Greetings Wacco Community,
Hi, I’m Suzanne Murray and I'll be drawing on my thirty years of writing experience and eighteen years of teaching the creative writing process to offer inspiration, insights, tips and exercises to help stimulate your writing. I’ll post new information and exercises every couple of week as an ongoing thread under the title “Twice Monthly Writing Ideas with Suzanne Murray”. Just scroll down to the bottom for the most recent post.
A little about my overall philosophy: Brenda Ueland in her book “If You Want to Write -A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit”, (published in 1938 and still in print) said “Everybody is original, talented and has something important to say”. It is probably my favorite book on writing because it contains a great deal of passion and wisdom as well as an understanding that encouragement is the best nourishment for the creative soul. I believe that when we are creative, we tap into a greater sense of our Self, so my main intention for sharing ideas on writing is to offer encouragement, (the word courage derived from the old French word “cuer” which means heart) and inspiration. Since I also work with people individually as a writing and creativity coach, I will provide some tips on what I have found most helpful in assisting you to “show up” to write.
TIP AND EXERCISE: To start I want to introduce the idea of “freewriting” which has been popularized by Natalie Goldberg in her book “Writing Down the Bones”. All you do is, start writing for a set period of time, say ten minutes, and don’t stop for anything. If you can’t think of what to say you write “keep the hand moving” until you break through into a new idea. The purpose of this technique is that in writing a tad faster than you can think without stopping or censoring you are able out run the inner critic and strategic/analytical mind and more quickly access the creative imagination. Try it. You can start with a word , a phrase, something you see out the window, or an object in the room. Try starting with the word “rain”. Have fun. Then feel free to post what you come up with.
Anyone interested in finding out more about me and the writing and creativity classes and coaching I offer in Sonoma and Marin Counties as well as writing journeys to Ireland and Yosemite can check out my webpage at www.creativitygoeswild.com or email me at [email protected].