everyone who has kept a personal journal knows that writing is a therapeutic process that helps integrate seemingly unconnected life events. Some believe the process works because the physical act of writing (using your hand-eye coordination) occupies your left brain, leaving your right brain free to access emotions, intuit connections, and create new insights.

How else can journaling help?

1. Journaling reduces stress by getting “monkey mind” thoughts out of your head. Mind chatter is a powerful stressor, stressor is a powerful health-buster, and journaling the chatter is a proven chatter-buster.

2. Writing about problems gives your right brain food for creative problem-solving. It’s amazing what happens when the creative part of your nature starts working on a problem—you’ll soon find solutions bubbling up from your subconscious.

3. Keeping a daily diary is one of the best techniques for discovering patterns, particularly those that are self-defeating. For example, a diary kept over the course of several months will clearly show any reoccurring difficulties like overeating, stress eating, poor (but similar) choices in relationships.

4. Want to better know yourself? Journal. Writing can help clarify your thoughts, your emotions, and your reactions to certain people or situations. In addition, as you read back through past journals, you’ll have ample evidence of the things that make you happy and those that are distressful.

5. Journaling can help clarify events, problems, or options. When you’re beset with a mind full of fuzzy, disconnected thoughts flitting here and there, writing about the event or issue will help bring focus and clarity. It will also help you decide on which action to take, or option to choose.

About The Author Patti Testerman is content manager at JournalGenie.com, the only online site that analyzes your writing and then gives you instant feedback. Want to discover self-defeating patterns, or find better ways to communicate in a relationship? Check out our site. patti@journalgenie.com

The Run-on Sentence: From Here To Eternity

If you find your sentences filled with commas, and they wend from one topic to another, then you, like many people, may be guilty of writing run-on sentences.

The run-on sentence is annoying. The run-on is boring. Most important, utilizing run-ons in your work is a sure-fire way of losing your reader.

The run-on works in one instance – if it is part of one of your character’s personality. For instance, if you are writing dialogue spoken by a typical teenage girl, run-ons would be acceptable (“Well, we went, you know, to the mall, and, like, we tried on some clothes and makeup, and then Sheila saw this really cute guy in The Gap, so we went over and like, started talking, and ...” you get the picture.)

Curing a mania for run-ons may be a simple as implementing an outline for your work. Break each topic down into logical, organized subtopics and details. Relegate each thought to a single sentence. When a topic or subtopic requires further discussion, create unique sentences containing each of these details (or group related details) after your lead-in sentence.

If your topic ultimately branches out to other major topics, reference those topics in your initial paragraph, but address them in other paragraphs (or chapters.) This acts as a “teaser” to your audience, leaves them wanting more, and motivates them to read on.

These instructions sound like high school stuff, but I recently edited a college-level text written by a Ph D that was fraught with run-ons. The subject matter was economics. The combination was deadly from the standpoint of maintaining consciousness. So for the sake of your readers, form a working relationship with semicolons and periods, and leave run-ons to the Valley Girls.

About The Author Jean Fritz is the owner and chief editor for JMT Publications (http://jmtpubs.tripod.com), a company specializing in helping self-publishing authors get into print. For more information on self-publication or to subscribe to her free newsletter, Writers' Notes, visit the JMT Publications website. jeantype@excite.com

The Author Within

Just about every marketer on the Internet claims to be the best around and would have you believe that no one else knows as much or can teach you as quickly and thoroughly as they can. It would seem that they erroneously assume that by admiring someone else’s teachings they will lessen their marketability as the “great persuader” in salesmanship.

In truth, while they may not admit it publicly, every marketer studies the technique or style of others on a continuing basis. I’ll be the first to admit that I seek out, read and revise my methods of copywriting thanks to the best of the best. And I have discovered that perfection is often flawed.

We are in an age where videos, movies, television, radio and computer games scream for our attention. They produce more information than anybody can possibly retain. Therefore, if I want to hold someone’s attention, make a written offer that compels them to read to the last line and reach for their wallet --- then I must learn to outshine my competition and dazzle my readers.

If you think back, I’m sure you remember times when you were reading something so mesmerizing that you never heard the phone ring, or if you did you didn’t answer it. So absorbed were you that you didn’t realize where an hour had gone… or, held up a halting hand when someone attempted to interrupt you with a question. Yeah, I’ve been there too. And that’s exactly the kind of writing that I’m talking about.

Irresistible writing rivets your eyes to the page. Words are so clear, so concise that the effect is nearly hypnotic… and you remember what you have read because it IS unforgettable. The only place to learn this is from the “proven experts”.

Going back many years, I remember radio programs that my grandmother listened to daily. They were no more than half-hour serials like “Porsha Faces Life” and there was always a crisis at the end of the daily broadcast that left you hanging… “Tune in tomorrow and answer the question – how will Porsha react with the news blah, blah, blah?”

In today’s novel writings, each chapter will leave you with a similar “cliff-hanger”, something untold that will stir your curiosity. A good piece of fiction will not allow you to stop between chapters, and a top-notch one will forbid you to stop until the end.

Now then --- if you can write an advertisement, article or eBook preview that will stir the curiosity of your reader without giving them the whole story… if the “cliff-hanger” compels them to fill out a form, send you an email, or sign up for a free trial, you have discovered the author inside you.

© 2004 Esther Smith

About The Author Esther Smith is editor of Partners-For-Profit Newsletter and copywriter for The Permanent Venture. Each publication of PFP get a weekly diet of marketing and advertising reports, free bonuses, ad space and resources for all their Internet needs. clendon@thepermanentventure.com?subject=subscribe More Articles by Esther Smith http://thepermanentventure.com/articles.htm editor@thepermanentventure.com

Writing For Sex Markets

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The Arrogant Writer: Five Ways to Nurture and Defend your Muse

Arrogance has a bad rap. We think of arrogant people as unpleasant to be around, full of themselves, and incapable of taking an interest in anyone else. However, when applied to one’s own writing, a certain measure of well-placed arrogance can be a useful tool.

Writing can be a scary enterprise. The writer puts herself out for public scrutiny in a way most other artists and professionals do not. When the writer publishes, she commits herself to the words she’s written for the rest of her life. Even if she changes her mind about what she’s said, others may still react to the piece decades after it first appears in print. This can make even the act of putting pen to paper (or more likely, fingers to keyboard) an anxiety-producing ordeal.

Then there is the schooling most of us received, which treated writing as a chore rewarded when well done or punished when poorly done, as opposed to a pleasurable activity for ourselves and our readers. Very few of us had any audience for any the writing we did in classrooms, other than the teachers who instructed, criticized and graded us. It’s no wonder most writers suffer from self-doubt rather than overconfidence. We tend to underestimate ourselves and our words, even when they come from the most powerful places inside us, even when we get accolades from the outside world, and even long after we finally get published.

Practicing selective arrogance can help disarm these nasty doubts. And, not to worry: If you are not arrogant to begin with, practicing the type of arrogance I suggest will not transform you into an insufferable braggart. Rather, it will help uplift you from the gutters of self-doubt onto the clean, dry road to getting published. Even if you do not feel in the least arrogant about your writing, you can still follow my simple instructions to act as if you do, with the same results: to get published, or to get published again.

Selective arrogance does not mean thinking of yourself as any better than anyone else, or as having reached the pinnacle of your skills. Rather, it means treating every word you write as a precious baby worthy of the greatest care and nurturance. Here’s how to do that:

Never, ever throw anything away, period.

Carry with you at all times a means to record your creative thoughts.

Record your creative bursts, even if other voices inside you are dismissing them with negative judgments.

