By:
Joe Bunting
I’m
sure this never happens to you, but there are times when I don’t feel very
creative. We just had a new baby (our
second), bought a house (our first), and are now busy managing a thousand new
details. All the busywork and bill paying leaves me feeling pretty
dry.
But
no matter how un-creative I’m feeling, there’s one creative
writing exercise that never fails to fire up my writing.
Why We Need
Creative Writing Exercises Like This
I’ve
worked with hundreds of writers in the last five years, and I’ve found that
the biggest killer of creativity is perfectionism.
(Share that on Twitter?)
“This
is so bad,” we think after one particularly difficult sentence. “Why would
anyone read this? Why would I want to read this? I
thought I was better than this. I thought I was talented. So why am I producing
such crap?”
And
so on…
Sometimes,
writers don’t even allow themselves to go through this kind of
painful monologue. Instead, they put off writing altogether,
procrastinating until the very last minute, then whipping something together
that may not be very good but at least it’s done!
The
creative writing exercise I’m going to talk about in this post is designed
specifically to combat that kind of perfectionism.
Where Does
Perfectionism Come From?
Perfectionism
begins with pride. “I’m so talented how could I not write the
next great book? Bestseller? More like best book of the century.” (Full
disclosure: this used to be me.)
Or,
for the slightly less narcissistic, “I may not be the best, but I have the best
idea. And what’s more, I care the most.”
Unfortunately,
this kind of pride doesn’t survive “contact with the enemy”: the blank page.
I’ve
watched so many writers be humiliated and completely demoralized by the
process of writing.
“I
never want to do this again,” they confess to me, usually when they’re about
two-thirds of the way through writing their first book. “Writing is horrible.
Miserable. I’m horrible! Why did I ever think it was a
good idea to write this? to write at all?!”
Neither
of these two postures—pride and despair—are helpful if you want to create
great work.
What’s
missing? What’s the secret ingredient writing in a way that both displays your
natural that is both an absolute joy to write and your best possible work?
The secret
ingredient is PLAY.
That’s
right, the same thing that toddlers are so good at is the key to
writing your best work.
This Writing
Exercise Brings the Joy Back to Writing—Here’s How
How
do you play with writing?
Two
words: modernist poetry. *
Pioneered
by poets like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, modernist poetry often makes very
little sense. In fact, it can sometimes even seem like gibberish, like a Rauschenberg lithograph.
And
that’s what makes it such a great exercise. Because it allows you to play
with words in a way that the perfectionistic side of your brain won’t be
able to stop.
5 Steps to This
Writing Exercise
I’ve
broken it up into five steps so simple a two-year-old could follow them:
.
. .
Read the full
article HERE!
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
- What Marketing Support Looks Like at a Big 5 Publisher | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/NFmTT
- 5 Mistakes Writers Make (and How to Avoid Them) | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/NFosM
- Delivering Emotional Punches in Writing | The Indie Writer's Guide http://ow.ly/NFoBs
BookEnds Literary Agency: Why You Should Resist Giving Agents Exclusives http://ow.ly/NFoH2- Author Networking, Part 3: How to Connect With Other Authors on Facebook and Twitter | Author Marketing Institute http://ow.ly/NFp6h
- Between Fact and Fiction: Writing, Publishing, & Solitaire http://ow.ly/NFrro
- Making a Dark Character Likeable through Vulnerabilities | Writerology http://ow.ly/NFxht
- Don't waste time with unnecessary words. - Venture Galleries http://ow.ly/NFxjN
- Be a More Productive & Balanced Writer | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/NFxl9
- Wake Up and Stop Writing Dream Sequences | LitReactor http://ow.ly/NFzra
- Twitter Marketing: How Smart Marketers Are Succeeding Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/NFzCw
Pinterest for Authors: Jay Artale | IndieReCon 2015 http://ow.ly/NFzK9- Radio 101 for Authors – How to get on the air and shine once you’re there | The Coconut Chronicles http://ow.ly/NFzSr
- Google Play Books is a Safe Haven for Commercial eBook Piracy | Ink, Bits, & Pixels http://ow.ly/NFzVm
- Fiction University: Be Flexible When Plotting (and Writing) Your Novel http://ow.ly/NFzXD
- Karen Woodward: Getting Motivated To Write http://ow.ly/NFzYW
- This
Fun Creative Writing Exercise Will Change Your Life http://ow.ly/NFA1e - Anne R. Allen's Blog: REALITY CHECK: Mixed Martial Arts For Writers http://ow.ly/NGCjI
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