Friday Speak Out!: Writing Habits to Nurture

by Brenda Moguez

1. Read: when you can’t read, listen to books.

2. Write every day. If you struggle with the rigid daily commitment, write as often as possible, making your irregular schedule a homecoming, a haven from the impossibility of your life.

3. Observe the world you walk through every day. Pay close attention to the people around you, the young girl with streaks of blue in her hair, the gages in her earlobes and the trail of tattooed stars that begin at the base of her neck and end somewhere beneath the ripped Grateful Dead T-shirt she wears. Notice the nervous man standing in line at your favorite Barista and fit him out with a story the explains his jumpy disposition. Mentally note the color of the sunset you see each day but often fail to appreciate.

4. Be fearless, take yourself out of your comfort zone. Breathe in new air and surroundings regularly. You need not cross an ocean, sometimes venturing to a new neighborhood is on par with riding a jet plane to an exotic destination.

5. Block the noise from your head, move Ms. Demoralizing Doubt and Mr. Frankly A. Failure, to the outer banks of your mind, and write unencumbered. Write freely. Write passionately. Write honestly. Soar on the page as your thoughts do would when the sun burns into horizon where possibilities are endless, your hope boundless, and failure is inconsequential.

6. Limit your availably to families and friends; prohibit social media intrusions--ask yourself if the world truly wants to know what you had for lunch?

7. Listen to music, watch documentaries, indulge yourself in afternoon of movie watching, take a screenwriting or poetry class (assuming you are not a poet or a screenwriter, and if you are, try something contrary to your comfort zone), cosset your muse, feed her/him delectable morsels: read words aloud from favorite authors you cannot forget, look through a coffee table book filled with black and white photographs of faces--study the eyes and find their story. Never forget the eyes hold the key.

8. Invest in you, in your passionate self and the dream to soar above of the confines of the life you accepted without consideration. Dreams are the gateway to our ethereal selves, the wings that allow us to take flight, the key to surviving the churn that sometimes accompanies the day-to-day drudgery.

9. Taste, Touch, and Feel, use all of your senses; inhale all that surrounds you. Revel in the sensation. Close your eyes and see the world without your eyes.

10. Believe. Hold on tight to your belief in yourself, as if your life were hanging in the balance, as if you were walking a tightrope, as if your next breath hinged on your trust in yourself. A writer's ability is questioned daily, battered, beaten, kicked around, stomped on, drug through the street's gutters, tossed carelessly into slush piles. If your faith wanes, even the slightest fraction, if your heart quivers, if you permit your psyche to linger in the shadow of doubt, if you question your passion--at all, even once, the crippling virus of defeat, inadequacy, takes root and fester. Don’t let it happen, believe.

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Brenda Moguez writes the kind of stories she loves to read—women’s fiction, starring quirky, passionate women who are challenged by the fickleness and complexities of life. She’s particularly drawn to exploring the effects of love on the heart of a woman. She has aspirations for a fully staffed villa in Barcelona and funding aplenty for a room of her own. When she’s not working on a story, she writes love letters to the universe, dead poets, and Mae West. Her second novel, Nothing is Lost in Loving, is set to release April 2016. You can find her at http://www.brendamoguez.com where she explores passionate pursuits in all its forms.

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!

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