This is a word cloud of my Butt in Seat Poem, #1 for the day
It has been a challenging day for my writing muse.
I have not been the kindest companion to her.
I finally got into a writing groove but what came was
poetry, not prose.
What came was silly and then historical and not like my
usual at all.
I think it may have been thanks to the post it notes,
whispering to my subconscious.
“poetry, tags, convert pages to the Writing Camp blog.”
My subconscious has delivered. I cannot remember the last
time I wrote two poems in a day. This is
different. This is welcome. This is a pleasure.
I worked on a couple of my newest mixed media pieces today.
I came up with a new strategy for one of them.
I created and completed and have more art simmering on my work
table.
Post it Note To-Do List Delivers: Poetry and More Poetry
The prose I have written is a grand total of about four
hundred words that felt like they took four hundred years to arrive on the page.
There is always tonight to write AND whatever words tumble
upon the page is fine, too. Normally I easily string 1,000 words along in under
an hour, but today whatever words percolate is fine by me.
Even when the words sound and feel ridiculous, any words are
better than no words.
One of the joys of Writing Camp is we take time to contemplate as we create. It isn't just about pushing words off our pencils, it is also about sitting with whatever surrounds us as we begin to honor our creativity.
Please feel free to copy the photo and use it to fire up your thoughts - and perhaps words - on the subject of Light and Dark.
Julie Jordan Scott is the founder of Writing & Creativity Camps. Soon she will be announcing programs for Spring and Summer 2013. Come back here to find out more and/or like us on facebook:
I was excited to sit at my desk and write this morning, but
when I logged on and puttered around a bit, I lost all interest in writing. It
was as if my desire to write a blog post was like a balloon with a slow leak.
“I have to write something!” I lamented. I had the Ultimate
Blog Challenge to consider.
I poked around my “unpolished gem” file, otherwise known as
place I put writing I think I may use someday but have not quite finished yet,
and found the makings of an article rich in images and ripe with one of my
favorite topics.
I did some editing and adding of photos and instantly, I had
a new blog post.
I still thought, though, I should write about how I dealt
with the slow leaking balloon, though.
Move away from the keyboard. DO NOT putter on
twitter or pinterest or facebook or linked in or your email. Your intention is
to get words on the page, not gush over other pages. REMEMBER THIS first and
foremost.
Getting a break from the keyboard ALWAYS helps!
Do something other than writing but still
creative. I worked on very simple collages of old dictionary pages and vintage
illustrations from a children’s book. Along the way I learned Thalia is “The
Muse of comedy and idyllic poetry” which intrigues me and may become another
blog post or I may name a future character Thalia.
Move. If you are able, walk around the block. Do
the twist, wildly, up and down the hallways of your house or apartment. If you
don’t end up laughing (naturally) do it again and laugh unnaturally until you
get to laughing naturally.
Use free flow writing (on a paper with pencil and
pen) as your dearest friend. One way to use it is to put a paper and pencil at
your kitchen table. Get up and do the twist around your house, wildly, until
you are laughing and then start to write from the simplest and most effective
prompt in the world, “I remember….”
Take photos with your phone or camera, inside or
outside your home. Experiment with taking photos of things you don’t normally
photograph. Take some macro shots. Take some shots of the ceiling or the sky.
Stack up your favorite books (or current reads) and take shots of them.
Once you patch the slow leaking balloon of writing
situation, take steps to help you the next time this comes up.
Keep an “Unpolished Gem” file.
Keep a notebook of random thoughts and ideas.
Revisit your “Unpolished Gem” file and your
notebook regularly.
Pull images and stories from the newspaper as
prompts and put them into your notebook for future use.
When you watch your favorite television show,
notice what topics are being discussed. Pay attention to how the actors, the
director, the writer and all the other crew members are telling the story.
Write your observations in your notebook.
While waiting in line at the check out, scan the
sometimes ridiculous magazines that are lined up in all their colorful glory in
hopes you will buy them. What headlines either draw you or repulse you? What
images work the best. Since you will be carrying your notebook with you always,
scribble in your notebook or use your cell phone to take notes and then email
the notes to yourself to put into your unpolished gem file when you get home.
Go on a Writing Playdate (like at Writing Camp with Julie Jordan Scott, seen here.)
