Friday Speak Out!: Finding Your Writing Rhythm: How I Turned My Morning Chaos into Creative Gold

by Leslie Williams

As a mother of two young children and a freelance writer, my mornings used to feel like a tornado of lunch boxes, missing socks, and half-finished manuscripts. I'd watch the clock tick away, promising myself I'd write "later" – a mythical time that rarely materialized. Sound familiar? But what if I told you that the very chaos I was fighting could become my greatest writing asset?

Here's how I transformed my morning mayhem into a sustainable writing practice, and how you can too:

1. Embrace the Imperfect Time Block

I discovered that waiting for the "perfect" writing time was my biggest mistake. Instead of craving uninterrupted hours, I learned to work with what I call "pocket moments" – those 15-20 minute gaps between making breakfast and school drop-off, or while waiting at soccer practice. These fragments add up surprisingly fast.

Practical Tip: Keep a small notebook or use your phone's note-taking app to capture ideas during these pocket moments. Some of my best story concepts have come while waiting for the pasta water to boil.

2. Turn Distractions into Material

Remember that time your toddler flushed your car keys down the toilet? Or when your teenager's drama rivaled your novel's subplot? These aren't interruptions – they're material. I started keeping a "chaos journal" where I document these daily disruptions. These real-life moments have become gold mines for authentic character development and dialogue.

3. Create a Mobile Writing Station

Since I couldn't guarantee where or when I'd find time to write, I created a portable writing kit. It includes:

• A tablet with a bluetooth keyboard

• Noise-canceling earbuds

• A small notebook and pen 

• Writing prompts on index cards

This kit goes everywhere with me, turning school pickup lines and dentist waiting rooms into pop-up writing offices.

4. The Power of the "Terrible Ten"

Here's my most effective strategy: I commit to writing ten terrible sentences every day. Just ten. They can be awful, ungrammatical, or completely unusable. This removes the pressure of perfection and often leads to writing much more than planned. Some of my published pieces started as "terrible ten" exercises.

5. Build Your Support System

I joined an online writing group specifically for parents who write. We meet virtually twice a month, share resources, and most importantly, understand when someone has to step away because of a juice box emergency. Having this community has been invaluable for both accountability and encouragement.

The Result?

By implementing these strategies, I've published three short stories and completed my first novel draft – all within the beautiful chaos of family life. My productivity actually increased when I stopped fighting against my circumstances and learned to work with them instead.

Remember: Your writing journey doesn't have to look like anyone else's. The key is finding rhythms that work within your reality, not despite it. Those stolen moments between life's demands? They're not just good enough – they might be exactly what your creative process needs.

Start today: Pick one strategy from above and try it for a week. You might be surprised to find that your best writing doesn't come from perfect silence, but from the beautiful mess of real life.

* * *

Leslie Williams is a freelance writer, chaotic-morning connoisseur, and mother of two who’s mastered the art of drafting novels between school runs and snack time.

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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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Leave a Comment find writing rhythm, Friday Speak Out!, Leslie Williams, tips for writers, writing and parenting, writing practice

Friday Speak Out!: The Relationship of Writing: Mad Dash or Life-Long?

by Amanda Russell

When I think about the writing process and how creativity works for me, I cannot separate it from a regular practice.

I used to write a lot during my teen years and in college- those times when everyday life is intensified by complex ideas like who am I, what do I believe/think, where am I headed and the ever-present how do I get there?

As time progressed, I found that my muse was not ever-ready in the wings. It seemed that my existential searching was part of her fuel. So, I began to look for her, to wonder if she’d ever return. Then, I found her. Where? In practice.

My Writing Experiment

Several years ago, I was put to a challenge by a spiritual father of mine to make writing my rule. He had patiently listened to what I loved about writing, what I wanted to convey about the human experience and how. When he asked me what my practice was like, I was stumped. I did not have one! Then he put me to a challenge: write every day. Make writing your practice.

