Are you ready to write?
Take some time out of your busy life to be intentional about
your writing time. When you set aside
time to contemplate your spiritual self, relationship with God, how you feel
about spirituality, church traditions, peace, and the story around Holy Week,
you emerge from this experience with a renewed sense of spirit. When writers talk about a muse, we, as
Christians, can also see the Holy Spirit in this gift of inspiration. In this space of creativity, we share our
words and encourage others on their spiritual writing journey. We may write along, read along, pray along
or, like I have some years, had to just drop in and write when I can. Here is some advice on how to write for 40
days. If you have some tips to add on
how to stick with writing, beat writer’s block, anything else you feel is
helpful, leave it in a comment below.
Here are mine:
Have a Ritual
Buy or use a candle that you light each time you write and
let it represent the light of God, inspiring your words. It helps to have your ritual involve the
senses – use an essential oil that helps you focus, special music, or a
focusing prayer before you start. Even a
deep breath can help!
Know When to Ditch
Your Ritual
Sometimes our rituals become so elaborate, they keep us from
writing. If a ritual is getting too complicated,
just sit down and write
Use Music To Inspire
You
Pandora, Songza and other online radio stations can play
music based on a group or genre. Another
music resource comes from the Church of the Beloved in Edmonds. They’ve offered a wonderful album free for
anyone to listen to at http://belovedschurch.org/hope/
.The music is contemporary, contemplative, and quite beautiful.
When Not Inspired, Try
a Free-Write
Just start typing, using the prompt for focus, and don’t stop
or edit your words for a full 10 minutes. See what comes out. Natalie Goldberg says that this taps into
your “Wild Mind”, the part of your subconscious, where some really awesome,
untapped creativity lies. Take your free-write
and revise the part of it that you like into something you want to post.
Off-Topic is Fine
Sometimes you end up writing a piece that is off-topic from
the prompt that was posted that day.
Post it anyway! Sometimes the
spirit speaks to us in mysterious ways and all inspiration is welcome
Keep it Holy, but Don’t
be Shy
To be Holy, something is set aside for Godly purposes. All of us are setting aside our time, our
work, our loved ones to turn aside and witness and share God’s love through
words. However, sometimes you may be
inspired to write about pain, about sadness, about scary things. There can be love in these pieces as well,
and support. Post what you are inspired
to write about, even if it is in a minor key and let us support each other with
love as well.
Don’t Forget to
Comment and Support Others!
Part of the fun of this project is the support that the
writers give each other as well. You can
comment with support for others’ work as well as receive comments. Keep it positive because everyone is putting their
hearts on the line when they post.
Follow Us on Facebook
Find tips, articles, and updates on our Facebook page:
Spirit to Spirit: A Writing Community. The
prompts will be posted in this group, as well as writing articles and
encouragement.
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