The first thing people ask me about when I suggest they schedule intentional writing time into their weekly schedule is, “What do I do if I get all settled in my sacred writing space and I draw a total blank/have nothing to write about?”
Here are a few ideas I have come up with that help me:
- Running list of topics: this is a list I keep, either hand-written or saved as a doc on my computer, of all the things I think I should like to write about…baking with my Grandma, God, my latest culinary creations, the joy of Aunting, and so on. This way, when I sit down for my intentional writing time, I have a few ideas to look over and usually something will pop out at me according to my mood, to my current circumstances, and to what is fresh in my mind at that moment.
- Quotes: check out a list of quotes; sometimes something profound someone else has to say will inspire a thought, a reflection, or maybe even a full-blown poem or story!
- Media: sometimes I have left a movie theater only to go straight to my car and wildly scribble down some poem or piece of a poem on whatever napkin, envelope, or receipt I can find in my glove-box; sometimes a song or melody will so move me; other times a news report or article will ignite some impassioned response. Any of these things can be fodder for your craft!
- The Idea Bucket: this is one of my favorites! During the first group session of each ITWOW cycle, I have group members write down topics, ideas, phrases, etc on colorful index cards. Then we fold them up and put them into my shiny, turquoise, little metal bucket. Each week when we sit down for our quite writing time, if ever a womyn gets stuck not knowing what to write, she can draw a card from the bucket–it may be one of her own, or it may be someone else’s–and hopefully an idea light turns on!
Homework: this week, make yourself a topics resource list: include words, phrases, quotes, news articles, movies, songs, memories that you think you’d like to write about. Jot down a thought or half-thought about some of these things; write down why that item matters to you. You could even print them out, cut out each one, fold them, and toss them into some sort of container to make your own Idea Bucket. Some examples to get you started:
- People, grandparents, mother, father, mom, dad, family, friends, lovers, son, daughter, sister, brother,
- Rain, drip, pour, scent, dew, soil, earth, moss, fog, mist,
- Ocean, tide, current, wave, crashing, sand,
- Trail, path, journey, travel,
- Storm, thunder, wind, breeze, moon, stars, night, dark, dawn, light
- alone, together, apart, close, connected, detached
- community, conscious, relevant, activism, social justice, politics,
- love, passion, fire, desire, lust, pain, hurt, disappointment, heartbeat
- hello, goodbye, at first sight, parting, leaving, returning, going home, coming home, away…
And a sample quote for you:
What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say?…There are so many silences to be broken.
~Audre Lorde