In searching for how to do this, I came across Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down the Bones. The author was attending sit meditation and inquiring about Zen Buddhism. “Why do you come to sit meditation?” her Roshi asked, “Why don’t you make writing your practice? If you go deep enough in writing, it will take you everyplace.”

In that book, I found the guidelines for what I now call my Writing Experiment. I set out to write every day following the rules for writing what Goldberg calls “First Thoughts”: In order to do this timed exercise all you need to remember is to keep your hand moving constantly, no crossing out or editing, no worrying about spelling or grammar, let go of the control, do not allow logic to get in the way, and go deep without fear or judgement. According to Goldberg, first thoughts allow a writer to “capture the oddities of your mind” and “explore the rugged edge of thought.” Yes please!

I began to do the timed exercise daily and found that the muse came back. But I was building a life-long relationship with her instead of the hot mad-dash that results from inconsistency. This practice filled many notebooks, and I began to realize that I was doing a lot of personal work in my writing, moving through times of uncertainty and processing all kinds of ideas and experiences from joy to grief. My forthcoming poetry chapbook, Barren Years, is a product of this experiment.

The other day my four year old son asked me, “Are you a fill-in?” I puzzled him back by answering, “No, Love, I’m a full-time.” Whatever he meant by that question, I may never exactly know, but it surfaces again and again in life as an invitation to show up and be present, to practice.

* * *

Amanda Russell is a poet living in New York with her husband and two children. When she is not busy with her family, she enjoys reading the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, Mary Oliver and Stanley Kunitz, spending time connecting with friends, gardening, writing, sewing and other creative endeavors. BARREN YEARS, her debut poetry collection, will be published by Finishing Line Press in June 2019.
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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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8 comments Amanda Russell, Friday Speak Out, muse, natalie goldberg, writing experiment, writing practice

Friday Speak Out!: Start Small But Dream Big

by Cassandra Lee Yieng

When we lack the time to write the books we envision, we're tempted to blame our day jobs, the family members under our care or other weighty matters. With every passing year, with every outline or draft we put aside, we doubt our calling to share our stories. Other writers' accomplishments only breed jealousy. When will we realize our literary aspirations?

Too often, we rush headlong into a novel or memoir, but short-form writing, which includes blog posts, poems, flash fiction and short stories, is a better starting point for aspiring writers.

Unlike novels, shorter pieces take less time to write and submit to respectable literary journals. If they feature your work, it proves that you write well.

Another option is guest blogging for popular platforms. Because of my involvement with Huffington Post, I was chosen as a keynote speaker for a Women's Day event in 2017.

This February, I joined NaHaiWriMo for the first time and, despite the obstacles, penned a haiku daily. Not all of my poems were brilliant, but at least I now have 28 new haikus, and I can do whatever I want with them: revise, submit, compile a chapbook...

I've also been sending out flash fiction and short stories. One of the rejection slips suggested an anthology accepting work like mine, and another provided feedback on my writing. Nobody likes to fail, but with short-form fiction, the stakes are lower. You won't have invested so much time and effort or poured so much of your heart and soul into it that your identity gets wrapped up into acceptances or rejections. If you receive too many rejections, perhaps it's time to improve on your writing craft.

Don't sacrifice your grand literary aspirations, though, but keep the long game in mind. My earliest drawings were mere doodles, and now I'm a freelance graphic designer. I learned music by playing simple tunes like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the piano, and a few years ago I composed music for films. My first computer program displayed the sentence "Hello world!" on the screen. Now I'm a data scientist.

It's the same with writing. Master the fundamentals on little things, and greatness will follow.

