Greetings,

It's funny, but I am writing a post about writing and I don't know where to start. Which, I think, is the problem. For much of my adult life I have been involved in graphic design professionally and photography as an amateur. These were my creative outlets. About six months ago I began to have severe seizures. This added to an already existing problem of constant vertigo and put extreme limitations on what I could do physically and mentally.

Last year my family started a business that took me away from my previous career as a designer, and my health has left me with little energy to continue with my photography. Unfortunately I have been left without the creative outlets I had always depended upon and enjoyed.

So I am looking at the posibility of using writing as my means of expression. I don't want to publish, I just need a way to exercise that creative part of me. The problem is I can't seem to get started. Blank page, no ideas, no clue where or how to begin.

I should mention that I am also working on my MA in systematic theology (don't ask). While my professors have complemented me on my writing, stylistically writing systematic theology papers is more akin to writing a technical paper. I have been journaling, but it just doesn't seem like enough.

I guess what I am looking for is something that can give me a kick start to begin and a method for future use. Any suggestions are appreciated.

I have started two books and enjoy writing them. I just write what I am thinking about, so pretty random stuff. If you can remember your dreams they can be a good thing to base you writing on, in fact one of my books is baced on a dream. Basically my advice is just start writing and see what comes out, I write longhand in notebooks(staple or tape bound, A5 or American composition, A5: 17x22cm so approx. 7x9 inches, composition: 9,75x7,5 inches so approx. 24,4x18,75cm) with either fountain pen or pencil

edited to delete duplicate post

I suggest that you go out and buy Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. It's one of the best books I've ever read on the subject of writing. I'm in the process of re-reading it. It's very inspirational. I think writing is great therapy - at least it is for me. Best wishes. Just write!

Judybug

I believe that recording your family history in book form, is a great way to utilise creativity and make good use of your pens. It can take any form - purely factual, or spicy narrative with all the juicy titbits.
I did a lot of genealogical research into my family history many years ago, and concluded by producing a handwritten book with all the information which I had accumulated along the way. Being hand produced, it is a very personal testament and is, to the best of my knowledge "the truth" although there are some very dodgy anecdotes included!

It needn't be a daunting prospect - even back to grandparents and sideways to include siblings etc. can provide a huge amount of material to work with. At the beginning, I drew up a simple family tree for reference and then just started at random, as I collected material. Some were my own childhood memories and some were told to me by aged relatives (most of whom have gone, now).

I know that it's stating the obvious but, without our ancestors, we wouldn't be here, and I got a great deal of pleasure in recounting their lives and experiences. It's a nice thing to leave behind (and marvellous handwriting practice!)

macaddicted,

Sometimes I find myself with a subject to write about, but have trouble getting the thing started. I sit down with a pen and paper and just can't "pull the trigger." It helps a lot if I think of a friend. I begin as if I am writing him/her a letter about the subject. The writing just pours out of the pen, then.

Paddler

If I know what I want to write about but don't know how to get started I map it out and sometimes brain-storm. This is the place I jot down some "zingers" too. Then I will write some sentences based on those ideas...thats when I usually turn to the computer. I just write without worrying about anything but getting words and basic punctuation down.

An english professor I recently had told us to "free-write" when we have writers block. For five minutes just write anything. The color of the floor...keep the pen moving.

Basically I like to organize before I write anything...then I just think about it some.

matthew

Thanks for that reference, Judy. I've been looking for a good book about writing and this seems to fit the bill!
:-)
Regards,
~Gary

Some ideas:

bird by bird (by Anne Lamott)
One Writer's Beginnings (by Eudora Welty)
On Writing (by Stephen King)

Why don't you snail with some members of the forum? We have a group of intelligent and really interesting people here! You'll get plenty of ideas from them!

What do you like to read? Mysteries? Biographies? History? Romance Novels? Whatever it is, you'll do better writing the things you LIKE to read. You will probably find that although your personal style is unique to you, you will have smatterings of the prosaic latitude akin to the authors you find most enjoyable.

Good luck and Good writing!

Best regards,

Jerry

A few books to add to the suggestion pile:

1.) In the Palm of Your Hand by Steve Kowit - this book is a great work on writing poetry. It functions like a workshop.

