I just found a creative writing site with an automatically generated writing prompt for short stories and poetry. The primes is to randomly generate words, ideas, and/or concepts as a springboard for writing. It’s supposed to be especially good for writers experiencing writers block. Now, that sounded like something I can use so I clicked on the Story Starter link. I found a pretty good description of how the process works and noted that they have a contest for those that use the random story starter they are given. Well now, that’s an added plus or minus, depending on the outcome.

I decided to go ahead and see what the story starter would generate for me. Here is the story starter: My main character/protagonist is a female. My main character is a C.E.O.. An archetype present in my story is Nymph. A key object or symbol in my story is a coffin. My story will be set in a laboratory. My story is about self-expression.

Nymph, coffin, C.E.O.??? I’m doomed. I know nothing about C.E.O.s, nada, zero, zilch. And nymph? What’s a nymph? I know I should know, I think I know, but do I really know? So, I get my trusty dictionary out and look it up.

Nymph: 1. any of the minor divinities of nature in classical mythology represented as beautiful maidens dwelling in the mountains, forests, trees, and waters 2. a) a lovely young woman b) maiden: literary or playful usage 3. Entomology any of various immature insects; especially : a larva of an insect (as a grasshopper, true bug, or mayfly) with incomplete metamorphosis that differs from the imago especially in size and in its incompletely developed wings and genitalia.

Okay, I did know part of the definition but not the insect part. Hummm, that could be interesting; an insect nymph that isn’t lovely but rather deformed. It could be symbolic somehow. I’ll have to give it some thought. Maybe I can find a way to write a short story from this starter after all.

Check out The Art of Writing, even though the site has not been updated since the winter of 2000, there are other writing tips and techniques worth exploring.

Update! Unfortunately the site referred to in this posts is no longer online so I’ve removed the live link. I’ve added more writing prompts in my resource directory. The link is below.

Look for more writing prompt resources under Writing Exercises in my Writing Resource Directory.

I’ve been searching for blogs specifically about writing and especially on giving writing tips and techniques. I’m sure there are many out there but they aren’t easy to find. I’ve seen a lot of blogs that offer users something to read but not information on writing in general. I came across author Michelle Richmond’s blog, The Writers Daily Dose, today. The author teaches writing classes at the University of San Francisco. I hope she keeps her blog updated regularly. It’s worth the effort in my opinion.

I’m going to start a list of blogs about writing soon. That should keep me busy.

I went to an art show opening on Friday night at my local museum. A group of eight women artists displayed artwork that was the end result of their journey through Julia Cameron’s book, The Vein of Gold. The eight women met once a week with the idea of doing one chapter from the book a week. Each would read the chapter of the week and do the tasks outlined at the end of each chapter and then they would come together and discuss their process. What should have taken 12 weeks to accomplish stretched into 12 months. Each discovered their individual levels of resistance in committing to the creative process and each was held accountable by the group. What they discovered was that resistance is a part of the creative process and has its foundation built on fear. Once the resistance is named and the fear revealed the real journey can begin or it can come to a crashing halt.

I was asked to be a part of this group originally but for many reasons it didn’t workout and I became a witness to their process instead. Being an outsider I was allowed to experience different points of view on the same issues. When eight women come together to traverse their internal landscapes, self-preservation comes into play and issues become much larger than necessary. Self-examination is scary all by itself but sharing it with others can be terrifying. Our emotions are wrapped tight like a newborn baby and well guarded. How much are any of us really willing to reveal to others? Hell, they might discover that we are as worthless as our internal critic says we are, a big phony with no creativity worth the effort it takes to cultivate! It’s a personal thing, creativity, it’s an expression of who we are, or at the very least, who we think we are. Doing art is an artist’s desire to communicate something on an emotional level. The very thing that drives an artist to make art can also stop them. There were many times when one or another of the eight women wanted to quit the group and the daunting task of self-exploration but they held it together and what they learned shows in their artwork.

The opening was an inspirational surprise. Not only did they show their art, they offered a small glimpse into their creative process with a video interview done by a local film producer. For me the experience was an affirmation. It affirmed that I’m on the right track to re-igniting my own creative flame.

I can’t recommend Julia’s books enough, The Artist Way and The Vein of Gold. They will inspire and cultivate anyone’s desire to create, they will spin a mind into a web of creative thoughts, and not only will the art be transformed, so will the artist’s life.

Here is a link to the show. There’s a photo of the artists self-portraits with a link to a QuickTime movie clip.

Here is the Web site of one of the artist, Susan Dunker.

Since I can’t seem to inspire myself to get started on writing morning pages, I went in search of inspiration on the net. Below are a few sites that I found about Julia Cameron’s teachings on finding the creative self and moving through blocks hampering creative expression outlined in her book, The Artist Way.

Here is a site that followed the twelve week course outlined in Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. While the process has been long finished for those who started the Artist’s Way journey, the information on the site is valuable. There is a message board where those who completed the journey posted on their progress along with their struggles and success. The message board is still active and encourages new user to join in and participate. But be warned, the popups will take over your browser when looking through the message board. Ugh! A very painful experience just to have a peek into others minds.

The same group went on to journey through Julia’s second book, The Vein of Gold. That site is here. Again it appears that the journey has been completed but the information is still active and valuable to anyone wanting to explore their psyche and nurture the creative child within. Again, the message board will inundate you with popups unless you are using a browser like Opera or Mozilla, both have auto blocking technology built into their software.

Here is another Artist’s Way group that seems ongoing according to their yahoo groups dates.

Here is one woman’s interpretation of The Artist Way in general and each individual chapter.

Here is an article on two women who traveled to Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way Creativity Camp in Taos, New Mexico. This is defiantly worth the time to read. I found it interesting and insightful, with a touch of humor thrown in.

I’ve decided to back out of the NaNoWriMo project. I was not prepared to make the commitment required to complete the month of high-speed writing. I had not given it enough thought before jumping in but this last week has shown me that I just do not have the time needed to make a good effort toward completing a 50,000 word novel. It’s not that I felt pressure to actually have 50,000 words written by the end of this month, I would have been happy with 25,000 words but even that amount looks out of my reach when I get real with myself.

I have lots of excuses, all revolving around time. How much time do I actually have to devote to one writing project this month? The truth is almost none. Now, I could drop other self-made commitments and free up enough time to continue what I started on the NaNoWriMo project for a few more weeks but with the Thanksgiving holiday coming up my free time will become even more limited. November and December are my busiest months at work and my off work time is busy with preparing for family gatherings.

Since I’ve had so much resistance to writing I had to get honest with myself this past week. I realized that all I really have are excuses for not writing. Regardless of how valid those excuses are, they are still excuses. When one makes excuses for not doing or completing something, they are in essence saying they don’t have a choice, that circumstances have made the choice for them. The truth is that they have already made a choice, even if that choice was not to do or complete something. We become attached to our excuses because they create the illusion of having less responsibility or accountability for our lives. When you don’t think you have a choice, you become a victim to circumstances and we all know that victims have no power or control over their experiences.

As has been said, “the truth will set you free,” which is true for me in the case of the NaNoWriMo decision. I had already made some choices and I have chosen not to change them in order to participate in this particular writing project. I weighed my original choices on a scale and they out weighed the NaNoWriMo project. I’m not going to stop writing but for now it will be a different kind of writing than required for the NaNoWriMo project. It’s important for me to get back to daily journaling, not just for my writing but most importantly, for my sense of well being. I also want to get the writing done for the about section of this blog and continue to add information about the writing process that will include the good, the bad, and the ugly. So stay tuned, I’ve only just begun.