Trust your impulses and passions: if you feel drawn to write about something, write about it!

Eschew impatience-give your babies the time they need to gestate.

If you’ve read between the lines, you see that these instructions have you do nothing more than treat yourself and your writing with respect. However, because many people have a hard time doing even that, I counsel my clients to behave arrogantly. It gets them giggling and releasing the feelings they have about their writing, and makes it easier to find that respect.

Although you may have read elsewhere to be prepared to throw away your first writing attempts, to release attachment to your early work and the like, nuggets of wisdom and creativity appear throughout a writer’s life from childhood through seniority. I advocate collecting and these and treating them with care, perhaps polishing them now and again. There is no magical moment when one suddenly becomes “a good writer.” Thus, your most novice scribblings become diamond mines.

The one time I disobeyed my own advice and discarded what was I believed was possibly the most poorly written sentence in history (or at least my own history), I rejoiced. Five minutes later, I needed the gem in a new sentence, and struggled to reconstruct the one I’d discarded. May you never make that mistake-do as I say, not as I’ve done.

These gems also shine through at unexpected times. This is why I advise my clients to carry at least some scrap paper and a pencil nub if not an electronic recording device. The times at night and in the mornings between wake and sleep often yield good raw material, so keep your recording device of choice bedside.

The idea behind saving every little scrap, writing everything down and cultivating the arrogance to believe these activities matter is that finished pieces often assert themselves over time, forming a coherent whole from little scraps, like a Rorschach, or getting that crucial letter right in the Wheel of Fortune. The key is to keep feeding the collage and trusting that something or things will emerge over time.

Not every sentence will necessarily lead to an essay, book or screenplay of its own. But some might add that missing piece to make a good piece great. Even tidbits that go nowhere for now still give your brain a chance to exercise itself and keep your creative pathways well-hacked.

When it comes to choosing which pathway you’ll write your way down, trust your wild and wooly impulses. If you’re drawn to something, chances are you will make the subject come alive. You’ll seduce your readers by the very fact of your relationship to the material.

Finally, give your pieces the time they need to develop. Being an arrogant writer means honoring the gestation period your writings must pass through to be born into the world healthy and ready to engage readers. Honoring this gestation period may mean asking for help. Just as the dedicated gardener finds the right soil, fertilizer, seeds, watering schedule and equipment, so the arrogant writer finds her coach, buddy, copyeditor, ghostwriter, or colleague’s expert eye. I have seen writers move from stagnation to publication with the right combination of assistance. I love being part of that process.

About The Author You are welcome to reprint this article any time, anywhere with no further permission, and no payment, provided the following is included at the end or beginning: Author Jill Nagle is founder and principal of GetPublished, http://www.GetPublished.com, which provides coaching, consulting, ghostwriting, classes and do-it-yourself products to emerging and published authors. Her most recent book is How to Find An Agent Who Can Sell Your Book for Top Dollar http://www.FindTheRightAgent.com. Jill@getpublished.com

Chaucer's The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales

Criticism of the portraits in Chaucer's General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales has taken various directions : some critics have praised the portraits especially for their realism, sharp individuality, adroit psychology and vividness of felt life; others, working in the genetic direction have pointed out actual historical persons who might have sat for portraits; others appealing to the light of medieval sciences, have shown the portraits to be filled with the lore of Chaucer's days and to have some typical identities like case histories.

Resemblance to the Tales of Decameron

According to W.H.Clowson, The Canterbury Tales resembles to Boccacio's Decameron in 4 ways:

• The tales are told in succession by the members of an organized group.
• This group is brought together by special external circumstances.
• There is narrative and conversational links between the tales.
• There is a preciding officer.

‘The general tone of the framing narrative and the general topics of its tales are very similar to those of Chaucer's. […] and in Boccaccio's apology for the impropriety of some of his stories he makes the same defence as that offered by Chaucer for the same fault --- that he must tell what happened, that the reader may skip any tale he wishes, and that such stories are purely for entertainment and are not to be taken too seriously.'

But the majority of the scholars of Chaucer believed that this link is not established properly. More over there is no evidence that Chaucer met Bocaccio in 1373 --- during his brief vist to Florence.

Unity in diversion in Prologue

Chaucer in his Prologue, tried to present portraits of all the ‘strata' of life, but this variety is only the interior frame work which functions with the exterior circle which gives unity to all the characters. Such a unity, it may be argued, is fulfilled only due to the reason ( in A.W. Hoffman's words) that ‘ all the portraits are portraits of pilgrims': “and pilgrimes were they alle”

Treatment of ‘Love” in Prologue

Love has been treated in the prologue from the beginning as a character, a matter of the body and spirit.

The note of love that is sounded in different keys ball through the portraits, such as :

The Knight : “… he loved chivalrie…”

The prioress : “… Amor vincit omnia …”

Wife of Bath : “… of remedies of love she knew perchance, For she koude of that art the olde daunce”

The Pardoner : “… com hider, love, to me!”

The pilgrims were represented as affected by a variety of destructive and restorative kinds of love. Their characters and movements can be described by the mixture of love that drives them and love that calls and summons.

Character sketches in Prologue

According to William J. Long, ‘In the famous “ Prologue” the poet makes us acquainted with the various characters of his drama. Until Chaucer's day popular literature had been busy chiefly with the gods and heroes of a golden age: it had been essentially romantic, and so had never attempted to study men and women as they are, or to describe them so that the reader recognizes them, not as ideal heroes, but as his own neighbors. Chaucer not only attempted this new realistic task, but accomplished it so well that his characters were instantly recognized as true to life'

Throwing light to another aspect of Chaucer's characterization A. Compton Rickett writes: ‘[…] His people always on the move. Never do they become shadowy or lifeless. They shout and swear, and laugh and weep, interrupt the story teller, pass compliments, and in general behave themselves as we might expect them to in the dramatic circumstances of the narrative. It is never possible to confuse the story teller: each is distinct and inimitable, whether it be the sermonizing Pardoner, the hot-tempered Miller, or the exuberantly vivacious Wife of Bath, who has had five husbands, but experience teaching her that husbands are transient blessings, she has fixed her mind on a sixth!'

Prologue copies the exact life: Ambiguity and Double view of pilgrimage

The prologue begins by presenting a double view of Canterbury pilgrimage ­­­­----- one tiny manifestation of a huge tide of life.

This is not so as only because Chaucer sketched the varieties of different species from the human society, but also because of the presence of the Double View of pilgrimage in his portrait, which is also a miniature of the real social life and this one is enhanced and extended by the portraits where it appears, in one aspect, as a range of motivation. This range of motive spreads from the sacred to the secular and on to the profane. All the pilgrims are in fact granted a sacred motive ---- all of them are seeking the shrine. But when we move to actual motivation among the portraits and we find the difference. The Knight and the Parson are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Same is the case of Summoner and the Pardoner.

In A.W. Hoffman's words : ‘And the pilgrims who move, pushed by the impulse and drawn by vows, none merely impel and non perfectly committed . and this reflect the common human ambiguity in real life'

William Blake's Observation : Characters of all time

William Blake says : ‘[…]The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are the characters which compose all ages and nations: as one age falls another rises […] [,but] we see the same characters repeated again and again […]. Names alter, things never alter' and this is the special characteristics of Chaucer's portraits.

And moreover what is interesting , according to Blake is : ‘[…] As Newton numbered stars […] Chaucer numbered the classes of men'.

Pattern of description of the characters in Prologue: from high to low ranks

The military estate is followed by the clerical estates; the clerics by the laity; an upper middle class by a lower one; with the rascals at the end.

