A Writer’s Papyrus

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Tags: Visualisation by figur8
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If you read enough of those self-improvement books, you’ll eventually realise the common theme is visualisation.  The first step to take after you set yourself a goal is to visualise yourself achieving it, or living it.  A number of books I have read and motivational speakers I have heard all recommend creating a visual board of your goals to help you visualise achieving it.

Perhaps it was subconscious, but I’ve realised that since I was young, I would create written visualisations of achieving my goals.  I would write about having it, doing it, living it or whatever my goal at the time happened to be.  For instance, when I was heavily into rock climbing, I kept a journal that consisted of my daily achievements and my future achievements. 

I would often write my future achievements in the third person, and it would read as if I was reading a story about a person who really exists.  It was like my dreams - which are always in the third person, although I know the person I’m looking at is me.

Recently (yesterday’s post - apologies about the password protect but I’m a little shy about it right now), I started to write about my goals again - as if I had already achieved them.  After writing yesterday’s post, I went to sleep feeling really great.  I think that’s what visualisation is all about - helping you to create the mood and feeling for success and to generate the level of energy required to get there.

By putting your body’s physiology into a mode for success, you are basically optimising your chances for achieving your goal.  I guess you can liken it to tuning your car before a race.  Everything you do is about maximising your chances for success.

Lately, I’ve been wanting to do a lot of things but I haven’t really been focussed about achieving it, so perhaps it’s time to start writing about it again.

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Tags: Rambling, Visualisation, Writing by figur8
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Tags: Visualisation by figur8
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Lately, I’ve been making a lot of excuses for not working on my fictional writing.  The problem is that I don’t seem to have enough time to myself.  Although I can get short snatches of time during the day, they usually aren’t long enough to get online and blog, so the only time I really get a block of time that I can really put to use is in the evenings when my son is asleep.  Even then it isn’t really an uninterrupted block of time because he occasionally stirs and needs to nurse to get back to sleep.  And since I don’t believe in weaning him until he is ready, I have to accept the interruptions even if they can be a little tiresome at times.

So the only time I have to do anything is in the middle of the night.  Unfortunately, I usually have 101 things I want to do in that short span of time so my creative writing usually tends to take a back seat.  Aside from the fact that it is difficult to write in the short time I have allocated for myself, it is also kind of difficult when I am interrupted halfway through a sentence when Gavin wakes up for more milk.  By the time I have successfully nursed him back to sleep and am able to get back in front of the computer (assuming I haven’t fallen asleep next to him while nursing), I’ve usually lost the plot and the flow of whatever it was I wanted to write.

As it stands, I have a growing list of things to write about that gets ever longer each week.  It doesn’t help that I occasionally miss out on my private time (what I call these little nightly escapades) when I fall asleep while trying to get my toddler to sleep.  From time to time, in an effort to keep up, I have been guilty of writing rather short and meaningless blog posts just so I can cross another item off my list.

A couple of weeks back I was reading about journalists and how they have to turn a story around, sometimes within an hour, just to make the printing deadlines.  I started thinking about how similar my situation was - although for me, it isn’t as though my job depended upon it.  But if I work like a journalist and planned my nightly escapades as if I had to make a printing deadline, I am sure I could start churning out a lot more in less time.

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Tags: Rambling, Writing by figur8
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The journey towards excellence requires not only dedication and practice, but the constant seeking of knowledge to hone and improve one’s skills. 

Although I enjoy writing, I realise that I have never once attending a writing class or read anything about how to write better.  As my first step to remedy this gross omission, I’ve decided to follow this series of Creative Writing Masterclass I found on Youtube:

Yes, I’ve discovered a wealth of information on Youtube and I’m getting a little high on it.  Bear with me, I’ll get over it soon.

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This is a video clip from The Secret designed to inspire.  Since I mentioned in my previous post that I seem to be lacking the inspiration to write lately, I figured I should start watching this video clip on a daily basis for inspiration. 

What do you think?  Will it work?

Only time will tell.  Watch this space…

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Okay, so I’ve had zero inspiration to write…  That’s the problem with aspiring to be a writer - I’m always looking for the inspiration to write that next magical piece of writing that never seems to come.  I suppose it doesn’t help that I leave this blog post to the end of the night when I’m dead tired, my eyes are watering and I’m thinking longingly of bed. 

Most days, I end up shutting the computer and creeping into bed beside my one and half year old toddler who’s managed to sleep spread-eagle over my half of the bed.  Since I end up having to sleep rather uncomfortable, teetering on the edge of the bed, hoping I don’t fall into my toddler’s cot by accident, I might as well soldier on and write something poorly than write nothing at all.

Well, that’s the thing…  As I go about my day, I get these flashes of inspiration that come to me as brilliantly as the sun shining on a cloudless day.  The problem is that I never get around to sitting down and putting pen to paper (or rather fingers to keyboard - in this modern day and age) until all that is left is the flicker of a shadow from a candle light.  Gone is the inspiration and the words.

And that’s fundamentally my problem.

Being an inspirational writer, the fuel for writing is derived from my inspiration to write.  Without it, I’m all dried out like the perennial trees in Autumn. 

To rekindle the inspiration, I decided to do a little reflecting today.  I’ve decided to reflect a little about what it is that drew me towards writing in the first place.  It was the words.  I love how they appear on paper, how they look, the curve in their letters; the way they wink at me, giggle with me and tease my mind.  I love how specific combinations of words can depict entirely different meanings to different people.  I am fascinated by the way language holds secret meanings to individuals based on their own understanding, personal experiences and work jargon.

For instance, when I was part of the climbing group, the Rockrats, we had our own personalise lingo for relationships - the meaning of which had been derived from rock climbing jargon. 

A Project - in rock climbing: refers to a challenging route that is above the climbing ability of a climber who is working to red-point it.  A project, for the guys in our group, also meant a girl they were after and a red-point meant they were finally a “couple” or an “item”. 

I could mention the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the other Rockrats would know that I was not referring to the fairy tale that is known and loved by many children, but the one written by a certain Simian Boy…

I love how you can take the words and weave them so that something crass can sound innocent and deceptively polite.  Here are a couple related to me by my SIL that I will never forget:

“C U Next Tuesday” - take the first letters.

“Gotta drop the kids off at the swimming pool” - meaning the need to defecate.

Yes, I’ve always been fascinated by words - by themselves, in themselves and for themselves.

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Tags: Rambling, Writing by figur8
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