* * *

Cassandra Lee Yieng writes to inspire. A lover of stories, Cass excavates them from real-world data by day and from her imagination by night. Her publications include an essay on female mathematician Emmy Noether and a cybersecurity horror story, and she has blogged for Huffington Post and National Novel Writing Month. She works as a data scientist. Find Cass at leeyieng.com.
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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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2 comments accomplishing goals, Cassandra Lee Yieng, Friday Speak Out, writer inspiration, writing and submitting, writing practice

Friday Speak Out!: Writing by Assignment

by Elizabeth Morabito

I'm a writer who doesn't put many words on paper. I have the usual excuses – no time, writer's block, can't focus, I suck, yadda yadda yadda. For a long time I refused to even call myself a writer. Until one day I realized I really am.

How do I know? Well, I figured something out about myself fairly recently. It only took a few decades.

I think in sentences.

Weird, I know. But my thoughts are more often than not well-crafted sentences. Compellingly complex in their simplicity. Thought provoking. Nobel Peace Prize worthy. Okay, maybe not. But these structured subjects, verbs and objects are a part of me. Part of my soul. The very essence of who I am as a human being.

Now if I could only get them out of my damn head. When I try to write, like now, I panic. The eloquence just isn't there. The words won't flow like they did when captured in my cranium. I'm getting antsy. I can't catch my breath. I want to exit out of this godforsaken document.

But this time I won't.

I understand a writer needs to practice the craft. Writing something, every day, will make it easier and I will improve over time. I get it. I. Just. Can't. Make. Myself. Do. It.

That's why I'm writing this submission for The Muffin Blog. I've decided to give myself assignments. Enough excuses. I'm a veritable task master – I adore checking things off a list. When an assignment comes my way, I sit down and crank it out. With a given subject, word count and deadline enforced upon me, I can structure the swirling cyclone of thought-words into what is required.

I'm actually published. And paid, believe it or not. Nothing of major import. Magazine articles and advertorial publications mostly. But, paid, published work nonetheless. Assignments.

My dream is to write for the pure enjoyment of it. But that is so rare, it's nearly non-existent. I have dozens of journals. No lie. They speak to me with their empty pages and implied opportunity. But mine are all blank or have pages ripped out or are the start of some great writing adventure I abruptly aborted after a few days. But I keep them all.

I wonder what my poor kids will think when they go through my things after I'm gone. Hopefully they find the magazines as well as the crazy-lady journals. Maybe I should put them in the same place.

* * *

Elizabeth Morabito grew up a voracious reader. Her love for writing stems from this lifelong passion. She hopes to someday be an author. For now, she is comfortable simply calling herself a writer as she strives to be authorship worthy. She is a single mom of three kids and five fur babies - two pit bulls and three cats. Besides reading and writing, she loves to mountain bike, search for treasures in thrift stores, and help nonprofits achieve their missions. Elizabeth is working on a website in 2019, but can be reached at elizabethtellsall@gmail.com.
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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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3 comments deadlines, Elizabeth Morabito, excuses for not writing, Friday Speak Out, inspiration for writers, journal writing, writing practice

American Ninja Writer

Have you ever heard of  American Ninja Warrior? My son is obsessed with it. If you haven’t seen the show, incredibly buff people without an ounce of body fat compete in a difficult obstacle course that the Terminator himself wouldn’t be able to finish. After watching it night after night, I’ve come to realize that the lessons I’ve learned by watching people who aren't ashamed to publicly wear a bathing suit can also be applied to writing.

Lesson #1: Get in Shape
I’m not talking about bulking up; I’m talking about practicing. Keep in mind, those ninjas didn’t get their muscles from thinking about it and neither will we. If we want to get in the best writing shape possible, we need to practice, practice, practice. We also need to vary our writing workouts. Not every day can be “leg” day. This means that sometimes we should focus on developing our characters. The next may be a day to look specifically at our word choice. And don’t forget to flex those fingers when creating new worlds!

Lesson #2: Gather Your Entourage
If you’ve watched American Ninja Warrior enough, you’ll know that you need to bring along your cheering squad. The same applies to writers. No great writer is complete without their entourage. These are the people who read your terrible first drafts and give you advice. They encourage you when you’re too tired to continue. They cheer the loudest when you’re competing (or querying). They convince others of your literary merit. Gather them closely and bring them on the journey.

