Inspiring, Encouraging and Activating
the Writing Muse Worldwide
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Lesson #38 - 42 Days of Writing Passionately
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Listen to the Audio:
Download an MP3:
Listen Online Through Streaming Audio:
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Live Activation Times and Phone Numbers
Questions/Sign in/Networking:
5:30 AM Pacific Time
Lesson Time:
5:45 AM Pacific Time
Phone Number to Call:
865-362-4150
Pin Number - 4116
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Dear Writers,
It is our last Sunday "live" - at least
for now. More than one person has asked
me "when is the next time we will be
doing this program?!"
We will begin the next program sometime
in late Spring - I will undoubtedly be
scheduling it sometime in the next
few days.
My intention is to take July and August
off this year - my last Summer before
Sam starts kindergarten and Katherine
starts High School - so I want to
be as purely "Just Mommy" as possible.
With that intent in mind, the start will
be sometime in May. Watch your email for
more details.
With Love,
Julie
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Architecture of Passion Point #7 (Place)
1. The setting is a backdrop, a canvas, a
three dimensional painting.
2. Each Word-Room has a visceral
atmosphere.
3. Dawn, Noon, Sunset and Midnight
pass the "window" daily.
Julie's Passion Point: I sit in the center of myself in
the center of another place: a setting which others
can see and feel and relate to, just like I can see
and feel and relate with my words. This place: the
setting, is like the canvas where my words are
born – the setting provides the breath and the
heartbeat and the frame for my work
to take form.
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Quote of the Day:
"If you are a writer you locate yourself behind
a wall of silence and no matter what you are
doing, driving a car or walking or doing housework
you can still be writing, because you have
that space."
Joyce Carol Oates
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Carl Zimmer wrote these words in his
book _Soul Made Flesh_ "Emotions
sharpen our senses, focus our brains,
help us remember more clearly."
The places or settings
which fill our writing do something similar –
your writing changes according to both the
space you are in and the place which
provides the backdrop for your writing.
Your voice changes, the mood changes.
The atmosphere provides a Technicolor
accompaniment to the words themselves.
Have you ever imagined what the musical
"Oklahoma!" would be like if it were "Ohio!"
instead? What if "Chicago", the play and
movie, was instead "Phoenix."
What wouldn't work anymore if you picked
these words up from their spaces and plopped
them down squarely in entirely different locales.
The people would speak differently, they
might move differently – the rules would
be shifted due to the culture of the area.
It would be like the difference between
lounging at home in your pajamas and
going out in the community in a velour
jogging suit. Both outfits are very
similar – but the jogging suit is more
appropriate to wear out and about
than your jimmies are, even if
they are very similar.
Simply stated: behavior changes when we
change the setting.
Let's go back to the pajamas in the
living room versus the jogging suit at
Starbucks. How do you act differently?
Perhaps some of you don't.
Think about that for a moment.
Speaking of your living room and
Starbucks, here is something else
to consider. The places we write
also impact the words we choose,
our pacing, cadence and rhythm.
Writers have been known to bring
their writing gear out into the community.
Natalie Goldberg often alludes to her
"writing dates" with other writers. They
meet in coffee houses and restaurants
and scribe separately together.
It is a perfect solution both for more
extroverted writers as well as for the
sake of accountability. If you have
challenges with getting your work done,
consider meeting up with a buddy and
writing together socially so that you
can get your "with people" needs met
and at the same time honor your craft.
Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote
the children's classic, "The Secret
Garden". Her work became a Tony
Award Winning Broadway Musical
with music written by Lucy Simon
(sister of Carly Simon.)
She said, "I am writing in the garden.
To write as one should of a garden one
must write not outside it or merely
somewhere near it, but in the garden."
She writes in the garden and tunes
into the setting as it literally
seeps into her being.
Question:
Is there a place in your current life
or in your past that the setting has
seeped into your being? For Frances
Hodgson Burnett, her garden became
the inspiration and framework for the
classic work which continues to sell
well even nearly 70 years after its initial
publication date.