Further Chaucer had used the arrangement in apparently causal order of descending importance of merit. Even there is an arrangement that has moral patterns.

Personality of Chaucer

E.Talbot Donaldson proposed [in his essay ‘Chaucer the Pilgrim', PMLA, LXIX (1954)] that Chaucer the pilgrim was a fictional creation of Chaucer the poet, with a distinct personality of his own which was very unlike that of his creator. This pilgrim is an amiable, exceedingly naïve bourgeois who admires success of every kind, but especially material success, who uncritically accepts the values of the upper class, as these are embodied in the Knight, the Prioress, the Monk and the Friar; and who recognizes virtue and and wickedness only when they are thoroughly obvious.

But Jhon M. Major [ in his essay ‘The Personality of Chaucer the Pilgrim', PMLA, LXXV 9June 1960)] says that there are still many things which fall out of this theory and for which ‘we are forced to construct a different kind of narrator from the one Professor Donaldson has represented'. ‘Granted that Chaucer does employ a persona in the Canterbury Tales; still, he does not employ him very consistently.[…] we think narrator as a kind of alter ego of the poet himself, with just so many shades of difference as allow for ironic play, no difficulty is raised by the alternating points of view. This narrator reveals himself to be, like his creator, perceptive, witty, sophisticated, playful, tolerant, detached, and, above all, ironic. Such a man is very well aware of the significance of what he observes, though he may show his awareness by subtle means.[…]That real persona, who is far from being a fool, understands what he sees ought to be clear from a number of indications. Not that he is given to moralizing; Chaucer the pilgrim, like his companion the Parson, has a wide tolerance of human weakness, and he can warm up to almost all of his fellow pilgrims, especially if they are convivial. Most of what he observes, both the good and the bad, he reports with a straight face with a deliberate irony.'

Some important characters of The Prologue to Canterbury Tales :

The Knight and the Squire:

The Knight and Squire with the Squire's Yeoman lead the procession, as Chaucer has placed them in the first position.

William Blake says that : ‘ the Knight is a true hero, a good great and wise man; his whole length of portrait on horse back, as written by Chaucer can not be surpassed.' He is ‘that species of character which in every age stands as the guardian of man against oppressor.'

The portraits of the Knight and the Squire have a particular interest. The relationship between these two are governed by natural one that of a father and son. Again there is a dramatic relationship between these two as each one of portrait is enhanced and defined in presence of another. For instance the long roll of Knight's campaigns and Squire's little opportunity; a series of past tenses, a history for the Knight and for the Squire breaking forth in active participles. Even appearances and dress of both are compared.

Knight's pilgrimage is more nearly a response to the voice of saint.

The Knight is defined in terms of his virtues (lines 45-6) and actions to defend the faith far more than by his words. Knight's fighting in battle field had a religious cause. He is the antique pattern of the chivalry of Edward- III's time.

The Nun ( Prioress)

Prioress is described as of the first rank, rich and honored. She had certain peculiarities and little delicate affections. She was accompanied by what is truly grand, polite and elegance.

Chaucer has portrayed this character with such care and tenderness that it is often remarked that Chaucer really liked the prioress very much, even though he satires her so gently ---- very gently. But E.T Donaldson believes that this is just an understatement and Chaucer may not be said to be have liked her, rather he was only charmed by her beauty.

Eileen Power's illustration show with what extra-ordinary skill the portrait of the Prioress is packed with abuses of typical 14th century nuns. Though these abuses are petty, it is clear the Prioress is anything but a perfect nun and attempts to white wash her.

It has been argued that Chaucer's appreciation for the Prioress as sort of heroine of courtly romance actually due to Chaucer's sophisticated living, where he cared little whether amiable nuns are good and this sophistication permits itself to babble superlatives.

Anyway Prioress's very presence in the pilgrimage, as many point out, is the very first satiric touch. In the case of Prioress blemish is sufficiently technical to have only faint satiric coloring. But this places her at a spot in the sequence --- at one end --- in which more obviously blemished Monk and friar appear.

In the portrait of the Prioress the double view of pilgrimage appears both in ambiguity in the surface and in an implied inner range of motivation.

In the surface there is a name Eglentyne --- means romance --- and ‘simple and coy' is a romance formula, but she is a nun. There are coral beads and green gauds, --- a religious emblem. What shall be taken as principal? Are her courtly manners or her dedication at divine service explains her? And on the front of motivation, the perfect explanation lies in the lines of A.W.Hoffman : ‘There is such an impure but blameless mixture as Prioress …'. Deficiency of knowledge may be remedied (which caused due to Chaucer's attempt to make more gentle criticism on the Prioress). It is because, as many believe, Chaucer has a sister or a daughter who was a nun.

Prioress is the character who is found to be pre-dominating in some ages. William Blake has observed that ‘The characters of women Chaucer has divided into two classes, the Lady Prioress and Wife of Bath. Are not these leaders of the ages of men? The lady Prioress in some ages predominates; and in some the wife of Bath, in whose character Chaucer has been equally minute and exact because she is a scourge and blight'.

Wife of bath

William Blake has observed that ‘The characters of women Chaucer has divided into two classes, the Lady Prioress and Wife of Bath. Are not these leaders of the ages of men? The lady Prioress in some ages predominates; and in some the wife of Bath, in whose character Chaucer has been equally minute and exact because she is a scourge and blight'.

The main features of her character are common-sense and pre-occupation with sex, and an important element in Prologue is her desire to explain life in terms of her values. For instance: ‘She is willing to admit, for her convention's sake that chastity is the ideal state. But it is not her ideal.

In prologue, she explains her five husbands.

She She was a good woman but unfortunately rather deaf. The deafness is a significant detail --- the result of a blow from her fifth husband.

In medieval theory and law, biblical in origin, the man is the head of the woman, and should be obeyed. The Wife, however, is not receptive to this doctrine, and her deafness is the symbolic of this unwillingness to listen. Physical characteristics in her portrait have a moral import. Other such characteristics in case of Wife of Bath are the following. The Wife is a gate-toothed. Medieval students of physiology held that to have teeth widely spaced was a sign of boldness, falseness, gluttony and lasciviousness. The Wife born under Venus (who was not saint) regards it as confirmation of venereal nature. Her ‘gate-teeth' gave her many opportunities to wander off the road.

The Wife's portrait begins with a standard feature of the dreadful women, whom clerks in the Middle Ages liked the same way as the wives of the Guilds men (lines 376-8). This liking for display is cleverly combined by Chaucer with her profession (cloth-making). Her stockings are scarlet and tight laced, and her shoes are “moiste and newe”. She is thus the scarlet woman, whom preachers against female vanity love to hate. But this is Chaucerian as she is both sexually attractive and at the same time ridiculously over dressed.

The Wife turns out to be the monster of anti feminist comedy --- aggressive, nagging, gossiping, lustful and wasteful. Yet she is not unattractive.

Apart from five husbands and other youthful company we are told that she had passed “many a strange strem”. Then : “Of remedies of love she knew per chance

For she koud of that art the olde daunce”

(lines 475-6)

The ‘remedies' and ‘olde daunce' do not suggest virtue. All in all she is quite contract to the chastity, modesty and refinement of the Prioess.

About The Author Samir is presently works as a director of an animation firm www.anigraphs.com You can know more about him at : www.samirshomepage.zzn.com You can send feedback to him at: samirk_dash@yahoo.com

Write Strategy: Think, Believe, Attack

Think of writing like karate...it's about DISCIPLINE.

