How do you restart your writing practice after a significant setback, such as illness, injury, death in the family, or other crisis? What helps? What doesn't?
A timely question, since I am now facing setbacks due to hurricane Ian's destruction to my house recently. In the past, I've not dealt creatively with such events--the energy needed for problem solving and survival seems to leave little for writing. Realizing that writing organizes my thoughts and feelings, I intend to do more writing sooner. Making myself sit each morning with paper and pen for 15-30 minutes helps me begin the long journey from thought chaos to actual sentences. Maybe there will be a poem or two in there eventually.
Get a new notebook and plan a regular time and place in which to write.
Grab a favorite poetry book and keep it nearby. I often look through a book and find words that stand out to me. Today, I would like to use the words umbrella, adagio, river. Now use them in something. Try to get yourself to write for a full, say, 20 minutes without stopping. It might feel stupid at first, but when you are done, you might also find a few redeeming lines or phrases. That's something, right? Get to work!
When my husband was diagnosed with cancer I knew we had moved into cancer world -- treatments, worries, much to learn. I didn't want all my waking hours to be in cancer world. So I assigned myself a daily writing task, a space apart. I wrote 100 words a day for a thousand days. 100 words do not take long to write, so it's possible even on bad days. It's even possible to revise it. I titled this project simply "Thousand." After crafting each day's words I would post them to my LoveSettlement blog. "Thousand" is a hallucinogenic prose poem, with plots and characters briefly flaring up then fading away, the concentration on the words of the day being the main thing. If you are curious to read "Thousand" as it happened here is a link -- be aware that blog posting is most recent first so you'll have to trawl back to May 2010 if you want to see the beginning:
If Mel Thompson hadn't turned "Thousand" into a book it probably would live on only on the blog. It's not impossible that submitting the manuscript could have resulted in an established press publishing it, but ... what are the odds?
The space "Thousand" gave me, the purpose it gave me, was very important, bad days and good. What, if any, lesson this offers to other writers I can't quite say. Husband, by the way, is currently cancer free.
A timely question, since I am now facing setbacks due to hurricane Ian's destruction to my house recently. In the past, I've not dealt creatively with such events--the energy needed for problem solving and survival seems to leave little for writing. Realizing that writing organizes my thoughts and feelings, I intend to do more writing sooner. Making myself sit each morning with paper and pen for 15-30 minutes helps me begin the long journey from thought chaos to actual sentences. Maybe there will be a poem or two in there eventually.
Get a new notebook and plan a regular time and place in which to write.
Grab a favorite poetry book and keep it nearby. I often look through a book and find words that stand out to me. Today, I would like to use the words umbrella, adagio, river. Now use them in something. Try to get yourself to write for a full, say, 20 minutes without stopping. It might feel stupid at first, but when you are done, you might also find a few redeeming lines or phrases. That's something, right? Get to work!
I don't have advice. I do have an example.
When my husband was diagnosed with cancer I knew we had moved into cancer world -- treatments, worries, much to learn. I didn't want all my waking hours to be in cancer world. So I assigned myself a daily writing task, a space apart. I wrote 100 words a day for a thousand days. 100 words do not take long to write, so it's possible even on bad days. It's even possible to revise it. I titled this project simply "Thousand." After crafting each day's words I would post them to my LoveSettlement blog. "Thousand" is a hallucinogenic prose poem, with plots and characters briefly flaring up then fading away, the concentration on the words of the day being the main thing. If you are curious to read "Thousand" as it happened here is a link -- be aware that blog posting is most recent first so you'll have to trawl back to May 2010 if you want to see the beginning:
https://lovesettlement.blogspot.com/search/label/thousand
If you are curious to read some of my thoughts on the process:
https://lovesettlement.blogspot.com/search/label/thousand%20process
A friend who has his own small press asked if he could turn "Thousand" into a book. So it exists in that form too: https://lovesettlement.blogspot.com/2019/08/thousand-ten-volume-prose-poem-epic-by.html
If Mel Thompson hadn't turned "Thousand" into a book it probably would live on only on the blog. It's not impossible that submitting the manuscript could have resulted in an established press publishing it, but ... what are the odds?
The space "Thousand" gave me, the purpose it gave me, was very important, bad days and good. What, if any, lesson this offers to other writers I can't quite say. Husband, by the way, is currently cancer free.
After the death of my son, I poured my grief out into poetry. Writing has and continues to help me navigate this life I did not choose.
Had a stroke in January, so will see what others post