One of the joys of working in theatre has
been the actual building and painting of the
sets. When we build the sets, we are literally
creating a place from nothingness.
From the set, the entire story is built.
It creates a "concrete" place for the actors
and the director and the technical people to
realistically portray the lives of their characters.
I have learned to love the sacred time when
we make the rooms or backdrop perfectly
compliment the time period, the character's
personality and creatively piece together what
we have on hand and then create effects to fill
in the rest.
One day I spent 12 hours in the theatre painting.
There was on 4 hour stint standing 10 feet off the
ground on a ladder, painting dot after dot after
dot to simulate the pointillism method of painting
developed by French Impressionist painter,
Georges Surrat.
The background created a picture audiences
could see – they could understand the character
or George better because the audience literally
became a part of George's painting through the
dot-dot-dot-dots everywhere.
The painting – the setting – became as much
of a character as everyone else in the production.
As writers, part of your job is to fashion word
pictures from "the thin air." Painting a picture
with words is like inhaling the swirling heat
from a mug of hot chocolate at a football
game in a game in the middle of November.
Everything is cold – except for the pieces of
flesh quietly kissed by that swirl of heat and
then your lips, tongue and throat feel the ripple
of warmth from the cocoa which reminds you
exactly what heat means.
Let's prepare to write:
It is time to tie this all together.
For our writing today we will paint a word picture
inspired from a quote from Anton Chekhov.
In your writing, "show" the reader your setting
through creating vivid word paintings. Your setting
for this exercise is either the place where you live
(and write) or the setting for your current project.
Here is the Chekhov quote:
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me
the glint of light on broken glass."
Now your task is to show your setting – show
it as evocatively as possible through using a
variety of your senses to pull out the most
important sensory details as possible.
Your prompt is simply "I will show you….." and
then simply write.
Again, "I will show you….."
Please write until you hear my voice requesting
that you stop.
Further integration: This week really pay attention
the the "settings" in your life. They don't have to
be melodramatic, like some of the older musicals.
Instead, you can play it better than ever.
Write your settings - notice how they appear and
notice when happens after you have been engaged
with your savored observations.
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Resource Section:
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Live Activation Times and Phone Numbers
Questions/Sign in/Networking:
5:30 AM Pacific Time
Lesson Time:
5:45 AM Pacific Time
10:00 PM Pacific Time
Phone Number to Call:
865-362-4150
Pin Number - 4116
To listen to the Audio Program On-Line:
http://www.5passions.com/42daysofwritingaudio.html
(OR)
listen to the recordings of our live sessions
on the blog:
http://www.PassionWriteNow.com
Your written lessons will be available using the
method of your choice: either via Yahoogroup
or on the Blog.
You may subscribe to the Yahoogroup to receive
the lessons via Email. Each lesson will be posted
sometime around midnight Pacific time.
The link to join is below.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/42DaysWritingPassionately
Lessons/
You may read our Blog to read the daily lessons,
which will also be posted around midnight Pacific
time.
http://juliejordanscott.typepad.com/42days_of_writing_p
assion/
To share your writing with participants in the group,
you may post them to the blog by clicking "Comment"
immediately after the lesson notes OR you may
join in the Discussion Group, also offered through
Yahoogroups.
The link to join is below.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Discuss42DaysWriting/
I am very excited to get started in this program
alongside you as each facilitator inspires,
encourages and provides an atmosphere to
nourish, applaud, energize and activate the writing
muse that is in each individual and thrives in the
group setting for 42 consecutive days which will,
in turn, cause a tangible, remarkable, miraculous
shift for each participant.
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Tools for You To Use:
A journey of this sort is best started on a
solid foundation, one of strong intent and with
the right tools - tools which will support the
growth that wants to take place.
our tools take several forms.
The physical tools I will ask you to use are
simple.
#1) A spiral notebook - something like a simple,
8 1/2 inch by 11 inch single subject notebook.
I prefer notebooks with 60 to 90 pages. Large
enough to be substantial but not so huge that
they "bulk up and overpower" the rest of your stuff.