Lesson #3: A Small Mistake Can Be Your Downfall
If one toe hits the water below the obstacle course, a ninja warrior is out. The smallest mistake means the end of the competition. As writers, we, too, need to pay attention to details to keep us in the game. This means proofreading, followed by multiple rounds of grueling edits. It’s not enough to slide by. You must be meticulous. Those who rush can slip and fall. Those who are careful and calculating succeed.

Lesson #4: There’s Always Next Season
One of my favorite parts of American Ninja Warrior is the back stories of the competitors. Many of them have struggled through numerous hardships to get to the competition, and I find myself rooting for them. It’s always disappointing to see them fall when they’ve tried so hard. But, inevitably, they come back the next season to try again. They didn’t accept failure the first time, and neither should we. If you think about it, just because we don’t reach our goal the first time doesn’t mean we’ve failed. It means we’ve taken another step towards the final goal. Maybe you couldn’t bring yourself to finish a book. Maybe you couldn’t land an agent. Maybe you were published, but it wasn’t as successful as you’d hoped. That’s okay. Pull yourself together and try for next season.

As writers, we may not be lifting fifty-pound weights, completing a parkour run, or dashing up curved walls, but we can certainly follow similar lessons to reach our goals. So, get out there. Sprint towards your finish line.

Be the next American Ninja Writer.

Bethany Masone Harar is an author, teacher, and blogger, who does her best to turn reluctant readers into voracious, book-reading nerds. Check out her blog here and her website here.

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3 comments American Ninja Warrior, author, writing, writing advice, writing failures, writing mistakes, writing practice, writing support

Patterns, Woh-oh-oh, Patterns

I’m sorry if you have the song “Feelings” stuck in your head now. I’ve had it stuck in my head since the idea about writing patterns came to me and that was…ugh. Three, four days ago? It’s hard to say because I have this song stuck in my head—

Anyway, writing patterns. We all have ‘em. Maybe they’re really destructive patterns, like the one that starts in the summer when you take off a day or two from your usual writing ritual because the kids are home or you went on vacation or some calamity has befallen you. Whatever the situation, your routine has been disrupted. And before you know it, you haven’t written a lick in two months.

Or maybe it’s just a small, annoying writing pattern, like a word or a phrase that comes up continually in your stories or articles. It’s so small, in fact, that you don’t even see it. But you know who does see it?

Yep. Your readers.

Here’s the thing about writing patterns—or for that matter, any behavioral pattern. Our brain likes to take the road well traveled because frankly, it’s easier. Why claw your way through brambles and thickets when you can take the worn path? You’re used to it.

Now maybe your writing patterns are practically perfect in every way. Good for you! But what if your writing patterns have taken a bad turn of late?

You need to get unstuck from the not-so-perfect patterns. You need to make changes and that starts with mindfulness, the quality that makes you aware of something. (Namely, your not-so-perfect writing patterns.)

Right now—yes, right this second—I want you to think for three whole minutes and then I want you to write down the bad pattern that’s crept up in your writing life. I’ll even give you a few of mine to sort of get you started:

· the it’s-summer-and-so-I-don’t-need-to-write pattern
· using the word “just” all the time
· starting sentences with “and” just a little too often (D’oh. I CAN’T STOP USING JUST!)

Next, I want you to write down the new pattern you will work on, now that you know your target areas. For example, I will refuse to use the word “just.” Even though it’s a perfectly good word and many times, it’s the perfect word for a particular sentence. But I will not use the word “just.”

It will not be easy, forging that new writing pattern. My brain is literally screaming at me to use the word “just.” But I shall not succumb. I shall find a better word, a stronger word. I shall overcome my bad writing pattern!

You can, too. It just…er, only takes a little practice to step off that worn writing path and develop a bright and shiny new writing pattern.