Writing, like other forms of art, work or talent, requires discipline. It won't ever be enough that you say to yourself that you are a writer. Only when you write and write with discipline can you call yourself one. Before you can earn a black belt in karate, you have to dedicate yourself, practice and instill discipline in yourself to learn the moves and techniques.

The same goes for writing. Don't just read books. Devour them. Ray Bradbury, author of Zen in the Art of Writing, suggests books of essays, poetry, short stories, novels and even comic strips. Not only does he suggest that you read authors who write the way you hope to write, but "also read those who do not think as you think or write as you want to write, and so be stimulated in directions you might not take for many years." He continues, "don't let the snobbery of others prevent you from reading Kipling, say, while no one else is reading him."

Learn to differentiate between good writing and bad writing. Make time to write. Write even though you're in a bad mood. Put yourself in a routine. Integrate writing into your life. The goal is not to make writing dominate your life, but to make it fit in your life. Julia Cameron, in her book The Right to Write, sums it best: "Rather than being a private affair cordoned off from life as the rest of the world lives it, writing might profitably be seen as an activity best embedded in life, not divorced from it."

Believe that EVERYONE HAS A STORY -- including you.

Extraordinary things happen to ordinary people. As a writer, your job is to capture as many of these things and write them down, weave stories, and create characters that jump out of the pages of your notebook. Don't let anything escape your writer's eye, not even the way the old man tries to subtly pick his nose or the way an old lady fluffs her hair in a diner. What you can't use today, you can use tomorrow. Store these in your memory or jot them down in your notebook.

Jump in the middle of the fray. Be in the circle, not outside it. Don't be content being a mere spectator. Take a bite of everything life dishes out. Ray Bradbury wrote, "Tom Wolfe ate the world and vomited lava. Dickens dined at a different table every hour of his life. Moliere, tasting society, turned to pick up his scalpel, as did Pope and Shaw. Everywhere you look in the literary cosmos, the great ones are busy loving and hating. Have you given up this primary business as obsolete in your own writing? What fun you are missing, then. The fun of anger and disillusion, the fun of loving and being loved, of moving and being moved by this masked ball which dances us from cradle to churchyard. Life is short, misery sure, mortality certain. But on the way, in your work, why not carry those two inflated pig-bladders labeled Zest and Gusto."

Attack writing with PASSION.

The kind of writing you produce will oftentimes reflect the current state of your emotions. Be indifferent and your writing will be indifferent. Be cheerful and watch the words dance across your page.

Whenever you sit down to write, put your heart and soul in it. Write with passion. Write as if you won't live tomorrow. In her book, Writing the Wave, Elizabeth Ayres wrote: "There's one thing your writing must have to be any good at all. It must have you. Your soul, your self, your heart, your guts, your voice -- you must be on that page. In the end, you can't make the magic happen for your reader. You can only allow the miracle of 'being one with' to take place. So dare to be you. Dare to reveal yourself. Be honest, be open, be true...If you are, everything else will fall into place."

Copyright (c) 2009 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About The Author Shery is the creator of WriteSparks! - a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks! Lite for free - http://writesparks.com

Journaling Memories

God gave us memories that we may have roses in December. Although these are not my own words, but a quote from a source long forgotten, I have returned to them frequently for their truth and beauty. Roses being one of my favorite flowers, It is an easy bridge from the image of the red blossoms that pose for a few weeks each summer in my back yard to my Auntie Viola, who taught me to love them as she did. While Auntie Viola passed on years ago, and my roses are settled into their out-of-season repose, the idea that our memories are gardens reflecting the rich detail of our lives and its accessibility to us, means we can revisit our experiences, thoughts and feelings amy time we want, and enjoy again the tangibility of relationships and events from earlier times. Happy memories rekindle warmth, tenderness and delight. Tougher situations recalled give logic and perspective to feelings that, at the time we lived them, overwhelmed or frightened us. Memories are important parts of our lives. Working back through dimly lit hallways from our childhood, high school or college years teaches us not only where we have been, but also how our choices have shaped our lives. Redirecting our memories to challenge us to grow into who we want to become is also the gift of recognizing how we may choose to view past experiences and life in the present moment.

Retracing memories is perhaps one of the most useful tools to reveal our lives to us in new ways, and to assist us in integrating our experiences as lasting, positive parts of our lives. Journaling this process is particularly useful for several reasons. Just as a written historical record of an event creates a touchstone to which we can return for reassurance, hope or confirmation, so does a journaled account of a memory. What was your first day of school like? What ever became of the presents and the guests from your thirteenth birthday party? Where were you, and what were you doing, when we crossed over into the new millennium? What did you like best about your vacation last year? What is your first memory of your grandparents? All of these are roses blooming in your memory, ready to be savored. If you have no idea where to begin, the idea itself can become your toehold. Almost like an object lesson, favorite items related to the memory can also jostle our minds, relinquishing long-buried facts and feelings that can be jotted down, pondered and reassembled into an orderly, cohesive format. Report cards, art projects, favorite articles of clothing, and photographs, can help nudge your psyche to assist you in retrieving almost any memory you would like to reconnect with, and have at hand whenever the mood suits you.

Being able to return to our memories allows us to remind ourselves of where we were, where we are now, and where we would like to direct ourselves in the future. Rather than playing tricks on us in the midst of stressful or anxious times, our memories can serve us, become our allies, our comforters and our guides. Remembering and writing down how you lived through a challenging experience, such as losing a job or facing an undesirable move to another part of the country, gives you a foothold if a similar situation ever comes up again. Cherishing the moment of grace as your first love enters your life is a great blessing. Remembering it each time you come back to it in your journal makes that experience a blessing for all time. Reminding yourself of the sweetness of a summer's night in the middle of winter means you can still hold onto the rhythm of life in the seasons themselves. Rather than feeling stuck in our memories, unable to release them to move forward in our lives, journaling our memories allows us to place them in perspective, integrate them into our lives, and use them as tools to continue to create and develop our futures.

To that end, memories are also great mysteries that evolve over time as they overlap in our hearts and souls, and fill in the gaps in our consciousness that we have left behind. It is fascinating to me that our whole lives are literally stored in our heads. Granted, there are a few pieces of information flitting around in each of us that is better left untouched and silent. But most of this compact filing system, and how we've organized it for ourselves, is quite a miracle. The more we know of our memories, the more we can unravel the great mystery that is our own in which to delight. It is a tremendous gift to know oneself fully. From that point of reference can be launched many good choices, from career to life partner. Nobody else can do that for us, or should. Journaling your memories puts your life work in your own hands, and allows you to shape your future with consciousness and wholeness.

Finally, what is wonderful about journaling memories is that you can start wherever you like, and continue in any direction you choose. It is your life, your garden and your roses. Equally wonderful is the garden you can create in your heart and soul, a garden you can visit any time, any season, whenever you choose to open your journal and remember.

About The Author Cory L. Kemp As an ordained minister I have worked in educational ministries in several congregations, as well as pastoring a congregation. My writing has focused on nonfiction essays and I have recently submitted a theological memoir for publication. My ministerial background and love of writing have combined to develop Creating Women Ministries, a website dedicated to encouraging theological dialogue, particularly among women, through workshops, journaling and personal spiritual development. My website can be found at http://www.creatingwomenministries.com and I can be reached by email at creatingwomen@irun.com. My blog is located at http://creatingwomenministries.blogspot.com.

Cooking with Annie Dote

The submission deadline to an anthology is looming and I want to write an essay for it. I take a seat at my kitchen table, and begin flipping through my journals for inspiration.

"What are you looking for," my husband asks. An innocent enough question.

"An anecdote," I reply.

