Dedicated to the participants in the Deep Writing workshop at the recent Desert Nights, Rising Stars writing conference.
The meeting room at the Desert Nights, Rising Stars 2015 writing conference is packed. I look at the faces of writers – women and men, young and old, Anglo, Hispanic, African-American, Asian – and I imagine that I see curiosity, eagerness, exhaustion and hope. We begin by not beginning. We sit for ten minutes doing nothing. I watch the faces of the writers change – soften, tighten, grow sad, grow peaceful.
“Okay,” I say. “Please begin to write. I’ll time you for fifteen minutes (though it may have been ten). Once you start writing don’t stop for anything. Write whatever comes through. Here is your beginning: In the stillness I find…”
I spend the time doing one of my favorite things: watching writers write steadily. “Two more minutes,” I say. “O.k., time to stop.” And I am granted another of my favorite things: watching as writer after writer disobeys the instruction.
A half dozen of the writers read. Their work is wonderfully varied, their writing voices strong and beautiful. When it’s time for questions and answers, a woman asks me what she can tell one of her clients whose crazy busyness stops her from writing. “I don’t know,” I say, “except that how we are in relationship with our lives is how we are in relationship with our writing. This work is hard. This work takes us back into that which we would rather leave unknown.”
If you missed the Desert Nights writing conference and our workshop, you can take part in what we did. If you read Breakthroughwriting Tips regularly, you know what to do: Set a timer and sit doing nothing for as long as you need. Re-set the timer and write for as long as you need. Here’s your prompt: In the stillness I find. Please send me what you write – part of our richness lies in me showing you mine – and you showing us yours.
****
And here is Carole Milstead’s writing in response to last week’s Breakthrough Tip https://www.breakthroughwriting.net/2015/02/16/mystery-breakthroughwriting-tip-for-the-week-of-february-16-2015/:
Thinking to myself, I wish I hadn’t fallen asleep in this position. My neck has pain, so does my lower back from being slouched down in the seat. How far had I traveled? Maybe, the question should be, how long have I traveled since the last stop over? It’s nice that Walmart lets people rest overnight in their parking lots. I wonder, where exactly am I? Maybe I should go in and buy something. That way, the receipt ticket would tell me where I have stopped. It had been a couple of days since I had left the Pacific Northwest to return to the desert. New Mexico seemed so far away. My once golden tan now looked yellow from the lack of sunshine. I stayed away from Interstate Highways. Too much traffic. Too many trucks. I wanted to travel at a slower pace and take in blue skies, Joshua Trees and other desert scenes. And I had. I, also, lost track of time. Interstates have lots of signs telling travelers what’s coming up next. Back roads, not so much. I need to step out of this truck and get some bearings. I cannot be that far from Lordsburg.
Share on Your Social Media
