If you want to write more, try this book.

      One of my wishes is always to write more, but not only that, to write with more verve.  One of my all-time favorite writing inspirations is Natalie Goldberg's Wild Mind.  Natatlie Goldberg is a zen Buddhist, and writing is her meditative practice. Just as in her first book, Writing Down the Bones, Wild Mind makes use of a technique called freewriting.  The rules for freewriting go like this:


1.  Let your mind roam freely.  Just let yourself write whatever comes to mind.  If nothing comes to mind, just write something like, "I can't think of anything."  I usually free associate.  If I wrote about not being able to think of anything, then my next line might be about thinking, or not being able to do certain things, etc.--something loosely connected to the previous sentence.  Literally write the first thing that comes to your mind, and then the next thing, and the next.  

2. This is Natalie talking, not me, but I do like this rule a lot.  She says writing is like sex.  You need to keep your hand moving.  Don't pick up your pen and look around the room at the wallpaper and your Aunt Sarah's watercolor painting of a hydrangea, keep your pen or pencil (or your hands on a keyboard) moving.

3. Do not edit yourself at this stage.  You don't stop in the middle of talking provocatively during sex and say, "Oh gosh, I really didn't use the most appropriate vocabulary a few seconds ago, so I'd like to revise please."  You just keep going.  The idea is that your mind set free will allow to tap into your wildest and most interesting thoughts if you don't inhibit yourself.

4.  Another rule is that freewriting is usually practiced for a specified amount of time.  I usually start my students off with just ten minutes of freewriting.  Then we might work our way up to about twenty minutes of freewriting.  Some people recommend freewriting every day at the same day, and many writers would say morning is better, but I am not particularly wedded to that idea.  (See Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way on "Morning Pages.")

5.  Some people like to do what is called focused freewriting.  Wild Mind is great for this!  At the end of each chapter, Goldberg has a little exercise in freewriting called, "Try this."  For example, she might say, "Something not much written about is teeth.  Try writing about teeth."  I did this and after a lot of revision of my freewriting I got a short story about a town in which the inhabitants lose their teeth and have to replace them with wolf teeth. 

6.  Another good rule is to read your freewriting out loud to hear how it sounds. I like to read mine with a writing partner. But the goal is not to be overly critical, or to say, "Wow, do you really think you should talk about your alcoholic uncle that way?"  This would be tantamount to saying, "Wow, that dress makes you look really fat."  Sometimes my writing partner and I agree on a phrase to say before we start.  We might say, "Oh my, you look gorgeous today," or,  "I really appreciate your willingness to share your writing with me."  Sometimes we note the places where the writing really takes off, the places in the piece that really have energy. 

7.  Do not be afraid!  Allow yourself to write about anything.  You don't have to share your writing with anyone if you don't want to share it.  In fact, one of Goldberg's ideas is to write about what you fear.  Try it, it really is cathartic.

My next post will be a spontaneous freewriting about what I fear.  I am actually kind of scared to do this, but I have made a commitment to be honest with myself and to fully live in reality.  The thing is I am really not scared of much, or at least I don't think I am!