Louise Erdrich, on writing: How do I do—I don't know. I've—my sisters have seen me. My husband has seen me. My kids have seen me every day, and they don't know how it happens, but I suspect it has to do with a small, incremental persistent insect-like devotion to putting one word next to the next word. It's a very dogged process.I make myself go upstairs, where I write, whenever I can, no matter how—one thing about this is I never have writer's block, because I—if I went up there and I had writer's block, I think I'd lose my mind. You know, I have to get up to my papers and my books and my notebooks. I jot things down all the time. I just keep going.
What if I just put one word after another? Wrote for 5 minutes and then came back to it as necessary? Thought in terms of incremental progress-- not even "progress," really, but incremental writing simply for the sake of writing?
Then writing would not be a monumental task, but instead, something I just love to do and get to do in dribs and drabs here and there 'cause I want to, not toward a goal at all but about the journey....and if and when I arrived somewhere, that would be the exciting side benefit, not the reason for any of it...
Yes, just put one word after another without stopping to criticize what you write. You can edit it later.
ReplyDeleteThe following is from Chapter 7 in my book "The Quran and the Life of Excellence".
There are many forms of writing, and each has value. But a type which does not require training and is of great spiritual value is “free” writing. Keep a notebook or a word processor file that you do not share with anyone. In it, write freely and spontaneously for a few minutes every day. Write what you are thinking. There are no constraints on what you write. Do not stop to correct mistakes but keep on going. Do not worry about grammar or spelling. Let it be an expression of the stream of your consciousness. You can go back and make corrections after you are finished, if you wish.
To derive maximum benefit, make it a habit and do it daily. However busy you may be, you can find fifteen minutes for this exercise on any day. You can write even when you are sick. Keeping your writing private is important so you can feel safe in expressing yourself freely.
I first learned about free writing in 1983 when I attended a workshop by Peter Elbow at Stony Brook University. I started to free write for fifteen minutes daily in my journal and continued the practice for about ten years. My thoughts became more and more crystallized in the process, and I was able to develop other formats for my writing. I still practice free writing but not every day.
After you have been writing for a couple of months and go back to read what you wrote, you will discover patterns in your thinking you were not aware of. You get to know yourself better. Spiritual growth is in knowing yourself more and more.
Writing every day, even for a few minutes, results in a consolidation of our thoughts. We become more centered and less scattered.