Let’s talk about writing for a minute.

I believe writing is how I process events in my life. It’s how I make sense of a lot of what goes on around me. It’s like meditation. It’s quiet time (well, AC/DC is blaring right now) where I can be with my thoughts in an organized way. Setting down word after word in some sequence that tells a story, sets an agenda for the day, or merely presents an idea. Words are how our brains work as adults. While all of our thoughts are really just chemicals, the language in our brains is the data that floats around.

When we are happy the chemicals are in an excited state. The language of joy is strong and racing. (Think Jack Kerouac on a good day or Henry Miller) When we are in a blue state we are less excited, our chemistry is less active, our words are less fluid, and perhaps the idea of writing becomes a challenge and not a flight of fantasy. Either way, language is the 1’s and 0’s racing around in there with all the dopamine and serotonin and other stuff. Writing has been a key for me, to harness the language virus into something I can work with. I can write my way out of a funk. SOMETIMES. And sometimes, I can’t write at all. But it is in the telling that the healing begins for me.

In Thomas Moore’s Dark Night of the Soul, he talks about making an epic story of your suffering. Writing does that. Even if you never share your words, putting your darkness into words, gives you an affinity with many of the great sufferers of the past. Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac) Write out your own epic tale of sadness and struggle, and you become part of a well-established canon of writers. Welcome to the club.

I came across an article today about some prompts that might help you get your writing into a more productive or active space. From LSE: Six academic writing habits that will boost productivity

1. Time-block your writing periods
2. Set a deadline (make one up, I’d like to submit this short story by the end of the week)
3. Seek “flow.” Go where the juice is in your writing. There you will find flow. There you will know you are onto something vital.
4. Add accountability. Make commitments with other creative friends. Tell friends about your upcoming deadline.
5. Small steps and short projects to tackle larger projects. (Start a blog, and then write whatever you want. The BOOK will come from the bones of your writing.)
6. Write through the blocks. (Just the act of writing will get you going. Do some automatic writing. Do “morning pages” from The Artist’s Way. Just write.)

and one more to grow on, from Henry Miller.

7. If you can’t write, do the work of writing. Correct, edit, and submit your work. Do the business of writing if you’re not in the mood to write. It’s all part of the process. Just do it.

I’ve been working with writers for several years now, helping them unlock their passions and getting books written and published. I can help you. Let’s talk about it. The first 30-minutes is on me. Schedule your free session now: https://calendly.com/jmacofearth

Thanks for being a part of my journey.

John McElhenney – let’s connect online 

@jmacofearth & Google+ & Facebook & LinkedIn

more from john on uber.la

• Top 5 Books About Living a Full and Happy Life
• Let’s Talk About Your Evil Plan(tm) – Yeah, But What Else Are You Doing?
• Letters to a Young Artist

supportive references:

• Letters to a Young Poet – Rilke
• Write Time: Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision through Revision-and Beyond – Atchity
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, 2nd Edition – Goldberg
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – Joyce
• The Artist’s Way – Cameron
• Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace – MacKenzie
• Sonic Highways (show) – Dave Grohl and HBO explore music
• The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
• Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting – Jimmy Webb

image: man writing in a coffee shop, creative commons usage