Ten Minutes

"A book should be luminous not voluminous." - John Christian Bovee

When it comes to writing, Natalie Goldberg is the queen of encouragement. Writing Down the Bones is a classic among her many books. Her latest is Old Friends from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. In it she suggests that we write our memoir by investing 10 minutes every day. Yes, a mere 10 minutes. If you are stuck and can’t get yourself to start a regular writing practice, then perhaps this small increment is just the break you need.

I wonder if blogging counts towards the 10 minutes?

Analogies are to writing as furniture is to a home

"Analogies, it is true, decide nothing, but they can make one feel more at home." - Sigmund Freud

The majority of my writing is related to health issues, but I blister when anyone labels me as a technical writer. I use prose, metaphor and analogies to lure my readers down the path of health. I want them to be excited about their bodies. Goodness, our bodies are amazing enough without poetry, but all the more so with it. Just read Sherwin B. Nuland’s The Wisdom of the Body and you will see what I mean.

Analogies are my favorite tool. I think it is easier to imagine pipes and pumps than the circulatory system.  A good analogy can even simplify the renal system.  Metaphor is also powerful. Imagine being able to craft a poem about the liver.  Pablo Neruda did in Oda al Higado (Ode to the Liver). Here’s an excerpt: "Seafaring anger soul whose innards measure blood, you live hands on oars and eyes ahead navigating the hidden mysteries, the alchemist’s chamber of life’s microscopic, echoic, inner oceans…" Doesn’t that just make you want to swoon over that amazing organ and never get drunk again?

Writing Advice

"My advice is not to wait to be struck by an idea. If you're a writer, you sit down, and damn well decide to have an idea. That's the way to get an idea." - Andy Rooney

The January 2010 issue of Writer's Digest has a feature article with writing advice from 90 bestselling authors. Although WD didn't ask my advice, I am inclined to give it. My advice to writers is this - if there is anything else you can do, then do it. Writing has as much going for it as factory assembly work. In fact, sometimes you may come out ahead at factory work assuming you get paid. Writing is physically demanding since sitting on your butt all day is hard on the body. The pay is lousy and the hours are atrocious.

However, every once in awhile there is a glorious sentence - words strung together like fine bead-work. They glow with such allure. Then I know I can't quit writing anymore than I can quit eating.

What is your writing advice?

Six-Word Memoirs

My favorite page in the AARP magazine (yes, sadly, I do read it), is titled, Six-Word Memoirs. It is a delightful column edited by Larry Smith. The concept is based on an event in which Ernest Hemmingway was asked to tell a story in only 6 words. He wrote, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

So, in honor of the new year, I invite you to compose a six-word story. Here is mine:
New Year's resolution: hope on paper

To read more, visit: Six-Word Memoirs

New Year’s Resolutions

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."- H. Jackson Brown

I make New Year’s resolutions and although I seldom keep them perfectly, I do make progress. This year I wrote more than last year; last year I wrote more than the year before.

It helps if my resolutions are actually well-formulated plans. They need to be small, concrete, obtainable and measurable. Saying I am going to write more doesn’t work well. Planning to write for 3 hours, 5 days a week is specific and measurable. However, there was a time in my life that I could not do that. Now I do much more than that.

Pamela Peake said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. This year I committed to waking up early to write. This has made a huge difference. When I set my alarm clock to wake up at 5:45 a.m., I am telling myself I have a job to go to. This year I am going to move it up by 15 minutes every day until I reach 5 a.m. Having a plan is like having GPS. It helps me know where to start every day.