I sit at my desk, thinking about beginnings and not sure where to begin.
Well, ironically, I am looking forward to the school year beginning so I will have more time to work uninterrupted on my various projects. As the Summer wears on, I feel less and less motivated to do anything much less my longer-term, more energy, more to clean up and put away and take out and put into place. So I don’t bother.
Speaking of which, I need to begin my chores on a more excited level, too.
I am not looking forward, and I am, to Katherine’s semester in Scotland starting. I know she will have a blast. I am not sure how well I will endure.
I am excited to begin using my new antique desk. This desk has served me in its make shift way – though it is too high for a desk and since it has no drawers, I have ended up with stacks of stuff on the floor around me all the time. I just don’t like it. Argh.
AND I am excited to begin painting the exterior of my house with Katherine, which we will start once the little kids are back to school.
This is the longest five minutes ever!
I still have a minute and thirty one seconds left!
I am a believer in do-overs.
I feel like this school year includes plentiful “do-overs”. My choice lies in the willingness to accept what is and not judge myself for doing-over again.
I am excited about a massage I will get during the first week of school. My body wants to begin feeling like itself again!
I look forward to new beginnings with Writing Camp, too. I have lots of new ideas to implement and yesterday’s “A Time to Write” reminded me how much my work is valued. One woman who I knew but didn’t know very well until yesterday gave me an excited hug and said, “You make it all so easy! This class was so great!”
I loved the smiles.
I am grateful I was alert to them.
And now that I’m on a roll, the timer goes off! >> giggles <<
**********************
This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post (in the sidebar) at Jana's Thinking Place.
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.
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Summer Blog Challenge for August 6 asks - Who Is Your Favorite Author
This is a toughie for me because I love so many writers from so many different genre. I love my students of writing first and foremost, though beyond them....
My favorite modern poet? Mary Oliver, most likely, though lately the words of Ellen Bass have woo’ed me.
My favorite “how-to-write” author is most likely Julia Cameron, though she has consistently got on my nerves since I had read her stuff, her suggestions have not only changed my writing they have changed my life. Whenever I find a new how-to-write author I am excited though. Right now I am reading Thinking about Memoir by Abigail Thomas. Her style ROCKS! Seriously… so simple, straightforward and so far it is jargon free. And I love the front cover photo.
My favorite memoirist? May Sarton. I think. Today, anyway.
My favorite children’s author? Probably still Laura Ingalls Wilder for the classics, Judy Blume for the my era classics. Plus I have always loved Hans Christian Anderson.
My favorite novelist? I don’t have one. I need to read more novels. I look forward to reading other Summer Blog Challenge posts so I can see what suggestions everyone makes.
It is great to be back – and I will be perusing earlier topics and adding my voice to some of them. I had a phenomenal heart opening road trip vacation. It is tough to be back and in my writing seat but here I am, I say proudly. Here I am!
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 never knew my cell phone would become such an important part of my life. I thought I would be texting and searching the internet, catching up on facebook and twitter and other fun, playful aps, but I didn't realize it would actually help me with so many of my writing adventures.
Here are ten ways you may use your cell phone as I do for writing purposes. Try one of these you don't currently use and please comment to share either a new way we may all use our phones OR let us know how you experiment with these ten ways to use your smart phone.
10 Ways to Use Your Phone to Write Articles, Top 10 Lists, How-to's, Poetry and More
Listen to conversation being spoken around you. Eavesdrop to capture rich/true dialogue
Take photos, especially those surprise images to write about later. Once you set the intention to be surprised visually, your eyes will begin to see more and more intriguing sights.
Collect "jots" of writing in three words or less... what you see, hear, smell, taste, touch, feel emotionally
Use your timer: Do timed stream of consciousness writing at any time in any space. Do timed writing with your notebook while on a hike. Do timed writing on your laptop sitting in a coffee shop. Do timed writing directly into your smart phone.
Keep a one sentence journal. At the end of the day, write a one sentence summary of either the entire day or whatever stand out event happened, even if it is “The intersection at Stockdale and California was more annoying than infomercials as I drove through it fourteen times today.”
Haiku everywhere and then tweet what you write from your smart phone. You may want to make one day a week your haiku day or make it a practice to see the normal differently – such as writing the dawn every day for a week or month.