"An Annie who?" he says, raising his eyebrows and casting a sideways glance at our teenage son. Our son grins and chuckles softly, knowing his dad likes to tease me about writers and their mysterious words and ways. I should have known.

"Not Annie, anec, an-ec-dote," I repeat. "Something I can build on to make a story."

"Uh-huh," he replies, "like a prescription or something?"

"No, not like a prescription. Well . . . kind of like a prescription, insofar as it relieves the dreaded symptoms resulting from staring at a blank page."

He and my son sigh in unison and grab a soda from the fridge. Thankfully, I'm saved-by-the-whistle. They disappear into the living room to watch the game, where they will discuss words and ways they can relate to, like "rebound" and "three second rule," (or is it five seconds? I don't know.)

What is an anecdote?

An anecdote is a short, entertaining account of an incident. Metaphorically speaking: an anecdote is life. Life that contains laughter and tears, and most importantly, an anecdote is a moment in life worth remembering.

When someone says, "I had a really great day," it doesn't mean everything about the day was really great. But a few moments were. A great moment makes an entire day fun. A few shining moments over a period of months can prompt us to say, "this is a great year" even though we've encountered losses, sadness, anger and all kinds of other unpleasant circumstances.

A way to identify a good anecdote is to pay attention to another person's reaction when you are telling them a story. For example, a few months ago I posted a little story on my mom's group list about a very frustrating but humorous moment I had with my toddler. My e-mail inbox filled up quickly with responses from other moms in the group who could relate to my saga and enjoyed the description of the incident.

"Aha," I thought, "that writes."

That evening, I sat down at my computer. I copied the message I posted, added an introduction, a little more background, a couple more related anecdotes and a conclusion. Then I e-mailed it to the editor of an anthology. Less than twenty-four hours later, I received an e-mail response.

At first I was a little worried. I thought a response that speedy could only mean I forgot to attach the manuscript. Or maybe she did receive it, and was promptly rejecting it.

I clicked on the e-mail and was happy to discover I received an acceptance. It's the first and last time I've received such a quick response, but if I hadn't been perceptive about how enjoyable the little anecdote was, I would have forgotten the incident completely and lost the story.

Keeping a personal journal is also a very effective way to capture your anecdotes until you can get back to them. Find a journal that is small enough to carry in your purse or pocket, and take it with you everywhere.

Record every interesting thing you hear, church sermons, funny things people say, lyrics to songs on the radio. Pretty soon, it will become second nature, and people will begin to peer at you curiously and say, "um, what are you writing in that little book?" They're worried you're taking notes about them, of course.

Journals are the writer's cookbook. We store our delicious morsels of words in them until it's time to write something nourishing. We may have lots of ideas, but if we don't record them, they are soon forgotten. Don't allow your writing to suffer from malnutrition. Take notes about your life!

May God bless you with the right anecdote to cure your blank page. And enough journals to keep you well fed. Happy writing.

About The Author This article is available for free reprint provided that the author’s bionote is left intact and the article is published complete and unaltered. If you are using this article on a website or e-book, please make sure that the link in the author’s bionote is live or clickable. Email notice of intent to publish is required: bcarrphillips@yahoo.com. Bionote: Barbara Carr Phillips believes you can meet any goal by journaling to it. To schedule an online or in-person journaling workshop for you or your organization, visit her website at: http://www.journalworkshops.com.

Unusual Points of View

Most writers are familiar with first and third points of view and their variations. But have you ever experimented with alternative points of view? Below are some less used points of view, what I call “unusual points of view.” Try using these when you’re blocked or you want to try something new.

Second Person Point of View

Second person can be written as “you” singular or plural. Josip Novakovich in FICTION WRITER’S WORKSHOP says: “The author makes believe he’s talking to someone, describing what the person addressed is doing. But the ‘you’ is not the reader, though sometimes it’s hard to get rid of the impression the author is addressing you directly.”

Here’s an excerpt from Italo Calvino’s first chapter of If on a winter night a traveler. I think it’s one of the most engaging examples of second person point of view. But if the author is not speaking to the reader…then to whom? You be the judge.

You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a winter’s night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel ever other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell others right away, “No, I don’t want to watch TV!” Raise your voice—they won’t hear you otherwise—“I’m reading! I don’t want to be disturbed!” . . . So here you are now, ready to attack the first lines of the first page. You prepare to recognize the unmistakable tone of the author . . .

Most stories told in second person are written in the present tense, so the reader identifies directly with the character. You’re along for the journey, being an active part of the story. I read this excerpt feeling as if the author sees me and is talking directly to me.

Like other points of view, second person has its pitfalls. One of them is keeping the reader’s attention through the whole story (in this example, an entire novel). Some readers don’t like to be told what they’re thinking and doing and saying. Sometimes this point of view has a tendency to sound too journalistic or like a recipe.

First Person Collective Observer Point of View (or third person plural)

In this point of view the reader follows the motions and acts of one person through a group’s viewpoint. Usually, someone in the group acts as narrator but doesn’t have his/her own identity. Usually this is reserved for small town narratives, where an individual lives under communal scrutiny. Schools, towns, churches, or families focus on a secret person in conflict with the community. In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” Emily is the character scrutinized by the residents of Yoknapatawpha County.

Here is an excerpt from the story which occurs after she is put in the ground and what “we” discover.

For a long while we just stood there, looking at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long deep sleep that outlasts love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him . . . Then we noticed that in the second pillow was an indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, leaning forward, that fast and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.

Third Person Plural Observer (“They”)

Here the perceptions of a critical situation comes from a group of characters who watch the protagonist. It could be a group of boys watching a teenage girl undressing in her window as in: “They saw her in the window.” The excerpt from “A Rose for Emily” might as easily be written in the point of view.

First and Second Combined

This point of view is usually used in love poetry, and rarely in fiction. In this example from “The Roaring Bull and Electra,” a short story, it’s an adult daughter speaking to her father too ill to speak for himself.

Today the new Roaring Bull was christened, and I wanted you to be next to me as you had been, twenty years ago . . . Now you can’t speak. You can barely swallow. I used to feed you melted ice cream and stroke your throat to get it down because I thought the taste would remind you of our ferry rides . . .

First and Third Combined

This point of view is used for characters with a personality dichotomy, to look at the same character from different angles. In “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story” Russell Banks does this to portray a narcissistic man’s affair with a homely woman.

I felt warmed by her presence and was flirtatious and bold, a little pushy even.

Picture this. The man, tanned, limber . . . enters the apartment behind the woman.

The switch to third person is the character taking a look at himself, the way one might want to see himself projected onscreen. The shift in point of view might be annoying to the reader, so it’s important to establish this shift pattern early in your story.

Try this exercise:

Choose one of your favorite stories and rewrite a scene from it in one of the “unusual points of view.” You might want to try rewriting one of the excerpts above. In your exercise show the original passage, then your changed point of view (or points of view). You get extra brownie points if you write a scene from scratch. This is a challenging exercise, but it also shows you don’t have to be limited by variations of first and third person.

Let go, breathe deep, and have fun with it!

 2004 Rita Marie Keller

About The Author Rita Marie Keller has written and published numerous stories, articles, and essays. Her first novel, Living in the City, was released September 2002 by Booklocker.com, Inc. She founded the Cacoethes Scribendi Creative Writing Workshop (www.cacoethes-scribendi.com) in 1999.

Journaling Experiences and Events

How did you spend your day yesterday? When was the last time you went to see a movie? Can you remember the plot line? What did you do on your last vacation? Did you enjoy a particular meal, or visit a special tourist site that meant something special to you? While none of the answers to these questions matter in the overall scheme of life, they are a part of your life, and may very well matter to you at some point in time.