2.) No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty - from the founder of Nanowrimo (the national novel writing month), a guide to writing a whole book in a single month, including inspirational ideologies and practical how-to guides. That reminds me, Nanowrimo is next month.

There are tons of books on writing, of course, but I find the best way to get started is just... to get started. That is probably the hardest part, hehe.

Ok, I ordered Goldberg's book; I read mostly history and theology works with the occasional book on business; and snail mailing would probably be more fun for me than the person trying to decipher my handwriting.

Thanks for all the suggestions

I've successfully coached a few people with their writing and I recommend doing what I do to get "unstuck" and also get off to a good start:

If there were a live person sitting with you, you would not have a problem starting in on the topic would you? When I write, I am always writing TO somebody or to an audience, and I have a very clear picture of who my audience is, which automatically selects the manner I would speak to them, the style, the mood, the vocabulary, everything. For me, speaking to someone and writing to them are the same thing.

If I'm stuck, I ask myself, "What would I say if we were in person?" The answer always comes within one second.

I hope this helps.

I would suggest trying this book by John Gardner. I found it to be really informative and well-written.

John

Julia Cameron "The Artist's Way" [I think, don't have the book anymore] taught me the trick of doing 3 pages of stream of consciousness journaling first thing in the morning. It really is useful for priming the pump, not to mention letting you indulge in your love of pens. Amazing what then streams off the pen later.

I have really no idea of what to say. For me it seems I just get an idea and I start writing and the rest of the story develops itself as I go along and it seems that by the time I'm about a quarter of the way through what I'm writing I have the whole story planned out.

I guess it's best not to think about it so hard because that seems to cause writers block and makes the process harder than it has to be.

Yet this is easy for me to say because I've been writing for years now, since I was 13.

See what I do here-

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...43189&st=15

Post #22.

In this thread

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...mp;#entry561554

I just said this:



I also recommend Ursula K. LeGuin's Steering the Craft. Here and there it has some very cagey, creative exercises for the intermediate-to-advanced writer.

Apart from 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron I'd suggest her other book- 'The Right to Write'. I got started after I read Stephen King's 'On Writing'.

I'd suggest Somerset Maugham's 'The Summing Up' and also 'The Writer's Notebook'.

There are several other books but the ones suggested above by others might help in getting started.

Good luck and Start now!

Vinod

Have you considered joining an online writer's group of some kind? Aside from "workshopping" various stories, many of them also have writing prompts and the like. Doing something like that to participate might prime your pump sufficiently to get you started on subjects of your own.

Macaddicted- I sent you a PM, I have some experience with dealing with seizures and writing.

If you want to get creative, what genre are you interested in? I have recently discovered that reading fairy tales (not necessarily the ones with happy endings) gets my mind going with regard to writing. A great reference book I have and would recommend is
Andrew Lang, "The Complete 'Fairy Book' Series: Traditional Folk Tales and Fairy Stories From Around The World (12 books in 1)" ISBN 0954840151
The reason I suggest this is because the stories don't follow a formula and can therefore jolt you out of your normal ways of thinking e.g. in Red Riding Hood she gets eaten by the wolf and that is the end of the story....there's no happy ending where she has been "swallowed whole" and then pops up unharmed when the wolf is killed. Just dead, end of story. Reading these tales might just give you some ideas to play around with, and you could try writing your own tale for fun, and make the writing process less serious.

I've thought of something else that might help which I have discovered for myself. When you get an idea and want to stay focused try not looking exactly at where the pen touches the paper and the letters and words, try to stay with the thought in your head. I hope this makes sense as it is difficult to describe.

Hey macaddicted, let us know how are you getting along with the writing?

I have several "writing" projects going at once, so I can pick up whatever seems the proper outlet for my creative urges at that particular time. I keep MY journal, which is better than therapy for stress reduction. I have another journal, which I bought for recording family history, stories, and the like for my children and grandchildren, since distance and the speed of life seems to have eroded some of the great oral traditions of passing down family history at Sunday dinners and family gatherings. I also have a wonderful Folio notebook that I use in conjunction with fictional writing. The manuscript part is typed, but it is fun to handwrite my plot outline, character bios, and other notes for continuity, and also keeps me from having to switch back and forth between computer files. There is a lot more intimacy in developing characters and their histories on paper rather than digitally, so you become more emotionally connected. Paper also gives you the freedom to draw family trees, scrawl notes in margins, diagram locations, etc.

