Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Mindful Writing Koan




Ability to write, inability to write: same pen. What has changed?

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

New Book on Mindful Writing Published by Routledge August/September 2018

I'm pleased to say that I've finished Prolific Moment: Theory and Practice of Mindfulness for Writing and that it will be published by Routledge in August or September 2018. Below is info on the book.


Blurb from Publisher:

Prolific Moment: Theory and Practice of Mindfulness for Writing foregrounds the present in all activities of composing, offering a new perspective on the rhetorical situation and the writing process. A focus on the present casts light on standard writing componentsaudience, invention, and revisionwhile bringing forth often overlooked nuances of the writing experienceintrapersonal rhetoric, the preverbal, and preconception. Much is lost with a misplaced present moment because students forfeit rewarding writing experiences for stress, frustration, boredom, fear, and shortchanged invention. Writing becomes a much different experience if students think of it more consistently as part of a discrete now. This pedagogy of mindful writing can alleviate the suffering of writing blocks that comes from mindless, future-oriented rhetorics. Peary examines mindfulness as a metacognitive practice and turns to foundational Buddhist concepts of no-self, emptiness, impermanence, and detachment for methods for observing the moment in the writing classroom. This volume is a fantastic resource for future and current instructors and scholars of composition, rhetoric, and writing studies.  

Chapters:

Preface: Hymn of Binaries, Mantra for Equanimity:  Wooden Sculpture
Introduction
Chapter One: Present Moment, Writing Moment
Interchapter
Chapter Two: The Monkey Mind of Intrapersonal Rhetoric
Interchapter
Chapter Three: The Verbal Emptiness of Mindful Invention 
Interchapter 
Chapter Four: Mind Waves, Mind Weeds, Preconceptions 
Interchapter 
Chapter Five: Their Ability To Write Is Always Present: A Disciplinary Context for Mindfulness