Here it is: another blog post borne from the encouragement of "That's what she said," an inspiring blog link up/series hosted by Dean and Courtney that uses the words of women as inspiration for writing blog posts.
This week our task is to write from a quote we find on our own. I went
This week our task is to write from a quote we find on our own. I went with one of my favorites from one of my favorite women authors, Joyce Carol Oates.
I have written writing prompts for years and I fished through my old series, Let Your Writing Flow and wrote from bits and pieces of those prompts. I left the questions/prompts I didn't answer in place for you in case you wanted to play along.
It was a blast to play-create-write from prompts I wrote almost two years ago.
Ready?
“I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card…and somehow the activity of writing changes everything.”
― Joyce Carol Oates
What creative activity do you attempt when you are exhausted to the point of your soul being “as thin as a playing card”?
I have discovered writing isn’t always the best activity when I am “as thin as a playing card”. In those moments, entering into a non-language activity is usually better for me.
What is your standard response to life when you are tired?
Leave me alone!
What I really mean is sit beside me while I feel thin as a playing card so that when I begin to stir, to wake up, there will be someone there with me. I won’t be alone.
What is your standard response to life when you are cranky?
I am being self-indulgent. I really have no right to be cranky. Cranky is for other people.
What might happen if you did something completely contrary to your norm?
You mean what would happen if I got really pissed off? If I acted really pissed off? If I was honestly brutally realistically angry instead of constantly all zenned out?
It might feel good, it might feel awful at first AND I think there is value in coming to know it.
What would the activity of writing (blogging) change for you?
Writing creates the space for insights to flow into place. Blogging opens the door to conversation about the insights and connects me to others who may be feeling and/or experiencing the same thing.
I enjoy the conversation of writing and blogging. It is, at its heart, a solo or “all alone” activity, but it opens doors to social. I like how my blogging and writing stirs up the “a-ha” pot.
Lists:
Make a list of 5 – 10 blog posts, poems, essays, scripts, etc you want to write that may fall in the category of “changing everything.”
Make a list of 2 – 5 specific creative activities to engage in the next time your soul feels as thin as a playing card.
Make a list of 2 – 5 people you can contact when your soul feels “as thin as a playing card” and be in contact with them to see if they are willing to come alongside you as accountability/creativity partners.
Traditional writing prompts:
I’ve always thought when I force myself to begin, I……don’t write well, I feel stilted and ugly. Like I am trying too hard or overdoing it.
I remember when I went to a rehearsal for a play and I was so spent emotionally. I felt like I was flat and horrible.
What actually happened was I had scraped away my performance and found the raw underpinnings of my character, much like we do in writing.
We scratch away the gunk and the excess décor and we discover the nugget. We uncover the unvarnished, raw materials which we were meant to work with in the first place.
The last time I wrote (blogged) when I was utterly exhausted, I….
Gave up after ¾ of one page. It was yesterday and I allowed fear of the future (especially in regards to my children who are facing monumental life changes) to get under my skin and fester. The thing is, we have no way of knowing what the future contains or holds or who we will be in the future so allowing it to interrupt what is in the here and now is completely unproductive. Eventually I muddled my way through it and came out the other side. And now I have these words written down to remind me next time!
The next time I write, I hope I can…..
If I approached creativity when I’m tired differently, I would…..have discovered about the "non language" creativity long before I did! I need to remember to keep supplies close at hand so that when I am feeling low, everything I need will be in place and ready to be plucked from. I did this with my recent index-card-art project and it worked really well. This is one of the favorite cards I created in a moment like that. I started with adhering vintage book pages to a card, followed by paint and using a stencil and layering gesso and then words started coming until I had a completed card that worked like a mini-art journal:
I've been traveling, so simply free-flowing responses to this old (to me) quote and prompt worked wonderfully. I even appreciate I didn't feel compelled to address all the questions, prompts and list possibilities, I stayed within the parameters of what worked in this exact moment.
If these prompts intrigued you at all, you may also look at the Let Your Words Flow archive... when you are not writing from the "That's what she said!" #TWSS prompts on Tuesdays, naturally!
Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in September 2015 and beyond.
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