Learning to journal our experiences, and the special events in our lives can teach us about the fluidity of daily situations, how they fit together, and how they impact each other. Through journaling our experiences we can make connections to and through the flow of our lives. Perhaps as a child you always spent Thanksgiving at your grandparents' house, saw aunts, uncles, cousins and assorted friends and neighbors around the holiday table. Although you enjoyed the experience, each Thanksgiving as an adult has a certain poignancy about it on which you just can't place your finger. Taking time to journal through the next Thanksgiving Day, the day after the festivities are complete, may help you make connections about your present feelings and how they are associated with the holiday. Did you have people come to your home this year, or did you visit someone else's home? Or maybe you gathered friends together and celebrated at a favorite restaurant, then came home for dessert. Was the day relaxed or stressful? Was the weather warm and bright, or cloudy and damp? Were you excited about the day, or dreading it for weeks prior? Now, you can start with these most recent experiences of the holiday, comparing and contrasting this day with all those yesterdays, remembering as much about those earlier holidays as possible, and see how the connections of feelings, thoughts and experiences reveal themselves to you. Connect your present to your past, fill in the blanks, and through the process you will come to understand and enjoy your life more fully.

When we talk about our days as a series of vignettes gathered into a group that create the whole, we begin to also see the weeks, months and years, and our lives, as woven together into a cohesive pattern, rather than time that has slipped through our hands like so much sand on a beach. We often wonder where time goes. In journaling your daily experiences you can see it all laid out before you with as much detail as you choose to embody it. Take a few moments and jot down everything you did yesterday. My guess is that you will discover some surprises in how you use your time, and in how you view the way you use your time. What have you automatically deleted from the list before your pen touched the page? How do you feel about your accomplishments? What would you like to exchange out as a "do over" for next time? How honest have you been with yourself about the events that are now part of your personal history?

Beyond getting you in the groove of recognizing how you manage your time and personal resources, journaling your daily life is effective in showing you parts of your life, in your own words, parts of your life of which you may not even be aware. Things like behavior patterns, personal preferences, relational triggers, what you avoid and what you embrace, are all issues that can arise and be tracked when you regularly journal your experiences. Thinking about your job after you leave work is almost inevitable, especially if you are unhappy with your circumstances or irritated with your co-workers. Sometimes the people we live with, love them though we do, are annoying, cranky and intrusive. Or, perhaps, it's all in our perception. When you write out these scenarios of the thorns that are perpetually in your side, you either begin to get really sick of hearing yourself repeat the same theme over and over, or you begin to recognize the patterns creating your responses, and you see how you can make different choices to create the reality you want. Journaling draws us to consciousness, which leads us to making our lives better places, if we want them to be.

The practice of growing familiar with regular journaling will serve you well in many ways. Vacations, special dinners, historical sites, and personal adventures, can be recalled and relived when written about as part of your daily life, or as individual vignettes to be cherished on their own. Journaling the experiences and events of your life is a tangible way to remember how well you have lived, and how well-lived you plan your present and future to be. Journaling affirms for each of us that we can only live our own life, so we may as well have a good, conscious time doing it.

About The Author Cory L. Kemp As an ordained minister I have worked in educational ministries in several congregations, as well as pastoring a congregation. My writing has focused on nonfiction essays and I have recently submitted a theological memoir for publication. My ministerial background and love of writing have combined to develop Creating Women Ministries, a website dedicated to encouraging theological dialogue, particularly among women, through workshops, journaling and personal spiritual development. My website can be found at http://www.creatingwomenministries.com, and I can be reached by email at creatingwomen@irun.com. My blog is located at http://creatingwomenministries.blogspot.com.

Harnessing The Wisdom of Procrastination

The Heart of The Delay: Harnessing the Wisdom of Procrastination, AKA Writer’s Block

I am sure that at in some era, at some desk, with some kind of paper (and perhaps some very special ink), some writer has breezed through a lengthy and challenging project from beginning to end with no delays. No one in her household has suffered, she’s felt pleased at each step of the process, and her shoulders have never cried out for massage. I’m sure of this.

I am equally certain that for most people, writing projects have at least some period of delay. Sometimes, it takes the form of distraction, and a bit of discipline works just fine to bring us back. Other times, our life’s work or inspiration of the moment sits there, waiting for us to get back to it, and every incomplete we’ve ever taken in school, every shaming message we’ve ever heard, or self-doubt we’ve ever felt encrusts the project like so many barnacles.

Worse still, “procrastination” and “writer’s block” pop up in writer’s tracts like names of diseases that need “cures,” the right sledgehammer, or perhaps simply to be ignored. While some writers may find it helpful to have a name for what gets in the way of what they’re trying to achieve, “writer’s block” or “procrastination” can falsely universalize very different phenomena. My obstacles, yours, and hers may be different animals, different species or even perhaps silicon-based non-organic entities. Framing them as negative blocks the opportunity to learn something about ourselves or our writing.

For example, my reluctance to finish my novel may reflect a correct hunch about a major flaw in the story structure I’m loathe to face, while yours may stem from guilt about being the first in your family to succeed at an intellectual task. Each of us has an opportunity to notice and deal directly with the heart of the delay, rather than its limbs which trip us. Dealing with the heart of the delay could lead us down a more effective and sustainable path than the one we’d forge by simply steamrolling over the delay, or walking around it. I might need to bring in a book doctor to raise the quality of my work, while you might need to have a heart-to-heart with a family member, neutral third party, or both about what it means for you to succeed as a writer.

I humbly suggest the following: When next you find your mind meandering anywhere but to your work, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, give a listen to what’s guiding you astray. The answer may surprise you—and give you some clues about how to proceed with your project on the clearest path possible. Here are some questions to help you determine what’s tripping you up, as well as some responses to each.

1) Do you have in mind an ideal way of doing things, and then get paralyzed when you start to do things in your own natural quirky way?

Here’s permission, then. Write out of order.

If ideas for the middle or end of your book come before the beginning, go with it. You can always move things later.

Multitask—use one project to procrastinate from doing another.

If you’ve done your emotional homework and find that you still procrastinate (and many great writers do), have other projects in the pipeline so that when you find yourself drifting from the one big project, you’ve got others to work on to fill your time until you can get back to that one. If you’re stopped in your tracks because you think you have to work in a certain way, get back to the drawing board! Work on the pieces that compel you when you feel like working on them.

2) Is it possible that you lose the big picture of what you’re doing in the daily details?

Connect your deepest desires and visions to each moment of your work.

Distill your longings into a sentence or paragraph such as “I am a published writer who gets great reviews and makes my entire living through my writing,” and post this in a visible place. Say it out loud to your mirror each time you begin your work. It might seem hokey, but many writers find that it actually helps to keep the big picture in mind.

3) Do you have a realistic image of the quality of your work?

Find out what if any kind of help you need, then get it.

A society of journalists was asked how many writers were in the room. Nearly all the hands went up. Then the speaker asked how many of the writers considered themselves “good writers.” Nearly half the hands went down.

While even the best writers doubt their skill, others suffer from overconfidence. Well, maybe overconfident writers don’t experience suffering themselves, but their careers (and perhaps their peers) can suffer for their lack of help getting their writing to a publishable place. If you find yourself putting off work because you don’t know if it’s any good, find out. Get a professional in the field with obvious credentials to help you make that determination, or do it yourself.

If you find out your work stands up content-wise, you may still need an outside eye to tell you whether your writing is okay on its own, or you need professional assistance to make it publishable. An editor experienced in your type of manuscript will be able to help you polish your prose to a high sheen.

