By:
Cris Freese
Athletes
practice. Musicians practice. As a writer, you need to do the same. Whether you
have dreams of writing a novel, a memoir, or a collection of poems, or you
simply want to improve your everyday writing, you’ll need to build your skills
by way of practice.
Doing
so includes making use of all of your faculties, including the act of
observation. The following excerpt is taken from Barbara Baig’s How to
Be a Writer, which is an empowering, down-to-earth book that gives you the
tools you need and tells you what (and how) to practice so that you can become
the writer you want to be.
* * * *
*
The
power of observation—of being aware of and noticing what
How
to Observe 1: Turn Outwards
Developing
your observational powers is simple: Turn your attention away from the chatter
in your mind—I wish I hadn’t said that … …
Though
this practice is simple, you may not find it easy. For many of us, the act of
engaging with the world around sends our minds instantly into the mode of
evaluation and judgment. Very often we leap from attention to judgment without
even realizing we are doing so: What an ugly dress that woman is
wearing! Or I hate this music. But observation
is not judgment! Observation requires that we pay attention to what’s around us
not with our judging minds but with our noticing minds: That woman’s
dress is red and green with yellow stripes. Or: This music
repeats the same two sounds over and over.
The first step in learning to observe is
to slow down.
. .
.
To
read the rest of this post, click here:
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
- Karen Woodward: Don’t Write, Bleed http://ow.ly/RbUub
- Don’t Let Reviewers Hold You Hostage | A Writer's Path http://ow.ly/RbUHt
- Writer’s Toolbox | A Writer's Path http://ow.ly/RbVE3 #writetip #amwriting
- 5 Tips for Turning Word Docs into Blog Posts Fast — Bound and Determined http://ow.ly/RbVWY
- Improve Your Writing Through the Power of Observation http://ow.ly/RbWBO
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- Crowdfunding Success Can Be Yours by Judith Briles — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/RbZqn
BookMarketingBuzzBlog - Quick Writing Fix: Improving Story Endings | Linda S. Clare http://ow.ly/Rc0ud
- Social Media Examiner: Social media marketing how to, research, case studies, news and more! | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/Rc0Di
- How to Conduct a Market Analysis for a Blog or Book http://ow.ly/Rc0T7
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