Create Your Writer's Life: A Guide to Writing With Joy and Ease. Cynthia Morris

and wherever you please. It can be a word, a phrase, or an excerpt from a book or poem. It can be a picture, an object, or a food. The point is to give you something to start writing about and then you are free to write whatever you wish. Try some of the following prompts:

      •My favorite food…

      •When I first…

      •What I hate…

      •If I had…

      •Now that I …

      •When I saw…

      •Keep your hand moving. Once you start writing, keep going across the page or keyboard. Don’t pause to think or figure out where you are going.

      •Don’t cross out or correct spelling or grammar. You know you are flowing when you start misspelling words or become nonsensical. Let your mind create unusual or fresh associations.

      •Don’t censor yourself.

      •Try an Impulse Writing that makes no sense. Your goal is for the writing to be as nonsensical as possible. This is incredibly fun and freeing and is a great way to loosen up your mind and enjoy language for the sake of it. See what happens for you.

      Keep your Impulse Writing in a notebook. When the notebook is full, put it on a shelf. Keep writing and go back to it in a month or a year, and notice what it is like to read your writing with some distance.

      Perhaps you've been doing Impulse Writing and enjoying the process. What should you do with all that raw writing that lives in your notebooks? Impulse Writing is often done for the practice of writing, for the enjoyment of it, and for developing your voice on the page. It can also be fun to take it a little further. Here are a few ideas for developing your Impulse Writing.

      •Type it up as is. Notice the patterns in your writing, words you repeat, the pace and tone of your voice.

      •Type it up and play with revising. Do this with curiosity and playfulness, rather than striving for perfection.

      •Read your writing for honesty. Where do you stop yourself? Where did you write the nice thing instead of the thing you really wanted to write?

      •Read it aloud. Notice what it sounds like to hear your own words.

      •Send it to a friend for fun. Ask your friend to reply back with his or her own Impulse Writing. Perhaps you will develop a story together, a back and forth writing.

      •Keep going. Begin writing where you left off. Write for ten minutes. See where the writing takes you.

      •Develop it into a story, an essay, or whatever it wants to be.

      •Whatever you do with your Impulse Writings, do it with a loving eye. Remember that you are writing with speed and without judgment, so don't be too critical when you are reading them.

      •Use the creative detail of your Impulse Writing in a project you are currently developing. Let the freedom of this writing support your other work.

      Consistent Work on Your Writing Project

      During the course of this program, I encourage you to choose a writing project to work on. You will grow as a writer by doing the work and not just thinking about it or doing the work around it. When you work on a project, you bring the concepts we address out of theory and into practice.

      In chapter five, you will find exercises that will guide you to choose a project that is appropriate for you now. I will also share guidelines for creating meaningful goals. In the meantime, work on the preliminary exercises. They will prepare you to choose a project that is meaningful and engaging for you.

      Writer’s Rewards

      The satisfaction of writing is often its own reward. One way to reward our writing efforts is to notice how we feel when we write. I ask my clients and students to jot down three words that describe the feeling they have after they have written. These three words often show us what our writing gives us. It is often the things that we are missing in our lives, and writing helps to fill that gap. My clients have reported the following experiences after they write:

      “I just finished a good half hour of writing. I felt smart, worthy, and excited to continue the story.”

      “I have just spent the past 45 minutes writing. This was after wandering a bit and getting coffee and toast. The three words are excited, capable, and energetic, and a sense of holding my space.”

      “I did everything I could to avoid it, went out for coffee, went for a walk, read O magazine, listened to the cat purr. Then I finally sat down, full of resentment and crabbiness. I began researching...found some cool stuff. I wrote a sidebar, then I began to transcribe the tape and the magic started to happen. I love this. Three words about how writing makes me feel: freeing, sense-sharpening, damn good.”

      It can be challenging to sit down and do the work that will give us these feelings. Sometimes a little reward is necessary. The payoff for writing can be empowerment, or it can be something else that nourishes you and your writing life. What makes the task of writing compelling for you? Some people reward themselves with a shopping spree, a new book, or a splurge on a nice new journal. What are some rewards that you can give yourself?

      Exercise - Identify Your Rewards

      Brainstorm a list of inexpensive and low-calorie rewards. Choose things that are fun and juicy for you. This may be a ride on your bike, a walk in the park, a dance class you have wanted to explore. Or perhaps a long-distance call to a supportive friend motivates you. Keep the list handy and at the end of each week acknowledge your efforts by giving yourself a reward.