#2) An adequate number of readily available
pencils and pens.
This is when people often stop and say "Can't
I use my computer and keyboard?"
I do most of my writing on my keyboard AND for
this course, my request is you write the "old fashioned
way" (pencil or pen and paper) whenever possible.
Writing by hand actually slows down the writing
process-
and this is a good thing!
Please try it out during our free flow writing
moments. If it doesn't work for you - it is ok.
At least you gave it a try.
Our second type of tool is an energetic one -
I call them our Passion Points. We have ten of them,
based on our different specialty areas to study.
Passion Write Points: 1 - 10
Passion Write Point #1 - Authentic Emotion
I allow myself to be pure, raw and completely
myself as I give myself permission to grow
with each word I write. I trust myself as a
writer and as a person. I know my right readers
connect with my heart message no matter what
shape or direction my writing takes today.
Passion Write Point #2 - Sense of Sight
I expand my witness of the world through
my words. I see the ordinary as extraordinary
as I communicate with ease and grace. My
eyes – my vision – the sights that I see and
describe with my words – open to the light.
Passion Write Point #3 - Sense of Sound
Word music dances in my mind and heart, lifting
my energy so that the words float effortlessly
to my hands, my pencil, my pen, the keyboard.
I know my words contain chimes, drumbeats,
buzzing, popping and rhythm that brings me
profound contentment and peace when I allow
myself to listen. Gratifying passion is
shared with all who hear my words.
Passion Write Point #4 - Sense of Smell
Through practice and awareness, I awaken myself
and my readers to the ancient, highly connective
and my readers to the ancient, highly connective
and memory evoking sense of smell. I reach into
the depths through breathing scent into my words.
I grow as a writer each day.
Passion Write Point #5 - Sense of Touch
I notice how objects fill the palm of my hand. I
tune into the temperature, the smoothness, the
moisture, the weight. Each subtle nuance has its
unique impact upon me. I notice and fill my words
with awareness, connection and unity.
Passion Write Point #6 - Sense of Taste
My favored flavor echoes onto the page so that it
is held and experienced for an eternity. It connects,
impacts, opens up like none of my other senses.
Tastes say home, they say exotic, they say sensual,
they say MMMMM MMMMM and bring satisfied sighs and
deep breath. Through delicious words, I say yes
Passion Write Point # 7 - Place
I sit in the center of myself in the center of
another place: a setting which others can see and
feel and relate to, just like I can see and feel
and relate with my words. This place: the setting,
is like the canvas where my words are born – the
setting provides the breath and the heartbeat
and the frame for my work to take form.
Passion Write Point #8 - Clarity
I know clarity intimately through continued
practice. I open to the expansiveness of the
universe and see a joyousness reflected back
to me that rings like a crystal bell, is clearer
visually than a laser beam and smells so richly
I can taste it at the back of my throat. I allow
the energy of passion to move through me onto the
page with absolute purity. Being specific with
words brings increased clarity. My heart expands
to recognize the purity within me. I am a writer.
With Much Love and Anticipation.
Passion Write Point #9 - Deep Connection
I connect in each moment to deep honor, respect
and admiration for the greatest good that resides
in each member of the human community. I am
grounded and filled with this powerful element
which bridges-connects- spans of space which would
have been disconnected otherwise. I fill my words
with expansive gratitude and knowing passion.
Passion Write Point #10 - Loving Peace
I know the delight in the divine delivery of
emotions and presence into my heart-mind and onto
the page. I know this moment contains all I need
as will the next moment and the next moment and
the next. I am an active, inspired creator.
Everything is perfect, I am perfect, my world is
perfect.
© 2005, 2006
Julie Jordan Scott
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Julie Jordan Scott is a Writer, Speaker, Success Coach,
Actor,
Workshop Facilitator and Mother Extraordinaire who
created
the DreamActivation program to ignite your dreams.
Use the Power of DreamWitness, Focus and Intentional
Action to live your wildest dreams now....
http://www.5passions.com/dreamactivationnew.html
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