How about it? Want to share your bad writing pattern and how you’re going to fix it? Or perhaps we can help you come up with a solution. And then—please, friends! —you can tell me how to get that stupid song out of my head!

~Cathy C. Hall

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2 comments Cathy C. Hall, writing patterns, writing practice, writing tip

Honor Your Writing: what I’ve learned practicing yoga

In September, I started going to yoga. I expected it to help with my back, and it has.  The surprise for me was how many of the principals also apply to writing. Chief among these is “Honor Your Body.”

When you think “yoga,” you no doubt picture someone doing one of those contortionist poses. Those are all well and good if you can do them, but even with the simplest poses, our instructor reminds us to honor our bodies. Don’t do x if we have bad knees. Bad shoulders? Then don’t do y. Hip problems? Then skip z. Yoga isn’t one-size-fits-all. You have to adjust it according to who and how you are.

That’s a lot like writing.  Whenever we find a new technique or hear a new piece of advice, BIC/butt-in-chair comes to mind, we are tempted to try to make it work exactly as it was presented. When I first heard the advice BIC, it was explained to me that I should treat writing like a full-time job. Simply put -- BIC 8 hours a day. While that might work for some people, I can’t write that long every day. It’s just not how I’m wired and trying to force myself to stay in place for 8 hours just aggravates me.

Likewise, if you are a plotter and you try to follow the advice to just let your writing flow without a strict plan, you may find that you accomplish nothing. You need the sense of direction that an outline provided. A pantser, on the other hand, who tries to methodically plot out her work may find her prose turning wooden when she tries to work from a detailed plot. 

Honor yourself. Honor how you work.

That isn’t a free pass to avoid developing better habits or trying something new. Something else I’ve learned in yoga is that each day your body responds a little differently than it did the day before. Pay attention to how things are working today. A pose that was easy to achieve yesterday, may be torture next week. Pay attention.  Understand why.  Honor your body.

If your writing flowed last week but it isn’t this week, pay attention.  Is there a problem with the project? Are you not feeling well?  Needing more sleep? Sometimes we need to change how we work or what we are doing in our down time.  It isn’t a sign of failure.  It simply is. Just because a technique worked yesterday or last week doesn’t mean that it will continue to work without having to adjust it. Honor your work.

Sometimes the solution is simply to relax into it.  Yoga requires a great deal of strength but you can’t muscle your way through the poses. Some twists require relaxation and you can’t slip into the full pose until you manage to relax that muscle in your hip. It isn’t something you can lie to yourself about. Be aware. Honor your body.

Some things in writing are achieved only through hard work. You have to write and write some more to learn to write well.  But that liveliness that pulls in readers?  You can’t force it.  You have to learn to let go.  Relax into your writing. Have fun.  It’s be best way to honor your work and your reader.

--SueBE

Sue is the instructor for our course, Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins on January 11, 2016.

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3 comments writing life, writing practice

Friday Speak Out!: Practice, Practice, Practice

by Michele MacKinnon

Back in April I started a four-week class which blended “low-impact art exercises” and writing about each exercise. The class description grabbed me: “Are you stuck?” “Yes,” I answered silently. When invited to write about my reasons for attending the class I scribbled “I feel I am starting a transition to something new, to something that allows me to experience joy more often.” Writing is a source of joy for me

I quit my corporate job in July. It’s October, and I am writing but not as often as I should. Competition has crowded out my writing time. Long-delayed lunches with friends, tending and tweaking the perennial gardens calling to me with their siren song of leaves and blooms and plants needing planting which I couldn’t resist bringing home, and all those recipes I finally tried which livened up the dinner menu over the last few months.

It’s time to get serious. I’ve given myself a stern talking-to. When my writing group met a few weeks ago I listed all the writing to-do’s I’ve meant to tackle for too long. Being a type A person, crossing items off this list will help motivate me. Practice will lead to improvements. It’s the same solution I repeated for building workplace skills when the question arose in multiple training sessions I led. My list covers a wide variety of writing topics also, which will help me narrow down my focus to the writing I enjoy most. Bouncing between memoir, gardening advice and travel tips is a spicy blend, but spicy blends are better suited to my cooking and may be slowing improvements to my writing abilities.

