I am pretty sure I am supposed to be at the grocery store right now, clutching my trusty list as I stroll about the store with my one-wonky-wheel-cart (I have a gift when it comes to picking the exact cart that will make me wish everyone else, or just me, was deaf). I should be out in the sunshine, or head down in my work of organizing a launch event for myself, or walking the dog. I’m not. I’m immersed in a book I discovered approximately 16 years ago and have never forgotten. The book is Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and it was first introduced to me way back in highschool by one of my favorite teachers, Lorne Thompson, with whom I shared a love of writing. He’s the same teacher who when I wrote years later that I feared I was going to get scurvy from eating only ramen noodles and KD, assured me that I was going to be fine, and among the list of life rules he proceeded to hand me, was this: always, always have budget for books, for they will sustain you. He was brilliant, and I am still sad that he is gone. In any case, I am rekindling my love with that book, its exercises and my love of writing.
I used to write all the time. I made time for my “Morning Pages” which is 3 pages written stream-of-consciousness-style, first thing in the morning, I was faithful to it and loved seeing what came out of me.
The book itself is meant to be a series of activities to simply get you writing, to be a channel through which creativity can flow. I loved to work through it when I first got it, before life got in the way, and it was relegated to the bookshelf to be forgotten for awhile. I was creating my coaching office space last weekend, and came across it – I looked it again this afternoon and was enthralled, once again, by the rules (taken from the book):
1. Keep your hand moving. )Don’t pause to read what you’ve just written, that’s stalling and trying to get control of what you’re saying.)
2. Don’t cross out. (That is editing as you write. Even if you write something you didn’t mean to write, leave it.)
3. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar. (Don’t even care about staying in the margins and lines of the page.)
4. Lose control.
5. Don’t think. Don’t get logical.
6. Go for the jugular. (If something comes up in your writing that is scary or naked, dive right into it. It probably has lots of energy.)
As someone who is always afraid in my creative pursuits to do things “right” and follow the rules, this is liberating and scary, too. But I am excited to tackle it and dive in. So that is what I will do. Start with 15 minutes a day, and see where it takes me. I invite you to do the same.
