Writing Notebook

Sunday, March 17, 2002

Marion Zimmer Bradley fires my imagination. She could write! The Mists of Avalon and Firebrand are just two of her mythic novels that have engrossed and captivated me. Advice to New Writers and Why Did My Story Get Rejected are two articles by Bradley that are worth reading.

Thursday, March 14, 2002

"If you wish to be a writer, write."

-- Epictetus



Affirmations are a useful method of "programming" your mind to act in a particular way.

These affirmations collected from a number of sources can be spoken aloud to your mirror reflection, printed on index cards and carried with you during the day, written in your journal or scrawled across the bathroom mirror with red lipstick. They can even be shouted from the rooftops if your are feeling particularly jubilant.

You must visualize what it is you want more than anything, affirm your belief in your abilities and take one small step after another to make your image of yourself and your reality match.

Make it part of your daily ritual to begin each morning with an affirmation and again before you sleep.
These affirmations are powerful messages to the universe about your intent.

Say it, believe it and you can be it.


Affirmations for Writers and Artists

I am a brilliant and successful artist.

I am allowed to nurture my artist

I am confident and competent in my creative work.

I am tolerant of the ambiguity in problems.

I am willing to be of service through my creativity.

I am willing to create.

I am willing to experience my creative energy.

I am willing to learn to let myself create.

I am willing to use my creative talents.

I begin every task by thinking of new and better ways to accomplish it.

I consider many possible solutions from many diverse sources.

I deserve a rewarding creative life.

I have a constant flow of new and interesting ideas.

I have an adventurous mind and seen new experiences regularly.

I have an unusual ability to reach creative decisions and to find creative solutions for problems.

I have rich creative talents.

I have the courage and self-confidence necessary to put my solutions into practice.

I have the strength and persistence necessary to work ideas through to solutions.

I maintain a complexity of outlook on life.

I play with partial, incomplete and sometimes foolish ideas.

I recognise the task of making mistakes but learn from my failures.

I spend ten minutes each morning and evening, thinking over problems.

I treat each new problem I encounter as a new door to be opened, and an opportunity to be creative.

I trust my feelings and unconscious thoughts.

My creativity always leads me to truth and love.

My creativity heals myself and others.

My creativity leads me to forgiveness and self-forgiveness.

Through the use of a few simple tools, my creativity will flourish.




"Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are,
as standing in a dictionary,
how potent for good and evil they become
in the hands of one who knows how to combine them."
-- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Saturday, March 02, 2002

I think one of the best things about weblogs and online diaries is that they are each unique. Here at Soul Food people from different walks of life share their writing, their view of the world. Some bloggers are written by professional writers, but the vast majority of them are written by people like you and me, people who find time to write in their spare time. Some of these people want to be "real" writers, but most simply want to record their days and their opinions and have fun doing it. So why does anyone need instructions on How to Write a Better Weblog? Write to this jerk and let him know that he knows zip all. There! I have had my gripe for today!