In your calendar note times (and set alarms!) for sunrises, sunsets or other "time attached" subjects. For example, an older slightly battered truck rolls by my house at about 6:40 a.m. daily. I consciously make a point to be out there so I can wave as I take notes. This truck and its driver has become a rich part of my writing life and we have never officially met.
Take notes when people think you are texting. I recently did this at a birthday party where I didn’t know anyone. Since people are used to texting, in some circles this isn’t seen as rude. Be careful to not be totally oblivious to social nuances. Interaction at the party itself will also give you gems you can capture as you sit in your car before leaving or on the bus on the way home after the party is over.
9. Create writing prompts from what you see. There is never, ever, ever “nothing to write about.” Look around as you live. Examples: “The waitress with the very red lipstick reminds me of…” and write, using your timer, for at least five minutes stream of consciousness style. “The fallen tree on the side of the road made me feel…”. “The old man waiting at the bus stop looked….” Or “I wonder where the old man at the bus stop is going? It could be…. Or… or… and why isn’t someone from his family driving him?”
10. Write how-to articles. What technology do you suppose I used to write this one?
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.
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Today’s prompt from the Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms went something like this today:
It's all about _______________
The extra note from Tiffany Noth, founder of Bloggy Moms is “{Fill in the blank - I encourage you to be more original and not fill it in with 'me'. It could be, all about Twizzlers.}”
I decided I would seek some help from some of my wise readers. What would you like for me to write about in this “It’s all about” category?
I have written some suggestions – so pick from one of these ideas or make up your own. Perhaps you might even like to play along. As I wrote possibilities I kept thinking “This would make such a great writing exercise!” so naturally, I am trying it first… here… with YOU!
Thanks in advance. So, your best choice for me to write is….
It’s all about breaking through
It’s all about surrender
It’s all about the weather
It’s all about being a mommy
It’s all about Three Musketeers bars
It’s all about Special K
It’s all about grammar
It’s all about living a life outside rules
It’s all about passion for writing
It’s all about being precise
It’s all about laughter
It’s all about having a good time
It’s all about being present
It’s all about waking up to the sounds of the ocean
It’s all about connecting with people just like me
It’s all about connecting with ginger haired people
It’s all about writing limericks
It’s all about controlling the conversation
It’s all about wearing blue gingham and singing
It’s all about putting water in the coffee maker before a writing session
It’s all about helping my son understand rituals are not the only way
It’s all about making vintage paperdolls
It’s all about making time to make those certain kind of collage cards
It’s all about taking self portraits daily
It’s all about writing self portraits daily
It’s all about learning algebra
It’s all about being an exceptional party hostess
It’s all about living in Bakersfield without air conditioning
It’s all about giving only home made gifts
It’s all about learning new salad recipes
It’s all about sewing my Fall wardrobe
It’s all about respecting my neighbors
It’s all about daily devotions
It’s all about reading a classic book weekly
It’s all about tricking your kids into eating veggies
This is my Ultimate Blog Challenge Writing for the Day. Be watching for my challenge posts which will include Writing Prompts, Writing Tips and General Life Tips and Essays. This is Blog 10/31 for July!
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.
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I wish to start taking people (literally) on the road to discovery of both self and writing in gorgeous, sometimes overlooked wilderness spaces both inside themselves and outside in our surroundings.
I wish to start a writing fire in people who have wanted to write but for some reason have been afraid.
I wish to start healing people from the over-red-marked-paper syndrome.
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 -
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 hear dust from the days before the Vikings falling through the forest. I hear branches, creaking – born before the printing press – being torn from the body that had supported them for so long.
I see confusion.
I see stained glass.
I see awe on the faces of those who look upon her now.
I step into your veins and feel like I am stepping into every cavern I have ever visited. I become one with every nightmare and every pipedream I have ever breathed not into existence.
I feel my breasts fill with milk even though I have not had a baby in eleven years. I feel the urge to feed the babies, the ones who cannot speak or walk for whom there is only hope.
I see Moses’ mother and sister, waiting for safety for their little boy.
I see my mother and sister, giggling as I struggle to slide my feet into my short sheeted bed when I couldn’t translate their giggles and my complete confusion and heart pounding fear to be responding to the same thing.
I touch your protective coating – splintered and your inner coating, smooth. I notice the hands, the others, reaching out, and another other, speaking as if expert but knowing nothing, after all.
I touch inside you with my camera.
