Get Started and Write Your Way to Joy!
Get started and write your way to joy. Joy is that elusive emotion that we all hunt for every moment whether we realize it or not. What brings you joy?
Writing can bring you joy. You can create worlds and characters and plots and…literally anything that you want.
My last true shot of joy was while I typed. The words flowed and I hit the emotional notes that I wanted to and joy overcame me. I was sequestered in my stateroom on a cruise ship at the time.
And all of the parties going on elsewhere on that boat could not compare to what was going on within my laptop. Lovers reunited. The kingdom averted war. Joy filled me.
The first step to finding your own joy is just to get started. The best way to get started is just to start. I know that sounds a little stupid and simplistic, but that’s the gist of it.
It can be intimidating to look at a blank page (or a word-free screen).
The best thing that you can do is to just get to typing (or writing by hand, or making hieroglyphs, or whatever your process is). Try a little freewriting if nothing else comes.
Get Started and Write Your Way to Joy with Freewriting
Look at your page. Write. Write anything, write about your task list that day, your groceries, what you think of how your neighbor was dressed when they got their mail, literally anything. I learned about the idea of freewriting from Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones. To tell the truth, I thought it was a bit of a drag when I first read it, over twenty years ago. It was too esoteric for me and I looked for concrete writing advice. Now, however, I see the charm and wonders of this book. There is a reason that it’s a writing craft classic.
Get Started with Writing Exercises
You can find writing exercises in most writing craft books, and there are many of those. (See my ever-expanding list of recommendations here.) I used to skip all of the writing exercises. I wanted to save all of my writing for what I considered to be ‘serious work’. I had little time to spare and didn’t want to waste any of it on something I was going to throw out.
Well guess what, babydoll? You’re going to throw out a lot of your writing, not because it’s bad, but when you go back to edit you may find that your character has grown and a previous description or action no longer fits. Or you may find you have used a few too many words here or there. Okay, you WILL find that. We all do.
So get used to throwing words away. It’s just part of the process.
Since I started grad school, I started using the writing exercises in the back of a craft book. Guess what? I love writing exercises now. I have started entirely new stories, created new characters, developed new worlds all starting with a meager writing exercise.
You really need to try it if you aren’t doing it already.
Prompts
Writing prompts are the writing exercise’s little brother. The difference between a writing exercise and a prompt is that the exercise is intended to flex your writing muscles, to teach you a new technique, to make you a better writer. The prompt is just a jump start. It might be a sentence or even a word, a situation or a subject. Prompts are designed to light tiny sparks in your brain that can grow into a full-fledged fire with the help of your pen (or your keyboard).
You can find your own prompts also. I had an assignment in grad school where I was supposed to ‘pull a thread’ from a novel excerpt that we read. I re-read the story, found a line that sparked a ‘what if’ thought, and wrote a whole short story based upon it. You can do a similar thing with news stories.
Just please make sure that you come up with your own settings and characters for these threads, rather than rehashing too much of somebody else’s work. That way lies plagiarism.
Get Started with Prompts
I’ll give you a few quick prompts to get you started.
- A woman walks into a cafe and sees her husband with another woman. Who is it?
- You see a barefoot man standing outside a grocery store yelling at someone inside. Who is he yelling at and why?
- One red high top tennis shoe sits all by itself in the middle of a busy street. How did it get there?
Write at least a few paragraphs about at least one prompt and see what you come up with. Don’t worry if the words don’t come right away. Sometimes it’s like priming a pump and it might take awhile to get going.
If you’re new to Write Make Might, you can check out our inaugural post – Seven Simple Ways to Make Your Writing Rock!
Feel free to post what you write in our Facebook group, and as always, happy writing!
