chapter introduces an element of your writer’s life. The program can be worked in any order, but I recommend starting at the beginning and working your way through to the end. You may work at any pace, but try one exercise or chapter per week. Set aside a specific time each week to do the work. An hour may be the perfect amount of time for you; you may need more or less. Choose a target date for completion to pull you along. This can provide more structure and focus, and help guide you to complete the program.
You will reap the most benefit from this program if you work through it while working on your own writing project. An exercise is included in chapter five to help you focus and choose a project to work on now.
Elements of the Program
As a coach, I have learned that internal processes such as reflection and brainstorming are as valuable to progress as outer actions. The exercises and elements in this program reflect this. Although it takes time to do this work, the insights you get from doing them will provide a strong foundation for your writing practice. They will give you the extra motivation you need to continue writing when life challenges you.
If you are new to the journaling and writing processes, give yourself extra credit. Starting something new requires courage, faith, and extra compassion for yourself. Practice the exercises and writing without judgment. The program comprises five elements:
•Exercises and Stretches
•Journal Writing
•Impulse Writing
•Consistent Work on Your Writing Project
•Writer’s Rewards
Exercises and Stretches
I am a firm believer in active participation in personal growth. This is one of the best parts of being a coach: my clients seek their own wisdom and claim it through action. This program is full of exercises that will guide you to your own wisdom, to what works for you as a writer, and to a greater understanding of what it means for you. Look for the open journal drawing that points you to the exercises.
Record your responses to the exercises in a special journal. When you are finished with the program you will have a document that records your unique writing life.
Throughout the program, stretch exercises ask you to reach a bit further. Have fun with the exercises, and know that you will be rewarded for any effort you put into the program. If an exercise seems silly, stupid, or a waste of time, try it anyway. See what happens.
Journal Writing
I have kept a journal since 1994. When I look at my journals lined up on the shelf (several shelves now!) I have a visual image of my commitment to my writing. When I pull a notebook off the shelf and open it at random, I am amazed to see myself in there. Its the same me, striving for knowledge, for personal growth, for expression of the True Me.
If you do not keep a journal, now is a great time to start. Start by finding a notebook that you like. You could buy an expensive hardbound notebook or a cheap spiral notebook. It is important that the system you use for journaling feel comfortable to you and be inviting to write in. Many people buy a nice notebook and then never use it because it is too nice. Get something that feels good in your hands. You may wish to use your computer to journal.
Start with a small amount of time every day. Try ten minutes of journaling. You can write about anything you wish: recount your day or write your wishes or complaints. Use your writer’s eye to jot down details, sensations, conversations or ideas. The point of journaling is to get in the habit of sitting still and writing. You will begin to feel comfortable transforming your thoughts into words on a page. People who have the journaling habit often find it easier to do other writing because of the time they take to journal. My clients have reported that they know themselves better and feel good about their lives when they are journaling.
Many people dismiss journal writing as not 'real' writing. Even if you write for money or publication, your journal can serve as a spine that holds up your other work. Reading my journals shows me patterns, lets me hear my voice, and gives me a strong sense of continuity with that voice.
To make the most of your journaling, consider the following:
•Notice random thoughts you have about writing.
•Pay attention to ideas that urge you to write them down.
•At the back of your journal, keep a small notebook or a list of prompts or ideas that you want to explore more fully in your writing. A prompt is anything you can use to get into the writing⎯a word, an image, or an idea that tickles at your mind and asks to be written about.
Use your journal to record your progress in this program. Keep a list in the back or in a separate section to record writing accomplishments and challenges. Regular journaling provides the following four benefits to your writing:
Consistency. Keeping a regular journal gives you practice in sitting down to write, which is the writer's biggest challenge. After all of the reading and studying about writing, you still have to sit down and show up for the words.
Honesty. In your journal you are safe to expose the truth about how you feel, think, and act out your life. A journal provides the opportunity for you to be 100% real with yourself. Honesty is one of the main requirements for good writing, and you can practice in your journal.
Voice. No one is listening in your journal, so this is a place to explore your true self. You may begin to notice patterns in your metaphors, the way you approach a subject, how you use language to describe an event. Your journal is a place where you begin to develop your voice.
Themes. What keeps happening in your life that you record in your journal? What are your life's themes? I notice mine are personal growth, self-challenge, struggle for authenticity, and yearning for community. If these are the topics I am writing about in my journals, chances are they have a place in my fiction and nonfiction as well.
Stretch
Go back to an old journal and open it at random. Let this process be loose. Spend some time reading through. Look for themes. Listen for your voice. Notice where you were honest with yourself and where you lied or stretched the truth. Do this even if you are the writer who starts a journal in a pretty new notebook and writes for ten pages or so then stops. Notice where you stopped writing.
Then, pick up your current notebook and write about what you discovered about yourself and your writing process. Ask yourself these questions:
•What do I write about repeatedly?
•How honest am I in my journals?
•What is the general tone of my writing voice? Complaining, whiny, hopeful, reflective, or something else?
•What information did I get from reading these journals that I can use in my other writing? What can I use for my life?
Impulse Writing
Impulse Writing allows for a safe, fun exploration of your true voice. Modeled after Natalie Goldberg’s free writing in Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala Publications, 1986), Impulse Writing is writing that taps into your raw writing. It allows you to get your writing out without judgment or concern that it is good or right. Impulse Writing will give you confidence to express the vast and fascinating territory inside you.
Do an Impulse Writing session at least once per week. You can do as little as one ten-minute session or as many as three. Schedule your Impulse Writing time. Squeeze it into your lunch hours. Do it on your commute. Or try Impulse Writing before or after work to energize you.
You may wish to combine Impulse Writing with your journaling; it may be your journaling. Impulse Writing will build your skills and give you practice in writing this way.
Guidelines for Impulse Writing:
•Set