I feel miniscule.
I feel incapable to communicate who, what, how you are.
I want to bring people here, to sit with you, to engage with you, to come to know you intimately instead of sitting back and looking at photos or watching videos or thinking they know when they don’t know what it is like to touch the inside of a Sequoia’s bloodstream and suddenly understand how similar you are, only the tree is infinitely wiser and infinitely more capable to communicate even without the benefit of translatable language.
“All afternoon it rained, then
such a power came down from the clouds
on a yellow thread,
as authoritative as God is supposed to be.
When it hit the tree, her body
opened forever.”
In the spring it rained and the stream, as always, moved alongside these twin trees, standing tall like the twin towers had before they fell.
Somehow, they surmise, the life blood of the trees brought death to these two. Like all grief, it isn’t completely understandable yet how it happened. Scientists are in wonder, still now – and don’t logically try to explain it all away.
What I know is the tree and her innards touched me, my mind, my heart, my chest, my fingers, my awe has now opened forever.
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.
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“Wilderness itself is the basis of all our civilization. I wonder if we have enough reverence for life to concede to wilderness the right to live on?” Margaret "Mardy" Murie, "Grandmother" of the Conservation Movement.
Today's Summer Blog Challenge asks us: If You Couldn't Fail, What Would You Do?
If I couldn’t fail, I would do my long overdue tour of the country I have always wanted to do, sharing Word-Love, Passion for living and a full time embrace of the wilderness within and around us within every community so that each town, hamlet, city I go to can begin to spread the fire for personal expression, finding voice and just feeling better about this wilderness we all inhabit, that we all are….
That word, “Wilderness” has been percolating in my mind in a brand new way lately.
“Wild” ness
And
“Wilder” ness.
I have been reading the book When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams. She has a passion for wilderness as a naturalist, a biologist but even more than that, she has a passion for the wilderness within each of us.
Read some of her words:
“To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.” TTW
If I couldn’t fail, I would do my long overdue tour of the country, sharing Word-Love, Passion for living and a full time embrace of the wilderness within and around us within every community so that each town, hamlet, city I go to can begin to spread the fire for personal expression, finding voice and just feeling better about this wilderness we all inhabit, that we all are….
Yes. Wilderness is connection, human connection.
“We can try to kill all that is native, string it up by its hind legs for all to see, but spirit howls and wildness endures.” TTW
Yes. How many people have had their passion, their individuality strung up for months, weeks, days, even years in some cases? I know because I was one of those people who did that.
I know some people connote “wild” with frightening or loud or nutty or something and someone you steer clear of, but I am taking it on differently and wondering if you might dip your toe into seeing wilderness and wildness in a new way.
If I couldn’t fail, I would do my long overdue tour of the country, sharing Word-Love, Passion for living and a full time embrace of the wilderness within and around us within every community so that each town, hamlet, city I go to can begin to spread the fire for personal expression, finding voice and just feeling better about this wilderness we all inhabit, that we all are….
(For some reason the song “Born to Be Wild” is now playing in my head.)
One definition of wilderness:
1. An unsettled, uncultivated region left in its natural condition, especially:
a. A large wild tract of land covered with dense vegetation or forests.
b. An extensive area, such as a desert or ocean, that is barren or empty; a waste.
c. A piece of land set aside to grow wild.
2. Something characterized by bewildering vastness, perilousness, or unchecked profusion: the wilderness of the city; the wilderness of counterespionage; a wilderness of voices.
When I looked into the definition of “Wild” I see why people might stray from it. I sort of shook my head as I read, saying “yeah, but… you make it sound…”
If I couldn’t fail, I would do my long overdue tour of the country, sharing Word-Love, Passion for living and a full time embrace of the wilderness within and around us within every community so that each town, hamlet, city I go to can begin to spread the fire for personal expression, finding voice and just feeling better about this wilderness we all inhabit, that we all are….
I feel like I want to be an attorney in the defense of “Wild” and “Wilderness”.
wild (wld)
adj.wild·er, wild·est
1. Occurring, growing, or living in a natural state; not domesticated, cultivated, or tamed: wild geese; edible wild plants.
2. Not inhabited or farmed: remote, wild country.
3. Uncivilized or barbarous; savage.
4.
a. Lacking supervision or restraint: wild children living in the street.
b. Disorderly; unruly: a wild scene in the school cafeteria.
c. Characterized by a lack of moral restraint; dissolute or licentious: recalled his wild youth with remorse.
