Day 2: Physiology & the Push for Conformity

     Throughout history, the writing process seems to have been studied with an eye to standardizing the practice. This ineffective attempt to teach our calling as a skill is what feeds the exhaustion many kids claim in writing "How I Spent My Summer Vacation."
     "No Child Left Behind" is just the latest in a push to drill "the basics" into children. The only magical thinking allowed is academically, not for silly children who would rather be in physical education than writing, for the most part.
    Consider an "Essay on the Physiology of Writing" from 1894 by Emile Javal at http://www.archive.org/details/essayonphysiolog00java:

    The Commission, without neglecting the questions of lighting, school furniture, typography of school books, adopted the formula of George Sand that I had brought to light, and came to this conclusion : that if the Administration adopts vertical writing for young children, the principal cause of nearsightedness will have disappeared.
     The following is the text of the report: "The Commission think that great progress will be made by exacting, according to Mme. G. Sand's formula, vertical writing on straight paper, the body erect. Thus both scoliosis and myopia will be avoided together."

   This "formula" for success, along with perfect eyesight, is only one of many that fail to encourage writing in any form.
     No wonder so many of us grow up as writers who avoid the act of writing. (By the way, this Library of Congress book is entertaining, even though it's  not meant to be.)

The Process: Day 1 on Knowing Yourself

This blog so far has concentrated on the many ways we are discouraged or encouraged to write.

Today, we will begin looking at the processes both mental and physical that help or hinder writing as a calling. 

The first, and most pressing mental process, for many writers is doubt. Like any art, writing starts in our emotions and the way we process what we see and what we believe about ourselves and the world around us. If you set arbitrary goals that feed guilt or write down deadlines that make you anxious rather than energized,  they only serve as constant reminders of supposed failure.

Write one word at a time, instead of setting deadlines. Make a sentence the triumph each day. If all else fails, write down your frustrations. Any and all writing is valid.

From Organic to the Process

This blog was inspired by one too many people saying that they had to pay their dues to be considered a writer. In practical terms, this maxim may be a career-affirming ideal.  In terms of inspiration, however, it's a deal breaker for many of us who have played by rules we did not make and cannot write into submission.

First, never accept another person's edicts on what form great writing takes. Almost a decade back, I told another writer that one of my books in process was "literature." That woman frowned and said, "You don't get to decide that. If it's literature, then the experts determine its validity."

She was wrong. The greatest writers in history have been those who wrote and still write without looking at the market, the critics and all the experts on audience needs. How many times have you found great writing in surprising places? For instance, my bookshelves are filled with fiction and nonfiction lyricism from authors as diverse as J.K. Rowling (the whole Harry Potter series), Hillary Jordan (Mudbound), Brian Greene (The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory), Linda Hogan (Solar Storms), many science fiction writers and Michio Kaku (Parallel Worlds).

Looking at these books reminds me that writing is an organic form of creative freedom we often take for granted or see as unreachable. Granted, some of the authors above are professors who must publish in their fields, but they didn't have to write books that are a pleasure to read.

If you are looking for inspiration, read some of your own writing to this point. Also, consider why you go back to the same authors over and over again on your own.

Up to this point, we have considered the roadblocks to finding your path as a writer. Now it's time to think about the writing process. Toward that goal, this blog will tackle 30 days of posts on how we approach writing and the many forms it can take.

Writing by the Numbers

http://www.teachthechildrenwell.com/other.html

When you paint by the numbers, the manufacturer provides all the paint, an outline for the painting and brushes. In childhood, a gingerbread man like the one at right could delight us even if we painted outside the lines.

In writing, the same cannot be said for its childish pleasures. Unfortunately, for many of us, learning our native language is tedious. The learning curve involves scrolling line after line of the alphabet with a death grip around a large crayon or pencil.

Then we are tasked with taking spelling tests that, once again, do not tie pleasure to knowledge. In these cases, it either matters that we get a 100 on the test, or we could not care less and steadily move away from the language as a whole.

As adults, we need to take back the power and majesty of the words, phrases and sentences that were drilled out of us. Playing with words can help. Or maybe replacing some of the numbers in these paint-by-number schemes with the words that speak colors, shapes or emotions can help us regain some of wonder that comes from writing outside the lines.

The Vitamin D of Writing

It is the organic nature of shaping words and ideas into a poem or short story that draws me in again and again.

The many pushes to publish, to earn and to learn in a whirlwind of desperation are the opposite.

The litmus test for me, then, is that before another theory on writing is put forward, they prove that we need it as much as we need vitamin D.

The 'Selfish' Act of Writing and Loving It

This blog is my ode to writing in all its wondrous complexity and simple pleasures.

We get to say whatever we want in the pages we write. It can be trite and still resonate and the prose can be overblown and still thrill us. This craft is nothing more nor less than the sum of all the parts we relish about writing.

You have to love it to live it completely. Forget all the struggling artist visions that everyone who considers themselves sensible will feed you in the name of rationality. (Notice how that word contains the scarcity of thought and action.) Money provides the food, the paper and the writing utensils we need to keep writing. That is only the bottom line.

Consider, instead, how reading aloud your own work is somehow satisfying. Forget the grammar, sentence structures and plot contortions that your internal editor screams about and just yell or murmur those words with all the feeling you used to create them.

It's way past time to acknowledge that writing, then reading our own works, makes this "selfish" act the most loving way we can nurture ourselves.

Writing Through Your Tears and Laughter

I've written before about the outlet writing offers to work through both the laughter and tears that populate a life.

In fact, pouring your heart out in a journal can be cathartic and still be counted as "real" writing. Consider it practice or an important aspect of your bigger picture. Either way, make it worth your while by being as truthful and free as you can.

Put the writing aside, then read it as a history of the ups and downs and the precursor to being the prolific writer you know is your destiny.