Pointing the way to the houseboat museum. Lifting someone’s luggage up the subway stairs with him. Taking a photo of a couple on a bridge. Sharing my map with a woman and her daughter.
I can’t not help. When I see someone in need, my first impulse is to help.
I was recently asked to write about why I do what I do. Why do I coach writers and artists? Why do I guide people to claim their own authority so they can write their stories?
Perhaps it hearkens back to my days of a different kind of service, when I waited tables and sold books at a corner bookshop. People came in and I was there to help. This urge to serve is embedded in my social code, and in my work ethic.
A positive perspective for writers
Years ago, as a young writer, I attended a reading at the Tattered Cover in Denver. I don’t recall the author, but I do remember his message: the writing life stinks, publishing sucks, and if you take him as a model, by the age of 50 you’ll be cranky and bitter, all your words washed away by the uncaring, cruel world.
On the bus home from that discouraging talk, something rose up in me. A determination. A resolve. A knowledge that the sour author was speaking a truth – his truth. And that while the writing life may be an uphill battle, it was one I couldn’t deny.
My clients and students are like me – hearing the call to write and despite all good advice to run far and fast from the writing impulse, they’re heeding it. Following in the footsteps of Julia Cameron, I believe that if you have the impulse to write, you must follow it.
A fool’s journey
To take up the pen and write is an act of foolish courage. It requires bravery, and a willingness to shut away all the negative voices that shout their bad advice (to paraphrase poet Mary Oliver).
I know how tender we are when we step forth and admit we want something. When clients and students ask for my help developing their writing life, I already believe they are heroes and am honored to help.
I help with them overcome the issues creative people face. I help boost their confidence. I help sharpen their focus. I help clear away the inner and outer underbrush that gets us tangled up when we try to create something.
All of this helping helps me, too. I feel connected to the rushing river of the creative process, in all its eddies and twists. I feel connected to others, to our deep humanity that so truly wants to generate good things. And I feel connected to my own impulse to write, the humility and grace that’s required to keep on writing.
Even when I’m in a foreign country, people constantly stop and ask me for directions. I think they sense I’m a helpful person. It makes my day to point the way for others. It’s my work, and I’m grateful to do it.
I teach, coach and write because I am here to help people express their unique selves and claim their creative authority. Here’s more about my work.
Why do you do what you do?
Your Writing Life
Mine Your Journals for Writing Gems
You may have been happily journaling for years. Perhaps you used your journal to write your way through a transformative life experience.
One day, you feel the impulse to poke around in your pages to see what’s there and how you can share it with the world.
You may find stories, poems, or even just a few great sentences that you may be able to use elsewhere. You never know what gold is waiting in your journals until you get in there and explore.
Here are fourteen steps to mine the gems from your journal.
Don’t worry yet about where you’ll publish anything.
Read through and flag the entries that move you. Use sticky notes or dog-ear the page.
Schedule time to start typing things up.
Honor those writing time commitments.
Begin to type the entries. Feel free to simply enter them as they are or edit as you go – adding, embellishing, deleting. Just commit to typing up the whole entry.
Do this without judging or worrying about whether anyone else will find it interesting. This is critical – you will doubt if anyone else cares. If you like it, keep going.
While doing this, your challenge will be to be completely honest. When you find your finger heading toward the delete key, know that you have something good and keep it. (We often want to censor our best work.) Let this draft be for your eyes only so you have the courage to leave the good stuff in.
You will at some point start worrying and wondering how all this is coming together. Trust the process. Trust the content. Be curious and keep exploring.
Print your typed entries.
Take yourself to a pleasant place – a café, the park, wherever – and read your pieces. See what moves you, see what inspires you. Make notes for things you’d like to expand or change.
Choose one piece and choose a place where you’d like to submit it.
Find out the submission criteria for that publication. Follow these guidelines when you submit. Or, decide when you’ll publish the piece on your blog or any other way you plan to share it.
Do any final polishing, then send or post your essay.
Celebrate your efforts of bringing a piece from your journal to the world!
What helps you choose the best nuggets from your journals? How do you know when you’ve penned something you want to share?
See the World Through My Eyes
I hear this often: “I want to see Paris through your eyes, Cynthia.”
What’s it like to move through life as a writer or artist?
Let’s play ‘Being Cynthia Morris’. Come, step in and adopt my perspective. This is how you’d see the world, whether you’re traveling or at home.
Your thoughts are not linear, and they bounce between what you’re going to eat later to what you’re trying to sort out with your latest article, to being captured by anything and everything that’s happening around you.
You notice everything, every color, every noise, every written word, every dog turd and gesture. It may seem like you’re spacing out and not paying attention, but really, you’re feeling, hearing, seeing and smelling everything.
You’re constantly curious, er, nosy. You’re making up stories all the time about people around you. That couple there? First date. That woman inching along the sidewalk? Widowed for 20 years, still misses her husband’s irritating morning cough. Those young women? On holiday from Spain, enjoying Paris for the first time at volume.
The curiosity doesn’t stop at people. Why is that metro stop called Wagram? Why did they call their shop that? What’s behind all these giant, closed doors?