I love writing fiction, even if it is "for your eyes only," because it is a great way to work though internal conflicts. Fictionalizing individuals and circumstances and using that framework to put the conflict on paper gives me an outlet and lets me talk about what is bothering me without jeopardizing anyone's privacy or feelings. It lets me explore and comment on psychological motivations as well as institutional processes. A writer friend suggested this to me after listening to me rant a few times, and it has been a wonderful creative and emotional outlet. I always loved the process of writing, but never seemed able to get a coherent project going until I figured out what made me want to put words on paper and what format best met that need. I've written plays, poetry, and essays, mostly for my own satisfaction, but narrative fiction seems to be the best fit for my need to comment on what I observe without invading the delicate province of other people's lives.

I know where you're coming from - I, too, needed a creative outlet and settled on letter writing.

I used to be a prolific letter writer, but that died away some 20 years ago with a new bride and heavy work responsibilities. I began writing again within the past year by simply beginning to send letters to friends and family. Most of them reply via email, which is fine as I print the messages out so I can reference them from my writing desk. Initially I encountered some resistance - until I *really* began to pump effort into the letters themselves. Each one is basically a quick piece of calligraphy art, with multi-color ink use and a wide variety of nib thicknesses. The more fanciful I make them, the better my response rate.

Megadittos there. Also Gary Provost's Make Your Words Work.

Back in the day, I took a creative writing class at university night school. The professor gave us the first assignment. Write! Write something. Write anything.

I was at a loss. I was there to learn to write creatively not as a creative writer already. I asked the prof after class for some suggestions given my fright at writing and she said to write about me. She advised that I go back as far as I could remember and start writing about myself in as much detail as I could possibly muster. Pay no attention to grammar or spelling or structure, we'll fix that later.... just give me content for now. I did just that and found it opened the flood gates. I had no problem with the assignment when the assignment was to simply write. It was all the other stuff like grammar, structure and spelling that got in my way. I did not worry about how it sounded or what person I was writing in or any of that stuff. I did a pretty good job and later went back and edited the work. Maybe something similar will work for you. /Craig

based on what I've read/heard about authors, I suggest you forget reading any of the suggested books (sorry folks!).

Some of the most brilliant writers simply wrote 1000 a day, no more, no less.

Others forced themselves to come up with something, not giving in to "writers block".

I suggest you write a sentence. Think about it, then write another. See where they lead you.

to quote a line from Throw Momma From The Train,



P.S. being an artist, you fully know all about digging deep inside yourself to pull something out which you didn't even know you had inside of you. Reading OTHER peoples books won't help you to do that, you have to do it yourself. So WRITE!

Hi, I don't know exactly what hinders you from getting the results you want, but I'd like to share what worked for me -- a mapping software.

I, too, work with graphic design, mosty for print and presentation materials. I think using layout software most of the time has conditioned me to rearrange what I see in front of me; I put all the elements, photos, text I need in a file first before tweaking and rearranging them according to my design.

Yes, I prefer writing with a fountain pen on paper than typing away on a keyboard. However, when met with a blank notebook page, I tend to waste a lot of time thinking and not writing. This is because 1) I don't like wasting ink and paper, 2) editing in my head makes me forget a lot of ideas, 3) I change my mind about something and get annoyed that if I write them down I would have to cross out things, which would 4) make my scribbles a mess. It's a bit OC but there they are and these stupid tics ruin the momentum for ideas and writing. This may not be a problem for you mind, but I rooted my main roadblock to these and the fact that I also hate plotting with a passion, but need it to get a decent bit of output!

So someone from a creative writing forum suggested I try Freemind, and it did the trick. It's simple to use and helped me map out thoughts... neatly and with flexibility. User interface does not distract me from task at hand. As with the graphics layout software, I plunk everything in a file and worry about rearranging thoughts in diagrams and subcategories after all ideas are on the screen. When I'm satisfied with the diagram of topics, only then do I take out my pen and put everything in order, on paper. Revisions still happen but they're not as messy as they would be if I plotted with ink and paper from scratch.

Hope this helps.