5. Lacking regular order or arrangment; disarranged: wild locks of long hair.
6. Full of, marked by, or suggestive of strong, uncontrolled emotion: wild with jealousy; a wild look in his eye; a wild rage.
7. Extravagant; fantastic: a wild idea.
8. Furiously disturbed or turbulent; stormy: wild weather.
9. Risky; imprudent: wild financial schemes.
10.
a. Impatiently eager: wild to get away for the weekend.
b. Informal Highly enthusiastic: just wild about the new music.
11. Based on little or no evidence or probability; unfounded: wild accusations; a wild guess.
12. Deviating greatly from an intended course; erratic: a wild bullet.
13. Games Having an equivalence or value determined by the cardholder's choice: playing poker with deuces wild.
adv.
In a wild manner: growing wild; roaming wild.
n.
1. A natural or undomesticated state: returned the zoo animals to the wild; plants that grow abundantly in the wild.
2. An uninhabited or uncultivated region. Often used in the plural: the wilds of the northern steppes.
intr.v.wild·ed, wild·ing, wildsSlang
Final words from Terry Tempest Williams:
"If you know wilderness in the way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go.... This is the story of our past and it will be the story of our future."
If I couldn’t fail, I would do my long overdue tour of the country I have always wanted to do, sharing Word-Love, Passion for living and a full time embrace of the wilderness within and around us within every community so that each town, hamlet, city I go to can begin to spread the fire for personal expression, finding voice and just feeling better about this wilderness we all inhabit, that we all are….
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 -
July 4--To celebrate Independence Day, you are "free" to post whatever you want.
This Spring I started a writing project that has become something of an obsession for me.
It has fast become one of my favorite subjects: Women Writers in Literary History
These women writers are our grandmothers.
They are our mothers and our great aunties. They are our tias, our Godmothers, our long-lost cousins. They are our lovers, they are our role models, they are our she-roes (sometimes called heroines).
They are the women writers who stepped out before we did and made their way in a world dominated by male wordsmiths.
Whenever I start to write like this, I feel compelled to apologize and say, “I love men. Please don’t read these words and declare ‘Man Hater’.” On the contrary, I have four brothers – who I love even when quirky. I have a son – who is among the greatest gifts I have ever received. I have many many many male friends. I love the way men smell, I love to learn how their minds work, I love to catch the sparkles in their eyes when they think I am not looking.
AND I am sad that most of our “Writing Guides” are men.
I sometimes feel like a writing orphan of sorts.
I was looking for writing quotes by women today. I simply googled “Writing Quotes”. I would scroll through page after page of quotes. The average ratio of women writer quotes to men writer quotes is easily 18 to 2 out of 20.
What does this say, oh so subtly and not oh so subtly, to women who write or girls who want to write?
“The wisest writers are men.”
“It would be best for me to learn to write from a man.”
“Imitating a man is the best way to go for me, as a writer.”
I am on a mission to spread the wisdom of women writers so that our daughters – or the next generation of women writers – will not have this same experience.
Last week I posted a list of quotes by Writing Women – you may find them here. Feel free to print them out. I am going to add ten more quotes here for you to use as inspiration for writing no matter what gender you may be.
I am also including links to five writing women whose names may be completely unfamiliar to you. Please let your curiosity have its way with you today. Click on one, read about her, be inspired.
Get to know the women of your Writing Wisdom family tree: not just the Emily Dickinsons, the Jane Austens and the JK Rowlings.
1. Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard. --Anne Sexton
2. The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention. --Flannery O'Connor
3. Loving, like prayer, is a power as well as a process. It's curative. It is creative. --Zona Gale
4. To stand at the edge of the sea...is to have knowledge of things that are as eternal as any earthly life can be." -- Rachel Carson
5. "My world did not shrink because I was a black female writer. It just got bigger." --Toni Morrison
6. "It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth, and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, that we will begin to live each day to the fullest; as if it was the only one we had."
"There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from." Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
7. "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it." Margaret Fuller
8. "There must be those among whom we can sit down and weep and still be counted as warriors." --Adrienne Rich
9. “I love bright words, words up and singing early.” Elinor Wylie
10. “Every mother should endeavor to be a true artist.” Frances EW Harper
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.
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