Taking Chances

I just spend three days at a writer's conference in Provo, Utah with hundreds of other writers. It was frightening, empowering, and inspiring. I met people, others like me, new at the writing process, and I met others who have published.
Elizabeth Gilbert (Light the Dark) wrote: "We tend to surround ourselves with the things that make us feel safe, but can then wall us in. We're aspirational, we're ambitious, we're insecure, we want comforts. Live bravely when you're young, we say. And maybe again when you retire, if you play your cards right" (21). That's where I am at. I have put writing off for so long. I have wanted to do so many things with writing. A novel, poetry, a children's book. I even wanted to submit somehow some of my essays from my master's class that I spend to much research on. They are too old now. But I hope to turn over a new leaf and write everyday and finish some of my projects.

One of my classes had these points about writing:
1. Get comfortable.
2. Act As If - if you consistently choose to behave as if you are a writing, you will become that writer.
3. Focus on Your Why - most people aren't anywhere near to realizing their creative potential, in part because they're laboring environments that impede intrinsic motivation.
4. Ultraclian Rhythms (spelling?) - 52 minutes of creativity, 20 minutes rest. Resting can be a run or a walk, or doing something else with your brain.
5. Move Outside the Box - movement can boost creativity, walk, hike, dance, take a blank piece of paper - spark your creativity.
6. Creative a Writing Ritual: prep your mind, your desk. Do the same things, same way, silence or sound, warmth or cool, light or dim light.
7. Buy a Plant.
8. Celebrate Micro Wins - set small goals and celebrate. If I finish a paragraph...
9. Track My Progress - there are Apps or I can make my own.
10. Don't make writing a Competition!