You move back and forth in time. You’re walking down a tiny street in the Marais, peeking into designer clothing shops. The next thing you know, you’re imagining the sound of jackboots on the cobblestones, feeling the fright of a Jewish person out after curfew. Your own memories intertwine with history. You’re constantly fascinated and astounded by layers of time and history.
You’re obsessed with language. Words in English trip through your head, and also French. A word you’d mulled over yesterday suddenly pops in your head, along with the understanding of its origins and pronunciation.
You’re constantly writing in your mind. Ideas for new articles, better ways to express yourself in old articles, a streaming narration of Facebook posts (that you’ll never do) run through your head.
You’re always accompanied by your inner narrator, and heaven forbid you leave the house without a notebook and pen, or you’ll have to stop and buy writing materials to capture everything. (This article came while walking in the Luxembourg gardens.)
Despite the amazing and disheartening news of the day, you’re hopeful and optimistic. You fear your novel may not be good enough, but you’re also optimistic enough to go for it. In fact, you’ve come to relish ventures that challenge you beyond your perceived capabilities and are always looking for ways to grow.
You’re an idea matchmaker, constantly seeking connections. How does X relate to Y? Can you extend the metaphor to align this idea with that idea to make something new and engaging? What if….
You’re positive about people. You see people with kindness, curiosity and respect. You’re blown away by the thought of the millions of people in the world, the variety of experience and the gazillion stories out there being lived, told and shared right this very minute.
You surf a constantly shifting wave of emotions: joy, wonder, sadness, loneliness, frustration, contentment. You’ve come far enough to not cling too much to any one, since you know the next influx of emotion is cresting at the next corner.
You’re a magnet for insights about how you can be a better person, serve others better, enjoy life more. You’re curious about your evolution as a human and about your ever-shifting inner landscape.
You’re still a child in some ways, full of wonder and naiveté. You are willing and able to be stopped in your tracks by something that captures your attention. You can pass cute babies by but dogs will always charm you.
Surprised? Probably not; you’re probably very similar. I’m not saying this is the best way to live, just that it’s my way.
What’s the world like through your eyes? Take a few minutes to jot down your version of the world through your eyes.
Two Simple Ways to Be Creative Daily
My office futon is folded out and my illustrated journal, pen, free writing journal and timer all lie there, inviting me to rest, write and color.
The yoga mat and tennis racquet are in the garage, next to my bike.
Appointments for tennis, yoga, and friend gatherings are on the calendar.
Without these simple strategies for making sure these ‘optional’ practices are in my life, I might never draw, do my free writing, exercise, or get time with friends.
Having visual reminders and time blocked on the calendar are two simple ways to make sure the things that make life pleasurable actually happen.
What works for you to have non-essential but important things in your life? Share your strategies in a comment below.
Daily Writing Impulse
If you’re looking for a way to gain traction on a simple writing practice, perhaps a daily reminder in your inbox will help.
Because this was requested so often, I’ve developed a writing prompt subscription service.
Monthly or annual subscriptions to the Daily Writing Impulse are available here. Start anytime and use the prompts to write if not daily, at least several times a week.
Subscribe to Impulses, my bi-weekly newsletter, to get insider discounts on this and other offers.
A discount for the Daily Writing Impulse is available to Impulses subscribers and Original Impulses clients before August 1st, 2011. Get the newsletter now and get the deals all year round.
Be More Creative – Organize Your Book with Index Cards
I’ve written two books, six ebooks and hundreds of articles. The most difficult thing about writing isn’t generating new ideas – it’s wrangling them into coherent order.
Organizing ideas is a challenge for my clients, too. The content for a book can feel unwieldy. This sense of chaos leads to despair and can make my clients want to give up.
Some advocate the outline form, but this is often too linear to be useful. My clients are often visual thinkers, so an outline just puts them to sleep and brings out their perfectionist, who insists that everything be all nice and tidy and figured out before they start writing.
I offer a simple method to make order from the chaos and keep you engaged with your material.
Index cards to the rescue
If you’re writing a book – fiction or non-fiction, try this. Place each idea or scene on its own index card. Feel free to use different colors for different themes or parts of the book.
My novel is set in Paris and in Denver. I used different colors for each location, and when I laid the cards out, this allowed me to see the arc of the story and to gauge the balance between the two parts.
The cards – some people use sticky notes – allow you to shuffle your ideas around. This ability to move scenes around is very helpful when you’re trying to map the whole book out.
One day, a client came to our coaching call with a ton of ideas and inspiration. But was overwhelmed and unsure about how to manage it all. I invited her to try the index card method for homework. This is what she had to say about it:
“I love the index cards. I can place my brain on them and walk away with room in my mind to form more questions and answers. It feels organic to my writing process. It allows my to escape fonts, software and written design. It frees me and embraces me all at once. Simply love it.” Brook
Try blocking out individual scenes for your book, e-book or long article. See how the non-linear method mirrors your non-linear thinking process and allows you to feel more in control of your abundant ideas.
How has this or a similar method helped you organize your content? Let us know in a comment below.