Posts Tagged ‘writer’s life’
Affirmations-366Days#27 & Have You Scheduled Time for Your Genius Project?
Posted on: January 28, 2016
- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
- 2 Comments
Affirmations-366Days#27-I routinely schedule time for my ‘genius project’; the kind of writing project that takes my breath away.
For new readers, here’s why I’m committing to writing affirmations, about the creative process, during the next 366 days.
Commentary:
During this past holiday break, I spent a lot of time listening to writing coach, Rochelle Melander’s backlog of excellent podcasts. In one of the episodes, she encourages people to make time for their ‘genius projects’. Genius projects are the ones that take our breath away every time we think about them. Genius projects, are the ones we daydream of attempting because they are so inspiring, mind-expanding, challenging, different, boundary-breaking, etc. These are the projects that if we could just make a little time for them, working on them would light us up from the inside. Sadly, these are the projects that often live at the very bottom of our to-do lists, languishing behind deadline driven work, prior commitments, other practical writing projects, and going to the dentist. She recommends that you schedule time in the calendar to focus on your genius project.
Do you have a genius project? Does it have time and space on your calendar?
Affirmations-366Days#23-My writing space is a sanctuary. I keep this space decluttered and organized.
For new readers, here’s why I’m committing to writing affirmations, about the creative process, during the next 366 days.
Commentary:
How is your writing space looking and feeling these days? Your writing space may mean a desk, a kitchen table, an office or your laptop.
One look at my desk and you might believe that paper monsters had invaded, had sex on my desk and left their offspring behind.
Ah, Houston…we have a problem! This is not my office, BTW, but I have been there.
January is the perfect time to assess one’s space and make small adjustments. I usually save big stuff for spring cleaning.
I did these three tasks which took almost no time at all, made me feel great and organized my space:
-I organized the growing stack of business cards and notes about writers I’ve met during 2015. I’m setting aside some time tomorrow to follow-up with a few people by email.
-I take many writing workshops and classes and tend to keep examples of other students’ work. I find it useful to see how someone approaches a style of writing or technique that I am interested in (e.g. writing a persona poem). The challenge, of course, is that these kinds of papers can accumulate. Today, I flipped through material I had been keeping for years, made some notes and then pitched the stack.
-I tend to have idea cards and sticky notes around my house and home office. I gathered them up, read through them, clustered several together (e.g. Zora Neale Hurston ghost story), and put them in my ‘idea folder’. I love going “shopping” in this folder from time to time.
What are three small tasks you can do that will help your writing space look and feel great?
The Practice of Creativity 