Another option is ghostwriting, or hiring a professional writer to pen some or all of your manuscript. Many of the most famous authors hire ghostwriters to help them get their message across. Sometimes they’re credited on the cover with an “and” or “with,” but often they’re silent partners, hence the term “ghost.”

Having marketable ideas is one thing—finding the language to best articulate them is another entirely. Don’t kill yourself trying to develop a skill that takes years to hone when you’ve got other more compelling plans, and when there are plenty of people already prepped for that task. We live in a specialized society expressly for not having to kill ourselves trying to deliver garbage, make contact lenses, paint all the artwork on our walls, and yes, craft and polish all our own prose.

4) Who is in your immediate environment?

Take a look, give a listen. Is what you observe conducive to writing?

On one end of the solitude-contact continuum is the person who works best alone. On the other end is someone who needs a partner to check in and collaborate with at each stage of the process. What are your needs around other people’s involvement in your work? For the solitary type, the solution could be finding a “room of one’s own,” or at least a borrowed space with peace and quiet enough to think and write.

At the other end it could be finding a buddy, coach or collaborator to check in with regularly. In the middle, where lots of people find themselves, are authors who attend local writers groups or participate in online communities. Take the time to notice and get to know your own needs, and to create the space and/or support you need to move forward.

5) Is some healing in order?

At the deepest level of your awareness, what do you feel and believe about yourself and your writing?

On another plane entirely from practical concerns are wounds of the soul that need healing. It’s difficult to allow our excellence to shine when we truly believe we’re not worthy, or that to succeed would betray some unspoken agreement about staying small.

If everything within you wants to move forward into the world with your writing, and something inside you is holding you back, realize that only you can make the decision to find the therapist, spiritual counselor, coach or practice to move you through that place. Procrastination could be a signal to finally heal an old wound.

6) Is this project the best expression of what you love and want to put out into the world right now?

Ascertain or revisit what made you put your energy behind this project.

Whether it’s money, prestige, self-expression, career advancement or something else, ask yourself if your original reasons are congruent with your current needs. If not, give yourself permission to do something else.

7) Are you afraid of the impact you’ll make on the world, whether positive or negative?

You should be—if you’ve never been published before, you’re about to lose your anonymity.

Consider using a pen name, at least for the time you’re writing. You can always change it back later. I did this for the very first essay I ever published, because at the time, I felt shy about writing about sex, and also wanted to protect those whom I discussed in the essay.

guerilla tip: Most writers will not become all that famous, and the feedback most of us receive is damned scant. So—consider using your real name before going to press. If you go on to build your career around related material, you’ll be grateful you did.

8) Do You Need to Reassess your Pace?

Maybe the goals you’ve set aren’t realistic for you.

Procrastination can be an utterly human attempt to create a sustainable work pace. If you expect eight hours of writing a day from yourself six days a week, no wonder your body’s rebelling. If your goals more clearly meet your known capabilities, and you’re still having difficulty meeting them, ask yourself honestly whether your timetable makes sense for you today.

Your life may have changed since you last set the pace of your writing treadmill. If so, change your expectations to ones you’re more likely to achieve—then reward yourself when you do. If you still have trouble, consider structural supports, like a writing buddy, group, or some form of coaching.

9) Do you think your first drafts have to be perfect?

Come on. You’re slinging mud on a wall. Or, if you prefer, as one of my clients put it, “I just put one word in front of the other.”

You’re going to go through so many revisions from the time you put those first few words down to the time you’re polished, that you might as well bulk up the page now. There will be plenty of time for trimming later.

10) Do you hate the idea of rewriting yet one more time?

Of course you do. People in other fields get to be finished with their tasks when they stop working, and enjoy the fruits of their labors. But nooooo, not writers! There’s always another draft in the wings.

Face it—endless rewriting sucks. You know and I know it needs doing, but isn’t there a better way? The bad news is, the only way around is through. The good news is, you can reward yourself for each phase, and I encourage you to do so.

11) When was the last time you saw the sky?

Get outside, for crying out loud. Humans were never meant to spend all day immersed in words.

Some days, your procrastination may be telling you to Get A Life. If so, listen. Enjoy yourself. However talented you are and however important your work, you aren’t your writing. At least not entirely. Breaking up your day with physical activities, or anything very different from writing will give you a fresh perspective on your text. Plus, when this project is all over, you’ll want to have had a bit of sunshine from time to time, maybe a friendship or two.

Remember, not all bouts of delay are alike. Yours might carry a message. Take the time to listen, heed and respond to that message. Your writing—and your life—will be better for it.

About The Author You are welcome to reprint this article any time, anywhere with no further permission, and no payment, provided the following is included at the end or beginning: Author Jill Nagle is founder and principal of GetPublished, http://www.GetPublished.com, which provides coaching, consulting, ghostwriting, classes and do-it-yourself products to emerging and published authors. Her most recent book is How to Find An Agent Who Can Sell Your Book for Top Dollar http://www.FindTheRightAgent.com. Jill@getpublished.com

English as a Medium For Indian-Writer

In a paper at Regional Conference of the Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Held at India International Centre ,New Delhi on February23-6,1975,R.Parthasarathy , while exposing the position of Indian writers in English reffered to the comments of American poets Allen Ginsberg ,Gary Snycler and Peter Onlovsky: "If we were gangster poets we would shoot you"(1), his threat was direct against the Indian writers’ failure to take risk with the English language.

To explain the reason behind this R.Parthasarathy says that there at least two problems which prevent Indian writers to take the risk.First is related to the kind of experience he would like to express in English .

Indian who use the Emglish language gets in some extent alienated . This development is superficial and this is why many blame ‘Indian Writers in English’(IWE) as writers who present India in a foreign view-point .There work doesn’t contain a deep analysis of the Indian realities and Indian characters .

Many regional writers (many of who are even Jnapitha Awardees) say writing in English in India is a severe handicap as it tends to make their writing export oriented .Hindi writer Rajendra Yadav puts it as : "The IWE take a tourist look at India , like Pankaj Mishra’s The Romantics , where he is simply a tourist who does not know the inner psyche of people or a more clever device Vikram Seth uses in A S uitable Boy ,the pretext of looking for a bride-groom ,which takes him to different locales and professions . It is a creatively written travelers’ guide .They travel into our culture , describe a bit of our geography ; their total approach is a westerner’s :a third rate ‘serpant-rope trick’"

Many believe that IWE is circumscribed by what only westerner can appreciate :either exotica or erotica .Both these elements are visible in Ruth Prawar Jhabavala’s Heat and Dust .There is description of shrines , Sadhus ,Nawabs ,Princes and their castles along with sex and gay-parties and Hijraas .Jhabvala’s picture of princely India is extremely un realistic ,quixotic and pseudo-romantic .Similar is the case of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things . B.Jaya Mohan in a recent interview to Out Look magazine (February 25 , 2002) said :"Writers like Roy are superficial and exotic .When Roy uses English to express a Malayalam idiom , it might be exotic for westerner , but for Indians it is not very exciting ."

Still there are writers in English for whom a little praise is made ,but that even by another English writer.In an obituary to R.K.Narayan in Time magazine ,V.S.Naipul writes :"His people can eat off leaves on a floor in a slum tenement ,hang their upper clothes on a coat stand ,do all that in correct English ,and there is no strangeness ,no false comedy ,no distance" But still regional writers believe ; " …but any Tamil writer would have put more life into his novels than R.K. did".

The battle of the first kind of problem guides us into the second and this is ‘ the quality of idiom the writer uses’ .R .Parthasarathy says that " there is obviously a time lag between the living , creative idiom and the English used in India .And this time lag is not likely to diminish".