Collect quotes as a hobby. I am a new GoodReads
member. I was shocked at how few quotes they had for one of my favorite women
writers, so part of my fun in reading women writers is to add the quotes I find
in their collection on GoodReads. I tend to make activities like this just for
fun and for me? It works. Collect from your reading or search for quotes along
the line of what you are writing, say “inspirational quotes” or “Virginia
Woolf” quotes. You name it, you’ll find it.
Give yourself a limited time on Pinterest – no
more than five minutes. Find a couple images to repin and then use those images
to prompt some free writing. If you don’t know where to start, start with a
visual description. What do you see in
Remember Why You Write....
the images.
Remember
WHY you write. I write because I am deeply in love with words and believe
the world will experience positive transformation via writing and other arts.
My contribution to this change is to use my writing (and my ability to write)
to make the world a better place. If you need to write your “WHY” on a notecard
or poster and pin it beside your monitor, do it. Your writing will be
rejuvenated.
Read on to discover how to use your gratitude lists (or whatever
terminology you us) as writing prompts...There were many posts at the
end of 2012 about making a 2012
jar filled with gratitudes or… I’m not sure what words people were
using. I
thought it was a cool idea but I also knew I would fill it up quickly…
so I
took a slightly different tactic.
I made a jar for Delights… for January 2013 and I plan to
make jars for each month after this one. I might use different words, too.
Blessings, Treasures, Unexpected Loveliness… whatever tickles my fancy that month.
AND! To make it a useful project year round, when I am
stumped for something to write (like I was tonight) I pulled out an earlier
delight as my writing prompt topic.
So away we go…. I will now demonstrate, doing a complete
stream of consciousness writing piece based on the delight I pluck out and it
is……
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Instant Writing prompt: pull a paper from the jar....</span>
Instant Writing prompt: pull a paper from the jar....
I am one of those friends my friends believe they can call
at 4 am and call and talk for an hour and I wouldn’t mind. They are right.
I am also one of those friends that will drive her friend
who is about to be Grandma to San Francisco and back from Bakersfield on New
Year’s Day with maybe… an hour warning the birth was imminent.
I packed a pair of socks, an extra sweater and some panties and
a tooth brush and off I went. I showered, but other than that, I was just me. I
knew I couldn’t miss this moment.
Fairy God Auntie (or something like that) Julie holds the baby.
The drive from Bakersfield to San Francisco is about five hours.
I was tired when I started. We were flying on adrenaline when we arrived at the
hospital with the new baby. Both Grandma’s and I had time holding her. I even texted some of my friends in
Bakersfield and said, “They left me alone with the baby!”
Do you remember being alone in a room with a baby?
It is like being alone in a room with the most magnificent
miracle ever and you are the only one holding onto the secret. It was
fantastic.
We were there a couple hours when we decided we better find
a place to say. This concerned me because since I didn’t pack, I managed to
forget my bank card and other important things. I was completely dependent on
my friends, minus about thirty dollars in cash I carried in my car.
We found
a questionable place to stay between Russian and
Nob Hill but had to wait half an hour before we could go into our room.
There,
on the corner, was a bar called Shanghai Kelly’s. We simply had to go
in. One
of the Grandma’s was named Kelly, so I felt like we didn’t have a
choice. Oh, and the "questionable" place to stay turned out to be
wonderful. We found it in one of those travel saver books you get at
rest stops along
Grandma Kelly spends New Years Night at Shanghai Kelly's.
the highway.
How often do you find yourself in one of the most fabulous
places in the city at a corner bar outside of the tourist traps that happens to
share your name?
We each took a seat at the bar and because I am one of those
people who talks to bartenders, I couldn’t help but ask about the Obamarama
drink they offered for only $3. He told us what was in it – sounded tasty
beyond belief, and then when he heard about the Grandma’s he turned away for
just a slice of a moment and put Obamarama shots in front of each of us.
Down they went, silky smooth. Kelly even got a t-shirt and we learned the
lore of Shanghai Kelly. I got the name of the neighborhood – Polk Gulch – and was
thrilled beyond belief to spend my New Years Day in San Francisco and receive a
tasty free drink and know that I could rely on my friends for everything I needed
while we were jetting around the city in my Mazda.
Van Ness - Walking the Streets of San Francisco
The next morning I was the first one up. I couldn't imagine sleeping in
when I was in San Francisco. The Grandma's got to rest and I got to sit
in a Pete's coffee writing poetry and people watching. I stopped my
walking when I was four blocks from the hotel. I could have walked on
and on and on.
