{"id":314,"date":"2011-04-04T09:20:29","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T13:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=314"},"modified":"2011-03-29T14:28:28","modified_gmt":"2011-03-29T18:28:28","slug":"a-writers-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/04\/a-writers-way.html","title":{"rendered":"A writer’s way"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Writing, like anything else you want to do well, is a\u00a0practice. <\/em>Having something you really want to say is important, but it may never come through without a practice that supports delivery. Here are some of the elements of practice that work for this writer.<\/p>\n

A WRITER’S WAY<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Show Up<\/em>. Make time to write something EVERY DAY. What writers do is write.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Warm Up<\/em>. Journaling and writing email letters – as long as they are real letters, not just office stuff – are excellent ways to start working those writing muscles, and material you can rework in a story or essay may just pop up.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Set a Time Limit<\/em> (until you are on a roll and simply can’t stop). 30 minutes is great. So you can’t finish something in half an hour – even greater, because then next time you sit down you don’t have to start with a blank page.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Sideline the Editor and Avoid Feedback Felons<\/em>. Don’t judge or evaluate what you are writing until it’s done. And do not let others play editor or critic – avoid Feedback Felons (anyone who gives you less than positive encouragement or saddles you with wrong or premature expectations or is simply jealous because you are creating and they are not).<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Keep Your Fingers Walk<\/em>ing. Don’t agonize over trying to perfect any part of what you are writing until you have sketched out the whole thing.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Relax – and Pay Attention<\/em>. The flow state is one of relaxed attention, or attentive relaxation. You are stretching yourself, and your ability to receive and bring through, without forcing anything on the level of the control freak in the ego. If you’re stuck, put on some music, take a shower or a swim – getting in flow with water always helps – take a walk for five unscheduled minutes and see what the world gives you.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Gag the Demon of Expectations<\/em>. You want fame and fortune from this, or at least some respect from your friends? Fine. But don’t let your expectations damn your performance. Write for the heck of it, have a good time doing this for its own sake.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Put Yourself Where the Big Story Can Grab You<\/em>. Writing, at its core, is about releasing a story. Never forget that the Big story is hunting YOU. The whole art of telling it is to keep moving – further and further from the tame and settled lands – until you get deep enough into the bush for the Big story to jump on you. Then everything will be different, and fabulous.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Remember Your Writing Par<\/em>tner. You may have various writing partners, but right now I am talking about the big one, the creative spirit the Romans called the genius. The more you are willing to give yourself to your writing for its own sake, to dare something new, the closer you draw this guiding power and its limitless energy.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0If You Must Work to Deadline, Make Sure It’s an All-But-Impossible Deadline<\/em>. Our genius loves us best – and helps us most – when we take on the greatest challenges, and play the game hardest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing, like anything else you want to do well, is a\u00a0practice. Having something you really want to say is important, but it may never come through without a practice that supports delivery. Here are some of the elements of practice that work for this writer. A WRITER’S WAY 1.\u00a0Show Up. Make time to write something…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,29,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-help","category-story","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nA writer's way - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/04\/a-writers-way.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A writer's way - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Writing, like anything else you want to do well, is a\u00a0practice. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}