Sunday Chronicles and a new feature - Tips from the Tops

Just some catch-up and a warning - I will be gone for a week - off to visit my dad and my step-ma - what we therapists call a 'field-trip'. I'm so looking forward to just hanging about with them and shooting the breeze - no big plans - just a good old-fashioned visit - lots of tea and talk. I might check in here but it is unlikely I will post - maybe I'll pre-do my Friday Challenge and set the date thingy. Yeah, good idea.

I've been reading in my writing books which I do quite frequently. Especially now as I approach the final draft and polish of True. I find I need lots of hearing about other writers in order to get my energy up. I printed up a copy of True and will take it on my journey so I can spend a few hours a day going over it. That way I won't feel guilty about missing $type work. Weird but true. The point is that I'm reading lots about writing - mostly in books that have come along with me for many years. And I thought I'd try to inject some discipline into this blog.

So now, in addition to my Friday Challenges which of course are rarely really about writing but mostly as presented in the last couple of weeks about waking-up which is the reason I write in the first place - I will add a new feature - Tips from the Tops.

Tips from the Tops #1 -

Top - Elizabeth George
Book - Write Away
Tip - Feel! Your body will tell you when you're doing what's right for you. 
Actual quote: "I cannot force my process upon you, however. What I can do is tell you what it is, what I believe about it, and how it works for me. Your job is to discover your own process by trying this, that, or the other; whatever feels right to you over time. (Note that word feel again. Your body will tell you when you're doing what's right for you.)" p.177
My Sense of it - This tip really resonates with me and I try to keep it foremost in my mind - especially now in the revision part. The first draft is almost all visceral for me - a mad passionate dash to get something down. Now as I dress those bones in the flesh and blood of words I need to stop often and listen to my own body - is this how I wish to proceed? Is this the right sequence? Does this feel right? Feel not know. Feel blindly through the dark woods - I think I know where the path is but I need to feel my way there. And I feel it in my body both when it is right - a lightening in my chest, more space, a feeling of buoyancy - and when it is wrong - leaden, bumping up, sleepy and heavy feeling. And I need to add kindness to this process - when I stop and listen to my body I need to not get angry and agressive with myself. Not get furious because I've stumbled in the dark and gone the wrong way but just sit quietly and listen, sensing where the right path might be.

Talk to you later...