It might sound completely zany, but I can’t think of a
better start to 2013. Naturally, it was a delight I had to add to my jar.
And now, thanks to being stumped for a writing idea –
hopefully you are delighted in sharing my delight.
This is my eighteenth post (of 31!) for the January Ultimate Blog Challenge.
Watch here for challenge posts which will include Writing Prompts, Writing
Tips and General Life Tips and Essays.
Are you ready to write from a prompt unlike any you have ever written from in the past? It is different because it is a sight of nature unseen by so many until now.
Your prompt is twofold: a still photo and a video.
Set your timer for either five, ten or 15 minutes.
Look at the photo.
Watch the Video.
Write from your senses using one or all of these prompts:
I see
I hear
I smell
I taste
I touch
I feel (as in emotion)
Just move your fingers on the keyboard, stream of consciousness style, across the keyboard. Don't think, just type. Repeat the prompt again. I see... I smell... and choose to mix them up if you would like.
There are no rules to writing from this image and this video, just write.
Honor this memory and this experience we now share.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -
I am not sure how I got started promoting the concept of maintaining an “Unpolished Gem” file. I can’t even remember when I started one myself. I do know it pops up when I teach bloggers and writers how to keep an unending flow of content coming into their blogs, guest posts, essays, articles and poetry.
I do remember when I started writing as a way to make a living: I built my life coaching business by writing articles and having them republished (back then primarily in ezines) so since that time I have had essays, how-to’s, top tens and almost anything else you can imaging published both on the internet and also in magazines, compilations, ebooks and ecourses.
The blood flowing through all of this is… The Unpolished Gem: little snips and nuggets of writing I started and didn’t necessarily use right away but I knew it was worth returning to – maybe – someday. Sometimes people hesitate to start a file, thinking it will be too overwhelming but part of the point of an Unpolished Gem file is it takes pressure off.
How? Well, it tells you “if you don’t have the juice, passion or desire to finish this right away, you don’t have to! If you are blocked half way through or even just have a title, you may tuck it into your unpolished gems file and move along to whatever else is on your agenda.
Your unpolished gem file also reminds you the truth of content: you will never run out of material. Certainly other people have written articles similar to this one. Maybe you have read a few. The difference is I have not yet squeezed out all the goodness from this topic. You reading this today is a fine example of that.
When you are blocked, you have multiple choices of where to go to write next. Just pick an unfinished one and write a sentence. If anything else comes, yes! If after one additional sentence you’re done, then you’re done for now. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Cliché and true.
How do you start an Unpolished Gem File? I am very simple with mine. I make a folder I call “UPGs”. Within my UPG folder are subfolders for both the month they were written and the topic it falls under. This particular essay (should it remain unfinished for a bit) will go in July2012 and Writing-Editing and maybe Writing-Inspiration.
Perhaps you are thinking, “This is all well and good, Julie, but I don’t have any writing I haven’t used on my blog.”
This makes me raise an eyebrow. Really?
Perhaps it is time to look at all the writing you do as possible future content. I am going to share seven places to look. Choose one place and glean – or collect – nuggets to write from later – every day this week. I guarantee if you try this, by the end of the week you will have more than enough content for your blog for a month or more.
Gold nugget paragraphs in emails, blog comments or facebook messages. When do people tell you, “Oh, that was so helpful!” or “Oh, please tell me more about…” these are hints that you should write that content. So do it. Copy, paste and just like that: an unpolished gem!
Tweets that get responses and interaction from people. Diamond Nugget: Anyone who has been using twitter for a while knows some tweets naturally attract conversation and questions. Look for patterns via your unpolished gems. Copy and paste the tweet that has garnished the most attention this week. Write an additional 140 characters. Tweet it and UPG it. This is repurposing at its finest.
Top 10 lists that seem to ask you for more details (especially if they have gotten lots of comments on your blog).Opal Nugget I started an ezine more than ten years ago based on this idea. At the time I thought I was writing a book. I still may be. But in the meantime, this fed my entire business! Look at any Top 10 lists you created (don’t have any? Create some! This right here is a Top 7 list: same concept, different number.) Choose one (or more) of the tips and put it into an UPG…
If you keep a journal (a diary, a “notebook” as I call mine) I am willing to bet there are sections without that are pure Ruby Nuggets. Take some time daily for a week to crack open journals from at least six months ago with a yellow highlighter and sticky notes in your hand. Highlight your best sentences, phrases and paragraphs. Mark the page with a sticky note. In the back of the journal, write a table of contents which may go something like this: “Item 1: Writing Gratitude Item 2: Forgiveness Item 3: Ending Procrastination Item 4: Befriending Block.” This is sooooo easy! Don’t make it harder than it is. Please.
