How To Navigate A Writing Life During The Holidays

- Private group -
Fri, 12/20/2019 - 8:00am

How do we write as we lead our busy lives - especially with the holiday season enveloping us? We learn to be still in our bodies. Silas House says on this, “to achieve the sort of stillness that allows our senses to become heightened.”

As a writer, when I am stuck in a line at Rite Aid, buying some elderberry syrup for example, I challenge myself to picture in my mind the color of the scarf on the lady in front of me: sky blue, which also is the color of the ocean as a thunder storm comes on, and the blue of Paul Newman’s eyes. Or why not picture periwinkle or turquoise? I am still in my mind. And, serendipitously, I am not writhing with impatience as the line crawls along.

Exercise:

I invite all of you to do this during your holiday celebration. Transform washing the dishes after a big meal, into a writing exercise: how would your main character behave in this exact moment? While driving to the market to pick up the last minute eggnog, who do you see along the way? How are they dressed? What can you tell about these characters by the way they move?