I am in the process of writing a book. It is a professional non-fiction book, it deals with my life's experiences, my education and work. I have used some of the materials I write about in workshops that I have given for work. Moreover, the writing and research associated with it has made me a better teacher in my professional life. It is a win-win situation.
The problem right now is two fold: discipline and the finale. But let me explain. The discipline part. Having a full-time job it is difficult for me to allocate a set period each day for me to get my writing in. Whatever or whoever I read, you always hear discipline is number one, and I agree. My writing time exists of lunch time half hours at Starbucks, afternoon and evenings when I am stuck in a motel room and not too tired from traveling or teaching, some evenings after work, and weekend afternoons when there are no “honey does.” As you can see it has been a difficult to get a routine established.
Reading what people say about writing, it seems that having a routine is so darn important. Some even have a ritual before they start writing. One person rights a Buddha statue every morning when he starts in the morning and lays it down when done writing that day. It seemed that Hemingway never ended a thought at the end of the day, so that he had something he could pick up where he left off the next day and thus never have writer’s block. Well writing for 20 miniature or so at Starbucks worked for me. I first worked for 10 minutes editing what I wrote the day or days before and than added to it for 10 more minutes.
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| I took this picture three years ago at my favorite Starbucks, downtown Richmond. At least three of the gals behind the counter know me so well, that the just ask me if I want the "regular." |
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| This picture was taken this past week. I often enjoy sitting here, especially when the legislation is in session. You can sit and watch Senators and Congress men (and women) sit there and discuss things with each other and with lobbyists. There are tourists, business folks, government employees and often medical students from VCU who are studying. |
But enough complaining. One thing I learned is that practice makes perfect, or at least less imperfect. A friend of mine gave me a book (and for the heck I can't remember the name or the author) which told me that every morning when you wake up, you need to have a stream of conscious and sit down and write down words or things that come to mind, regardless whether it makes any sense. Well, I simply don't have the time for that. During our sermon writing exercise earlier this year at our church, we actually did this at the start of each meeting. We sat down and wrote whatever came to mind for ten minutes. Some made sense, some absolutely not! However, it cleared the mind and helped with the writing process for me.
But even with this blog, I have the occasional writer’s block. It takes a while for something to hit me. You can see that. As I write this part of my blog post on Sunday afternoon, I think back on this morning's service at our UU church, where our guest minister encouraged us to tell our story. The more I write my blog over the years, I find that I have more personal stories waiting to be told. These stories are often pulled out of me by things that happen in real time. Like my recent post where I talk about the wildfires, and some of my albeit minor experiences. That post had gotten long, but there was so much I left out, even my first experience as a firefighter while serving in the Dutch army and we were mobilized to fight a forest fire in Holland. Conversely, I could have told you about the time that we fought savannah fires in Uganda that threatened to burn all the forage on our farm and could starve our cattle. I need to do that, because that was actually crazy.
You get the message. I agree with our minister, whether it is a book, blog, or a story you tell your friends or family. Share it! This week, I shared the "lurid" story of my family with our daughter; the ins and outs, about how screwed up they are. I hinted a bit at it in a previous post. Those stories, writing the current post, the many other posts that I write and the manuscript to my book, they are all therapeutic to me. I am sure something like that can benefit you as well when you try it.
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