Revisit Sections of earlier writings that call you “come back, come back!” Pluck, glean and write. You know that blog post from last September? The one about? Revisit it and just like with the journal, see what has stood the test of time. Revise the blog post accordingly. Maybe there is a Top 10 list waiting to be born or a poem or a How-to. You won’t know unless you glean, write and revise. Perfect Silver Nugget!
Emerald Nuggets from Stream of Consciousness Writing Exercises: This actually assumes you spend times when you write with NO purpose at all. Just to write. Well, if you don’t, I urge you to start. I write from quotes, from memes I find online and from images, works of art and even photos I take. Without thinking, just write and write and write. Time your writing and keep it to fifteen minutes at the maximum. What I find is I can get a lot written in 15 minutes and even though I originally sat down to write about Virginia Woolf’s Room of Her Own, I end up writing about an experience in a restaurant in Pueblo, Colorado that was waiting for me to listen. Take those “waiting” pieces of writing & morph into something publishable.
Finally, scoop up a handful of Garnet Nuggets from conversations that won’t stop replaying in your head. In my case, these conversations are sometimes actually overheard conversations I wrote into my cell phone note taker. I have written a lot of “overheard poetry” but this also helps the fiction and memoir writer in creating and recreating dialogue. Because I did this yesterday, I can’t get the image of the two men at the table across from me at Jack in the Box out of my head. I know they are there to write about, so when I am done with this, I’m going to set my timer and just write… and see how the Garnet Nugget mixes with the Emerald Nugget so I can hit blogging and writing paydirt!
The bottom line is creating places where you have work-in-progress helps raise your confidence and simply enjoy your writing more. Isn’t that why you started to blog in the first place? Maybe it was to build your business, but I am willing to bet a big part of it was to find and stretch your voice more deeply and widely out into the world.
So today, start your Unpolished Gem file and put some writing nuggets inside.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -
I laugh when I think about the birth of writing camp.
I started hosting camps when I looked at my long term goal of creating an Artist Colony/Writers Retreat/Camp sort of place for all generations. I had been looking at writers residencies and found nothing where I could have a residency AND have my children with me.
I am just not up to leaving my children for four weeks at a time.
I thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a place where people could elect the option of bringing family with them on their artistic rest times, where the children are cared for and also doing creative activities simultaneously and learning the joy of silence, quiet and the creative process.” I also thought a certain Mother (of mine!) would benefit from the same thing!
Grandparents, Children, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Moms and Dads, all enjoying a sacred and protected time of creating together separately.
This was my dream AND it didn’t show any signs of manifesting right on my horizon so the creative me said, “How can I bring this sort of experience into fruition before I have an actual property?”
This is how Writing Camp was born.
Since then there have been many (I have lost count!) virtual writing camps. There have been Writing Camps in high school classrooms, in City Parks, in National Parks, in Hospitals, in College classrooms. People have attended camp from all over the world.
My next logical step is to take Writing Camp on the Road: in other words, bring Writing Camp with me when I travel and/or intentionally taking Camp to certain places. A natural combination to me is taking Camp to writerly AND natural places.
Since I love visiting writers’ homes and benefit from the creative vibe within places, this seems like not only a logical next step, but a “filled with passion” next step.
This Summer, I will be in these cities and locations:
Flagstaff, Four Corners, Canyon de Chelly, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Colorado Springs, Denver, St. George, Bryce and Zion National Parks, Las Vegas and also since I am so close to Los Angeles, would love to do some Camps there: preferably at Art Museums and places like the variety filled Griffith Park.
In the Fall, I am thinking Portland for a weekend trip and South Dakota or Kansas or both for another weekend trip.
Where would you love to see Writing Camp appear? Perhaps you’ve been wanting to manifest an intentional writing community – here is your chance, delivered to a neighborhood, a museum, a home near you.
All you need to do is speak it to me here, email me at juliejordanscott at gmail dot come or call or text me at 661.444.2735 and we’ll begin the delightful task of putting it into motion.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -
