The Real Writer

Artist Residency Awarded

I'm excited to announce that I've been awarded a 2-year artist residency with Creative Alliance, a community based non-profit organization that presents and promotes the arts and humanities in Baltimore, Maryland. In mid-June, I'll be headed back from whence I came a year or so ago. This is a fabulous opportunity, as the residency comes with a loft apartment downtown, where I'll be living with other artists (I can feel the energy already!), and the chance to develop a writing program for writers of all ages, with a focus on underprivileged youth. It also means taking my teaching and mentoring skills to another level with an established organization that has far-reaching resources and an awesome mailing list. In some respects, it's like an apprenticeship, but with more latitude.

I expect that by the end of my time there, I'll have gained valuable experience working with kids and teens, have established a good contact base, and will have already launched my private workshop/mentoring business in the Baltimore community. Not to mention the completion of another novel, a book of essays on writing retreats for women, and a poetry manuscript. Hey, it's two years, I can get a lot written in two years!

While being in Los Angeles has given me many opportunities to teach and volunteer, and I've made friends (artists, writers, musicians, you name it) that are important to me, I think it's best to take what you know to where it will do the most good. LA has a thriving art and non-profit community. There are many wonderful people here doing wonderful things. Baltimore is thriving as well, but in a smaller way, and I know that, with the help of Creative Alliance, I will reach a larger group, giving as many kids and teens as possible the chance to express themselves through writing and other creative projects. What artist/writer doesn't dream of such an opportunity?

Of course I'll continue to offer all my teaching and editing services, as well as the newsletter and online classes and discussion groups.

I'll be sure to post updates on the experience and the process here on a regular basis. In the meantime, I'm close to the final edits on my second novel, and have been able to "kill my darlings," (as Faulkner advises us to do), or at least most of them, in an effort to have the cleanest writing possible. It's not about the ego or desires of the writer, it's about what the piece, be it a poem, a novel, or an essay, needs to be fully realized. This is an ongoing struggle for every writer, no matter how many years experience you have! Is there something you can edit out in one of your works today? Something you love, that you think is the most fabulous writing ever, but is probably clogging up or blocking the light in your writing? Get rid of it. You'll feel better when you see how well things flow afterwards.

For anyone interested in the work of Creative Alliance, or in applying for a residency, their website is www.creativealliance.org

NotWriting.com

Fun site that you can go to at 3 a.m. when you wake up in a sweat because you're still not writing! Helps us not to feel so alone...

In their own words, their mission is:

"NotWriting.com is all about making lazy-ass writers feel better about procrastinating. Let's face it, writing is hard work and it isn't any easier when we're made to feel guilty about not doing it.

Here at NotWriting.com you'll read daily or weekly commentary (really whenever the author feels like it) on one writer's plight with not writing."

www.notwriting.com

MACROVISION

These days it's all about breaking things down into manageable pieces in order to be able to reach a goal and track your process/progress, and keep yourself from going insane because there's not a lot of time to breathe.

And I'm a firm believer in this approach, in, as I've heard it termed: 'microvision.' But I'm also a believer in thinking 'blue sky,' or BIG. I call this MACROVISION. This is where you step back and open up and let everything move through you (not 'in,' but 'through'), when you allow for any and every possibility without limitations - a kind of brainstorming - and see what surfaces.

In the world of macrovision, there isn't any of the following:

judgment, pain, fear, accountability, logic, linear thinking, self-editing, eavesdroppers, guilt, past mistakes, worry, boundaries, barriers, limiting beliefs, rules or doubt.

If you can think of any others, delete those too.

Keeping this in mind, ask yourself the following questions about your writing (and your life where appropriate):

1)  What is it you're afraid to write? (You absolutely know what this is, just say it 'out loud' on paper.)

2)  Why?

3)  What do you think that says about you (what you are afraid to write and why), and why is that important? (Or better: is that important?)

4)  For a story (fiction/nonfiction): what are your characters really like that you're not showing? 

For a poem: whose voice are you using? Yours or someone else's?

For both: What is really important about this event/issue/idea you're writing about that you're not allowing yourself to see, feel and write?

Why?

5)  Is there any direction/path you'd like to take in your poem or story (or essay or play) that you're not taking because you feel locked in to the original idea?

Can you separate yourself enough to try that direction and see what happens? Can you trust yourself enough?

6)  What are you worried people would say if they knew you wanted to write about this topic? Is there someone in particular you're afraid of disappointing, or making angry, or hurting? (You can include yourself in the list if that's the case.)

7)  Who are you trying to please?

8)  What is that critic inside your head saying? Write it down, look at it and KNOW in your HEART that all of it is ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE. You are talented. You are capable. You do have a unique vision. The work is worth it. You're worth it. Now tear the critique up into little pieces and throw it away.

Quickly write down a list of words relating to this idea/event/whatever you want to write about - make a fast list without thinking, without stopping yourself.

If a wall goes up at any point and you slow down or 'hit your head' against it, pause and enter that space. Feel it around you - what is it like? Can you visualize/sense it? What is the message you're getting (emotionally or actually through a voice)? Can you look at it for what it is (name it too) and release it?

Take a look at your list and do a five minute writing on it. No specific form unless that's how it comes out. Just five minutes. If you want to go further, go ahead.

If you have to put this down for now, that's okay. But don't do so until you've picked a day/time to come back to the list later. Put that date/time on your calendar. This is really your rich writing territory. This is where your voice will really 'come alive' as they say. You don't want to turn your back on it.

Challenging ourselves, allowing ourselves to feel a little uncomfortable, a little afraid, even excited when, and about what, we write will make the results deep, electric, and fresh. You have to push. Sometimes gently, sometimes full force.

Writing, like life, is about discovery. When you opened up and made your list of words, what rushed by that excited you? What made you nervous? Choose something you never do and do it. Or pick something you always do and do it differently. This will make you see differently, which will make you WRITE differently. Would you want to only hang out with the same friends for the rest of your life - no new people, no new ideas, no new stories, experiences, feelings? Didn't think so. (I mean, I'm sure your friends are great but...) Don't doom your writing to that fate either. Without new input we (and our writing) become stale; there's no growth, learning, or risk. Don't stand outside the door worrying about what, or who, is inside. Enter the mystery! We're with you every step of the way and can't wait to read what you'll write about it.

"No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."   

(Robert Frost)