11.12.2006

Write From April


When I’m doing my most intense, creative work, my husband usually comments, “Shouldn’t you be writing?”

Some of my best ideas, characters, and plot lines have come through the art of daydreaming—brainstorming with all my thoughts. The real version of me hard at work is lying on the floor looking at the ceiling or lying on the grass and staring up at the sky. Hoping—and trusting—that in the emptiness of the ceiling, the wall, the vast openness of the sky above, life will suddenly take form like the first primitive organisms in the empty prehistoric sea. And the awesome thing is, it usually does. Vague, not quite visual shapes, not quite heard lines of dialogue, random motions of people and places that will select themselves into a story line pop into my mind.

TROPICAL WARNINGS began to take root in my mind lying on a lounge chair at the pool of the campground I was managing. All the guests there assumed I was sleeping—sun-bathing, when in fact I was listening to conversations, watching out of the corner of my eyes. Characters began to take shape, plots began to form. I was again, hard at work.

We have stored in our brain every article we've read, every experience we've had, and every image that has passed before our eyes. It is all there. The challenge -- one of the keys to constant creative inspiration -- is to retrieve this information deliberately. All this information is the corridor to a writers creativity. Recognize and realize that your mind is more powerful than any computer. It holds far more information than the Internet and is a database for whatever it is you choose to write. Take the first step through the corridor of creativity by opening the door to your mind—a mental atlas filled with scenes, characters, plots, conflicts…all the ingredients for blockbusting novels, short stories, poetry. To enter through this door you must first free your mind of all other distractions and those inner critics who speak loudly and negatively in an attempt of keeping you from this first step. Spend a few moments quieting yourself through meditation. It will help you stay focused and remain creative.
April Star