 Every writer working on a story can tell you about the time she woke at 3AM with the key to fixing a failing plot. Or maybe it was a brand new story idea that interrupted a peaceful slumber. Perhaps, it was just before sleep took over, and he was distracted with that scene in chapter whatever about the guy and that situation...
Whatever it may be, a writer's mind thrives when it's quiet, and it's no quieter than the middle of the night. If you want to tap into the midnight creative juice pool, take the time to quiet your mind. As we are sensory input and output machines, there are a variety of ways to discover your inner peace. Here are my two favorites. Tune Out. Do your best to create a silent world around you. Buy some inexpensive squishy earplugs used to drown out snoring partners or spend more money on sound-reducing headphones. If they sound of your own breathing is too much. Plug yourself into the music of someone like LIQUID MIND. Black Out. I'm not suggesting typing with a blindfold--but if you can do that, try it! At the very least, place yourself in a space with no art work, no windows to the outside world, and no Internet. Rid your outer mind of external visuals and fall deep within your own imagination. Remember when you were little, and you would hide under your bedcovers to read or draw? Recreate that child's world if you can. Try both of these suggestions for a week or more and share your results. Is your writing any better? Any easier? Any different at all? Sometimes, we need sensory input. If you are seeking that help, try these previous blogs: Employing the senses An exercise The sun Write on!
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 Paris peace sign created by artist Jean Jullien, November 13, 2015. In light of Friday's tragedy in Paris, I decided to locate authors and characters who promote peace.
Our words speak as loudly as our actions. While you work to write the next great novel, consider the messages your characters share through their words and actions. Consider these wise and thoughtful words from some of our most creative writers. Why can't people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?” ― David Baldacci, The Camel Club “A quiet conscience makes one strong!” ― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl “If you love me as you say you do,' she whispered, 'make it so that I am at peace.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina “Peace is always beautiful.” ― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass “I do my best thinking at night when everyone else is sleeping. No interruptions. No noise. I like the feeling of being awake when no one else is.” ― Jennifer Niven, All the Bright Places “In his face there came to be a brooding peace that is seen most often in the faces of the very sorrowful or the very wise. But still he wandered through the streets of the town, always silent and alone.” ― Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter “I have never been carried around by a large boy, or laughed until my stomach hurt at the dinner table, or listened to the clamor of a hundred people all talking at once. Peace is restrained; this is free.” ― Veronica Roth, Divergent “How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula “It is better to be small, colorful, sexy, careless, and peaceful, like the flowers, than large, conservative, repressed, fearful, and aggressive, like the thunder lizards; a lesson, by the way, that the Earth has yet to learn.” ― Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume “Thus Gotama [Buddha] walked toward the town to gather alms, and the two samanas recognized him solely by the perfection of his repose, by the calmness of his figure, in which there was no trace of seeking, desiring, imitating, or striving, only light and peace” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha “Let the peace of this day be here tomorrow when I wake up.” ― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow Find your words of peace and infuse them in the stories you tell. Let your characters rise above the horrible acts of human nature and be the trumpets of a new world, a peaceful world. Today, write only words of peace. Write on. |
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