Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Mantras from My Students


The following are mantras created a few years ago by students enrolled in my undergraduate Overcoming Writing Blocks course. I came across them the other day in my files & wanted to share these wise words with you. Which of these strikes you?


Don’t let audiences take the joy you make on your own.
Higher standards do not necessarily produce better writing.
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Every thought should be written down because a person does not know which is better for their paper: ideas are always new and changing.
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Writing changes; don’t sweat it.
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Preparation and a state of groundlessness will help alleviate writing blocks.
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The writer is always the block.
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Writing blocks are like standing up against a brick wall because what you want is on the other side: ideas, flow.  I can either break through, go around, or climb over.
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Unconventional tactics to overcome writer’s block are a regular occurrence, whether we realize it or not.
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People get in the way of writing; the writer is a person.
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Watch the art, not the words.
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Writing is like time; it should be a constant flow of movement that never stops, never pauses, or never goes back.  It may be slow and grueling at times or so fast you wished it never stopped.  One thing is for sure: like time, writing is part of our nature, and it will always be with us.
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In order to go forward with writing, sometimes you need to take a step back.
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I’ve noticed that my writing becomes much stronger and more powerful when I don’t care about it, don’t think about it, and don’t go back and try to revise everything.
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Overcoming a writing block is something that won’t happen overnight; it takes a lot of practice and experience.
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An audience is not a block or deterrent but a tool for the individual to achieve a medium between a block and a product.
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Change is inevitable, but we have lost only when we cannot accept it.
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In understanding how to proceed, there must be delay.
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Once you realize that there is no ground for the writing block to sit on, you will soon realize it will not be blocking for much longer.
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By being aware of the constant changing of my mind that is groundlessness, I can better capture my ideas to the fullest by writing.
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Every audience is fake because the person is not physically writing their paper in front of anyone; the writer can start over or erase as he or she pleases.
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In the teaching of groundlessness, this sentence will be read differently by every other person: it will never be the same sentence.


Saturday, January 10, 2015

Thus I Have Heard

What now is the Extinction of the Suffering of Writing, oh mon chéri?

            It is complete liberation from the craving to write and from an attachment to outcome for one’s writing in the immediate term and from attachment to outcome for one’s writing in the long-term.
            But where might this craving be extinguished? Wherever in one’s experience there are delightful and pleasurable things associated with writing, there might this craving be extinguished. Wherever positive or productive, interesting or fascinating, praised or acclaimed experiences with one’s writing occur, there might the mindful writer practice relinquishing attachment to those positive, productive, interesting, fascinating, praised, or acclaimed sensations. It is the time of highest outer success—a book publication or prize, an article acceptance or a high grade—that presents strong opportunity for relinquishing craving. Let these experiences wash over one and observe the responses of one's mind but do not be carried away by their charm, do not attempt to repeat the circumstance and thereby resist the impermanence of the moment of zenith. 
           But where might this craving be also extinguished? Wherever in one’s experience there are painful and displeasing things associated with writing, there might this craving be extinguished. Wherever too negative or wordless, boring or worthless, criticized or condemned experience around one’s writing occur, there might the mindful writer practice relinquishing attachment to those negative, wordless, boring, worthless, criticized or condemned sensations. It is the time of lowest inner or outer success—a publisher’s rejection, a negative review, a burdensome and long request for a rewrite, a failing grade—that presents strong opportunity for relinquishing craving. Let these experiences wash over one and observe the responses of the mind but do not attempt to alter or eliminate them in order to avoid discomfort, boredom, frustration, despair, or anger.
            Whosoever regards the pleasant and the unpleasant experiences of writing as equally impermanent will be free of craving.
            Whosoever is altogether free of the craving for writing will never return to the suffering of writing and for the remainder of her writing days encounter an openness of possibility, writing sessions free of anxiety and turmoil, doubt and hubris. She will have whole areas of content and types of genre available for her work. She will approach her writing desk with curiosity and freshness and leave her writing desk bowing with gratitude and filled with connection with herself and with others. She will have the training to resist attachment to positive or negative developments in her writing activity, her primary task an allegiance to the present moment.
            This verily is the peace of writing, the forsaking of preconception of genre, audience, and process. It is a condition of grace, of acceptance, of clear seeing.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

New Years Wishes for Your Writing


May your writing in 2015 be free of suffering and anxiety.


May your writing dwell in the present moment.


May your writing bring you much joy and peace in 2015.