Original Impulse Blog

Writing on the Road

Writing while traveling may seem like a good idea. You’ll capture the glories of your trip – a trip diary full of your great adventures! Then you arrive, and almost all of your attention is gulped up by the overwhelming stimulus that grabs your attention. How to write about all that you have seen, tasted, felt while traveling? Hint: don’t.

Writing on the skinny, on the lam, on the hoof, or on the road will improve your writing. You’ll hone your eye, refine your vocabulary and learn to be choosy in what you write. Less, with writing as other delights of life, is more.

Don’t try to write it all down. Instead, think brief as bikinis or skimpy dresses of summer. Become adept at note jotting, list taking, and capturing one brief sensation if a few words. Try these quick shot writing techniques that we’ll be using in Paris this fall on my Women Writer’s of Paris tour.

Alphabet
Return to the basics with unusual or new vocabulary from the place you are visiting. Write ten words for each letter of the alphabet from your surroundings. If you are visiting a foreign country, mix the foreign language with your own.

Lists
Face it, you cannot write it all down in the moment. Try lists. List ideas: meals, modes of transportation, people you’ve met, things you want or are inspired to, and random weird things.

Here’s a list from my trip to Santa Fe in April:
Stockings on St. John’s campus undergrads
Turquoise tile-covered vase
Pimped out cobalt blue low-rider, bouncing
Past la Fonda
Loretto Chapel, memory of reading a poem at friends’ wedding
Chile pecans
Kumquat slices
Pink leather pants with red lace stockings
Nambé platters (Nambé galleries – the Nambé outlet!)
White bird on woman’s shoulder

Just reading this list gets me back to that weekend in Santa Fe more than a narrative in which I tried to capture everything.

Haiku
See yesterday’s post.

Dialogue
It's so fun to eavesdrop. Capture snatches of dialogue.

Signage
Signs in other places can be interesting. Jot some down.

Writing from your character’s perspective
Perhaps you are engrossed in a story or novel and don’t want to piddle around with all this other stuff. Practice being in the world with your characters. What would your protagonist order at this restaurant? How would your antagonist deal with the upset at the hotel?

Haiku 'Snapshots'

Haiku, a form of traditional Japanese poetry, is an excellent way to capture your travel experiences. Think of haiku as a written ‘snapshot.’ Haiku can describe daily situations in a way that gives the reader a new experience of a well-known situation. Play with haiku to experiment with ‘snapshots’ of sensation.

The haiku poet ( haijin ) writes about a moment in time, a brief experience that stands out. The traditional haiku poet usually focused on nature, although modern poets may have the urban setting as their venue. Often the subtle juxtaposition between the two sets of images in a haiku will contain an interesting insight or spiritual message.

The shortness of the form makes it easy to write a lot of haiku. When you write many poems, you’ll eventually write some that are great. Don’t worry about how ‘good ‘ a poem is. What we’re going for here is a training in seeing and feeling in quick flashes that may surprise us with unusual juxtapositions. Play with writing at least one haiku per day.

The syllable count of a haiku is an important part of the form. A haiku is a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. When you get into the habit of counting the syllables, you get into the rhythm of words and start feeling words and the spaces in between them more clearly.

On your next trip, practice writing tons of haiku every day. You don't have to be a poet to have fun with this creative form. Soon you’ll be assimilating your experience in deep but quick ways.

Reading for Writers

(Excerpted from my book, Create Your Writer's Life: A Guide to Writing with Joy and Ease.)

Reading is one of the best teachers for writers. It may be that your love of reading has influenced your desire to write. Take a moment to consider how your life as a reader has effected your life as a writer. You may read for pleasure or for knowledge. Now I ask you to read for writing guidance.

When you read to learn, you read to absorb tips on effective and powerful writing. You may notice that you gravitate toward a certain genre or style of writing. You may be reading what you enjoy writing. I love personal essays and magazine articles, short stories and novels. These are all genres that I have written in.

You can magnify your learning by making notes on what you are reading. Practice active reading by asking yourself the following questions:

• How does the author start and finish paragraphs?
• How does the author use language? Copy down a sentence or two and take note of the basic structure of the writing. Long sentences? Short sentences? A combination?
• How does the author develop characters? Pay attention to how dialog, description, and action give you information about the characters.
• What keeps you reading? What questions do you have as you go along?
• What need is the piece you are reading fulfilling in your life? Are you getting information, entertainment, and education?
• What made this a saleable piece of writing? What worked?
• What skills, techniques, or elements of the story grab your attention?
• What elements of this style of writing can you focus your efforts on?

Keep a log of your reading. Write down phrases and sentences that move you. Take notes on what you think the author did that made it such a good piece of writing. Use these notes as your own tutorial for writing.

The community of writers and readers is a vast one. Much can be gained from reading, whether you read for pleasure or read more actively to assess writing styles. Let your reading encourage and support your writing.

Give Yourself Credit

The great thing about being connected to a bunch of clients and students is that I notice patterns. It seems like every week has a theme. This week's theme is making note of accomplishments so you can feel good about what you have done. I wrote about this in my newsletter several years ago. Here's the article, with a challenge to take time to record your progress so you can build confidence.