It is because the historical situation is to blame .Besides there is no special English idiom ,either .English in India rarely approaches the liveliness and idiosyncrasy of usage one finds in African or West Indian writing , perhaps because of the long tradition of literature in Indian languages .

This is explained by Kannada d Oyen " writers in Indian language have a rich back-ground -- centuries old literary traditions,flok tales and life all round them -- the IWE only have frontyard".That’s why Rushdie draws fom the ethos and Hindi of Mumbai,while writers like Narayan draws from Tamil and Raja Rao from Kannada .But still the idiom they use lacks in liveliness, because "it’s impossible to transfer into English the cultural traditions and the associations of language".This is why it is not surprising that writers in English tend to over emphasize their Indianness . This also explains why Michael Madhusudan Dutt after publishing thesis first book The Captive Lady(1849) in English turned to Bengali to become the first modern Indian poet .

While a regional writer can directly concentrate mode of writing the IWE has to face a complex problem---‘he has to go through the tedious explanations of the idioms he uses in his book ,leaving little space for creative writing’.

Perhaps Narayan was the only writer who never cared for such explanations .Naipul writes (Time,June 4 ,2001) :

"There is or used to be a kind of Indian writer who used many italics and for the excitement ,had a glossary of perfectly simple local words at the back of his book .Narayan never did that .He explains little or nothing;he talks everything about his people and his little town for granted".

But this is not possible for every IWE writer who wants to perform an experiment in creative English writing .R.Parthasarathy explains in the context of his own position as an English poet with Tamil as his mother tongue . "English is a part of my intellectual, rational make-up Tamil my emotional ,psychic make-up"Hence it is he believes that every IWE feels that he has an unnecessary burden to do the explanation of the idioms he uses ,and My Tongue in English Chain is a theoretical statement of this problem.

Russian scholar E.J.Kalinikova in Problems of Modern Indian Literature (1975) also refers to this problem in G.Byol’s words :

"National colouring is like naivete’ ,if you realize you have it ,then you have already lost it […] Conception of the Indian through Indian eyes is natural,and this only determine the scope of literary subject", where as an English writer ofIndia tries to give .The elements in a foreign language for which the whole experience of that element is strange and in the end what is produced is in Kamala Das’s words:

"It is halfEnglish,half Indian

Funny perhaps, but it is honest" [An Introduction]

To provide a compromise M.R.Anand writes in his essay Pigeon—Indian:Some Notes on Indian English Writing : "The real tests are different The first test is in the sincerity of the writer in any language .The second test may be in the degree of sensitiveness or individual talent".

And in what this talent lie ?Anita Desai has the answer :

"I think I have learnt how to live with English language,how to deal with the problems it creats –mainly by ignoring them"

This view is supported by Henery James –"One’s own language is one’s mother ,but the language one adopts as a career, as a study ,is one’s wife[…] she will expect you to commit infidelities .On those terms she will keep your house well"

Perhaps that’s why IWE like Raja Rao have justified their own stand as :

"We can write only as Indians[…] Time will alone justify it"

[Introduction to Kantapura]

Every writer (especially poet) ,as many believe ,sooner or later suffers from ‘Aphasia’ or ‘loss of poetic speech’ .His poetry ought to ,from the beginning aspire to the condition of silence.This is similar to Rene’ Wellek’s notion on Endgame of Samuel Beckett :

"Samuel Beckett in Endgame has been looking for the voice of his silence"

But Wellek’s view is applicable to the living force that still move the Indian English writers’ pen on paper .

"The artist,s dissatisfaction with language can only be expressed by language .Pause may be a device to express the un expressible ,but the pause can not be prolonged indefinitely".

So, in spite of the problems related to language and diction in use , the writers must keep on trying their best in carving out on them ,their creativeness on experimental basis ,because that may one day lead us to where we are now caving to reach.

About The Author Samir K. Dash Presently Samir is Director of an animation firm www.anigraphs.com For more articles by him visit www.samirshomepage.zzn.com samirk_dash@yahoo.com

Journaling Our Thoughts, Feelings and Faith

Contemplate for a moment how you felt the instant you laid eyes on your very first love. Is that how you feel about this person today? What do you think about this person, if you even think about them at all anymore? Remembering back to that moment, are you able to articulate your faith experience from that time? How would you describe your faith now? Where our thoughts, feelings and faith fit into our journaling process are as crucial as every other element, if not more so. Recognizing them as the main ingredients of the whole of life is about as simple, and as complicated, as as it gets. If you are able to clarify your thoughts, feelings and faith around an earlier or present experience through journaling them, you have the capacity to transform your life.

Undisturbed and unexamined, old thoughts can continue to direct us down unusable, personally destructive paths, leaving us wondering why our lives are miserable and frustrating. Perhaps your organizational skills are a challenge for you, and each time you are in a position to plan an event, personal or professional, you become frustrated and are not sure where to begin. Your mind goes in three different directions at once, you are unable to focus on a set of steps to put together the theme, the activities, the refreshments and the guest list. Journaling this process in the present can help you focus your energy, understand where your thoughts are taking you, and, over time, help you redirect your thoughts down more productive avenues.

Negative feelings, set in emotional concrete and stroked fervently over the years, scrape away at our souls until, turning to hardened calluses, we no longer remember to feel anything other than bitterness and resentment. Left unexamined, unchallenged, life passes us by. All the positive energy in the world bounces off the solid boundaries of someone determined to remain mired in disillusionment and denial. Writing down how we feel about whatever is happening in our lives mainly gives us perspective. From heart, to pen, to paper, we are creating a channel for our feelings, and a little bit of space that gives us breathing room, and an opportunity to make different feeling choices for ourselves. When we have become so intimate with a pattern of feelings that we can only sense the trench deepening beneath us, we need to create a new pattern. Journaling can help us create that new, potentially life-altering pattern by first giving us the opportunity to recognize the old one we are in without judgment or fear.

By the same token, faith left unexamined is usually a faith not lived, and becomes a faith that succumbs to stagnation or death. Prayer is clearly a key component to infusing energy, strength and purpose into our faith, but journaling can again give us the opportunity and the framework to recharge ourselves by releasing old patterns to make room for the new. Have you ever consciously asked yourself how your faith spoke to you in any given situation? How about when you were faced with a tough disciplinary situation with your child? Or when you were trying to decide on how to balance your work with your personal life? How did your faith speak to you as you woke up this morning? All of these are situations in which our faith is present, whether we use its strength and wisdom purposefully in our lives, or not. Journaling how we understand our faith has, or has not, addressed our lives recently or in the past, can help us begin to use our faith consciously and regularly.

Considering how our thoughts, feelings and faith speak to us in the journaling process invites God to the dialogue, a God-centered conversation in which we can observe how and when our beliefs were engaged, or not engaged, in the process of living. An examined life transforms to an informed life, and an informed life transcends to a consciously-lived life. When we are conscious on our journey, it's a whole lot easier to recognize God and follow our purpose in life.

About The Author Cory L. Kemp As an ordained minister I have worked in educational ministries in several congregations, as well as pastoring a congregation. My writing has focused on nonfiction essays and I have recently submitted a theological memoir for publication. My ministerial background and love of writing have combined to develop Creating Women Ministries, a website dedicated to encouraging theological dialogue, particularly among women, through workshops, journaling and personal spiritual development. My website can be found at http://www.creatingwomenministries.com, and I can be reached by email at creatingwomen@irun.com. My blog is located at http://creatingwomenministries.blogspot.com.