by Arvon Friend Sally Crawford
2. Try something new
In my opinion, when we wake up, we wake up with our muses. Every single morning. It may not feel like that, of course, because we have mostly forgotten how to properly attune to morning. We may be distracted by any number of things (fill in your own distracter here ——————–). But distraction, of course, is not the fault of the muse.
When we’re on holiday we get a chance to renew our acquaintance with morning. We don’t have to rush; to think about what to wear to work; to get children (or ourselves) off to school. It’s nice, isn’t it? This is the muse’s best time. So the first, ‘Try something new’ is to think about reconfiguring your ‘getting up’ routine. Pretend you’re waking up within the sight and sound of the sea, in a Finnish forest in summer (can you hear the birds sing?), or in one of the Arvon houses. There are no distractions: no TV, no radio, no newspapers, no Internet, no ‘demands’; nothing much to do except stare out of the window or go for a walk.
It sounds boring, doesn’t it? It is paradise. This kind of ‘routine boredom’ feeds the imagination. What else is there for you to do but write?
I have found that once I’ve done my morning piece of writing, however short, the heat is off. The muse is ‘fed’. I rely on the fact that they will then wait patiently until I have the time to type up my daily words, my offering.
Top tip 1: get to bed early enough to wake early enough.
The second ‘Try something new’ is to follow one of the set exercises (the Sparks) on the Arvon Friends site. I have looked at many of these, my idea being to start some writing from a viewpoint I might never have thought of – an exercise is very often the best way of doing this. Matt Thorne’s ‘Carry on the Spark!’ worked brilliantly for me in this respect – it is so unlike the stuff I usually write. Matt left the start of his story ‘open’; neither of the main protagonists had names. Although there was a suggestion of what these characters might be doing, it wasn’t spelled out. I could take the story in any direction I wanted.
Playtime! I turned the story on its head. I had a whale of a time writing it and my story is now finished and will be submitted for a short story competition (thanks, Matt, and wish me luck).
Top tip 2: it’s OK to do writing you enjoy doing.
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dirtywhitecandy // June 4, 2009 at 8:34 am
Excellent tips. I especially chimed with the ‘routine boredom’ – and thought of Roald Dahl in his garden shed, with his typewriter balanced on a board on his knee. Nothing to look at but the story in front of him.
Sally Crawford // June 4, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I love the idea of writing in a hut.
It’s somehow as if the imagination has to be lightly tethered (much like a kite) to allow it to soar.
PS: George Bernard Shaw’s writing hut ‘could be made to revolve and follow the sun’. I think that’s probably a bit excessive but what a mood brightener.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/may/30/writers.rooms.george.bernard.shaw