Imagine getting a glass of water and as you fill it, water leaks out of holes in the glass. How much more effort would it take to quench your thirst and fill your belly than if you had a glass that is intact?

A similar leakage happens when we do not take the time to fill our own well with acknowledgment of our progress. As we make our way toward completion of our goals, whether it is writing a book, building a web site, or raising a healthy child, we may forget to pause along the way and refresh ourselves with acknowledgments.

What difference does this kind of pause make in our success? More than you would imagine. Most of us are accustomed to being hard on ourselves, noticing how we could have done more.  By stopping to reflect on what we have done, we are better able to absorb the learning of our work. We see what we are capable of and are thus ready for the next step. If we do not do this regularly, we risk having a constant thirst for more. We burn ourselves out because we can get caught in a cycle of never getting there. The pause in the journey is encouraging, empowering and fuels us for more.

Acknowledging my clients for what they do and who they are is one of the best parts of my job. I get to see people's intention gel into action. When I recognize them for what they did and who they were being as they did it, they often are surprised to hear it and would not have noticed the accomplishment by themselves.

I invite clients to practice acknowledgment by keeping a log of weekly actions. As the week progresses, or at the end of the week, they take time to write down what they accomplished. I do this myself and have been amazed at how helpful this simple tool can be. When we go for large goals, it is vital that we note the landscape along the way. Often people do this by looking at their weekly to do list and noticing what they have checked off. But I find that doing a separate list, with a title like "What I accomplished this week" carries more weight than a to do list that you will then throw away.

I cannot stress enough how important this small action can be to your success. Try it for a few weeks and notice the impact.

Challenge: Stop today and notice what you have accomplished during the last week. Write down the steps you have taken, no matter how small. When you have your list complete, look at the big picture. What qualities or skills did you use to accomplish these tasks? What reward will you give yourself for coming this far?

Ordinary Life

I'm reading Amy Krouse Rosenthal's book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, and it is delightful. Writers and creative types can take many lessons from this book:
1. Your life is interesting. (Debunks the myth that you are not interesting.)
2. Pay attention to what interests you. (There are rewards for your obsessions.)
3. Write it down, and don't worry about where it will go or what it will become. (Write it down!)
4. Connect with your impulses and let them lead you. Stop trying to think too much. (You are not in charge. Go with the creative flow.)

Amy's quirky compendium of facts and remembrances will be particularly appealing for those of us who like to capture and scribble down random ideas and thoughts. When you do, you honor those odd items and notions that cling to you no matter how little sense they make. Someday it will all be clear.

Amy struggled for years to come up with a way to bring together her ideas. You'll love the beginning of the book where she outlines her process of creating her encyclopedia.

Okay, and really, the best thing about this book: I was in a bookstore in Steamboat Springs and I picked it up. After reading a paragraph, I was laughing out loud, reading sections to anyone who was nearby and laughing even more. I had proof that I was still capable of laughing out loud, and had not become a smug smirker. Long live laughter and whatever prompts it.

Journey of the Senses in Denver & Boulder

Want to practice doing art in the world - en plein air? Join me and my creative cohort, Gigia this summer for one-day journeys in Denver and Boulder.

If you are ready to capture inspiration, get great ideas for your projects and life, regenerate your creativity and refresh your summer, this is the day for you!

Denver - Sunday, August 13th from 10 AM - 2 PM. We'll meet near City Park.

Boulder - Saturday, July 8th from 10 AM - 2 PM. We'll meet at my place near the farmer's market.

Cost for these sumptuous journeys - $35.00 includes picnic lunch and materials.

Call or email me to register. Space is limited in these groups, so call today.

Art on the Road

Doing art while you travel makes for a deeper and more intimate experience. You are called to actively engage with your environment. And it’s fun. Here are some tips for making art on the road.

1. Start with a good sketchbook. Good means one that you will be able to take everywhere, use easily and enjoy the feel of.

2. Carry the art implements with you as well: a good pen, colored pencils, a mini watercolor set. Have a little art pack that you can easily slip into your bag for the day.

3. Commit to doing the art. Give yourself this gift of stopping and pausing. Give yourself a goal of one sketch per day or one free write per day.

4. Do it in the road. Pause on the spot for quick gesture drawings, to capture a snippet of dialogue, or to jot a flash of inspiration. Don’t wait until the ‘right’ moment.

5. Use shorthand. A quick line, a description of a color, a list of words or street names can evoke a bigger picture later.

6. Think small. Trying to capture a whole scene or story on a large canvas is intimidating. Just grab an impression or make a very small sketch. This is why postcards are so great.

7. Postcards. Bring blank postcards and make quick art for people. One year, I solicited donations for my Paris trip, promising a painted Paris postcard in return. Seventeen people helped me out, and they each got a postcard. This was a great way to move past the doubts about whether a card was good or not. People were waiting, so I had to follow through.

8. Don’t think it has to be perfect. Your art will be for you and to enhance your memories even more than photos.