The Writing Process

Today I read a blog from Daphne, a writing coach, saying that writing is like Jazz. She talked about "letting go" instead of being restricted by the classical way of learning or playing music. I am a musician so I know exactly what she is talking about. I learned the piano when I was six-years-old. I have a very structured upbringing that has zapped my creativity out of me. I can still add notes to songs from the church hymnal just as long as I am looking at the actual notes but going off the page completely without memorization? NO, I just can't. I'm afraid those neurons in my brain were pruned off shortly after practicing the scales that Hanon wrote.

But here's the thing, I'm in the process of re-inventing myself. So I have no choice. Sure I get discouraged as I get caught up in my low self-esteem conditioned brain. That means I beat myself up so many more times in a day than I should NOT. But what I'm finding out as I am writing this is that I have freedom and creativity.

I DO HAVE IT!

I do know how to LET GO!

I liked how she diagramed the process she said, the best process isn’t:

        research ➔ thinking ➔ outlining ➔ writing ➔ editing.

It’s more like:

 

        research ➔thinking ➔ mindmapping ➔writing ➔ taking a break ➔ editing ➔ more editing ➔ even more editing.

 

She further says, "you cannot worry about your problems or shortcomings while you are writing a rough draft. This is the time to 'let go' so you can learn what you think about your subject."

 

I've done 50 days of non-stop journal writing. I have outlined, and mindmapped my novel. I have signed up for NaNoWriMo camps. I look at tumblr, twitter, and Facebook...but there's more obstacles than just my poor pruned off neurons--

 

I am frustrated as well. I have so many things happening in my life but that is a distraction from writing. Right, life is a distraction from writing. Ugh! ...okay re-focus, I can do this. I can write this blog...oops another feeling is coming up--

 

I am also scared. I'm scared of people reading what I write. I'm scared of becoming well known. In those 50 days of non-stop journaling I also meditated every single day. Okay, I think I've run out of excuses so...

Now, I AM WRITING. It will be done. I have a story to tell!