BELIEVE IN YOUR STORY
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BELIEVE IN YOUR STORY *
Writing
I've been a writer since I can remember. The first complete story I can actually recall: age ten, "Three Buckets of Blood," about vampires in our chicken house. Writing is my way of being in the world; it's the way I start every day. My closest community is made up of writers. I plan vacations around writing, and fall in love with writers all the time. I don’t plan on ever stopping. Bury me with a pen and notebook.
WRITING PRACTICE
Writing practice is a practice like yoga or meditation or gardening—something we do regularly, not to get better at but because we are better for doing it. I am a regular writing practitioner; I’ve been doing it for more than three decades…maybe not every day, but several times each week.
Writing practice is showing up at the page and writing. It’s easy—there’s no wrong way to do it; it’s fast—just set your timer for 12 or 15 or 17 minutes (you get to choose), open to a fresh page in your notebook or to a new document on your computer, set a timer, and start writing—one word at a time, one word after the next, with no editing and no going back to revise and never mind the rules; just write.
WRITING PROMPTS
Writing prompts work like starting blocks for a runner, or music that invites you to dance, they give you a place to begin. I use writing prompts in my regular practice and with groups. You can find one for every day in my book, A Writer’s Book of Days or create some of your own. Do your practice alone or with a friend or in a group. My books can show you how, or make up your own style. The rewards or a regular writing practice are immediate and many.
Explore some writing prompts
Write about a day moon
It’s Saturday night, you’re not at home
Red shoes
I found it in my pocket