Now that I’ve confessed to the mess-in-a-dress approach I’ve been taking with writing, I need to come up with a plan, another common suggestion when asked for career advice at work. Even though my plan is simple I know I will struggle with sticking to it, and that’s why the practice, practice, practice is important. So what is my plan? I’m going to write every day. Even if it’s in 15 minute chunks I’m going to make the time. The light will stay on until I spend those 15 minutes and whatever words they produce are committed to the page.

There is a sense of deep satisfaction when I uncover a story, then write and re-write it until becomes a recipe I can make from memory. Back in the spring an art exercise prompted me to express my thoughts about writing and they’ve stayed in my mind throughout this busy summer.

Writing. Reading. Words. The right words to write. There is so much joy in writing the right words, to pulling them out of the air, placing them side by side, seeing if they fit. Writing is painting with words.

It’s time to do some painting.

* * *

Michele MacKinnon is a memoir writer and has been a member of the Candlewood Writer’s Workshop in Fairfield County, Connecticut since its inception.

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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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Leave a Comment daily writing, daily writing schedule, Friday Speak Out, Michele MacKinnon, writing practice

What Are You Making?

Embrace mistakes and keep writing.
Credit: EKHumphrey

 I don’t know about you, but I’ve been trained to not make mistakes. (My kids may see it as my perfectionist tendencies....)

For many years, I have worked as a journalist. I consistently work to get my facts right. Obviously mistakes can happen. But I really do try to avoid them. Are you the same way with your work?

This perfectionist attitude at the keyboard—or using pen and paper—can sometimes cause problems. For several years I’ve studied creativity, which encourages mistakes.It is the trial and error that helps to bring us around to the truth we are seeking as writers and in writing.

While this may push against the “write what you know” lesson, in this case it may be trumped by “learn from your mistakes” lesson. After all, didn’t you need to switch points of view in your first novel to really understand how to stay in one point of view or learn how to gracefully shift from one to the other? Or what about switching your protagonist from a male to a female halfway through your short story? Just trying to get things right, even if he ends up as a she on page 150.

Recently I realized I have not been making enough mistakes in my fiction writing. So I’m going to work on making more mistakes. What are some ways one can try to make mistakes in writing? Here are a few that I’m going to try:

1. Write for a longer time than usual, which may cause the writing to become more carefree...and maybe more prone to mistakes?
2. Take the most opposite point of view imaginable. We often are in a comfort zone about the point of view we start with. Take an unexpected perspective and see where it takes you. Getting out of the comfort zone will challenge your characters and your writing.
3. Insert an unexpected conflict. Tension can build with conflict—what happens to your narrative if something (or someone) arrives that is different than the direction you were headed?
4. Comfortable writing poetry? Practice writing a press release. Is corporate writing a breeze for you? Then challenge yourself to some flash fiction.
5. Play with length. Try telling about your town’s claim-to-fame in 140 characters or less. (Then tweet it!) Or write as if your entire novel—including any back-story—can fit into 100 words (or less).

Because we spend so much time in our lives trying not to make mistakes, challenge your writing a little and don’t be surprised if you find mistakes after you’re done!

What is the funniest, UNintentional mistake you’ve found in your own writing?

Elizabeth King Humphrey is an editor who spends her time finding mistakes—frequently in her early drafts! She writes and edits in North Carolina.

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Leave a Comment Elizabeth King Humphrey, learning from mistakes, writing mistakes, writing practice

Friday Speak Out!: Making Meditation a Part of Your Writing Practice, Guest Post by Michelle Cromer

Making Meditation a Part of Your Writing Practice

by Michelle Cromer

You can’t turn on the TV, open a magazine or boot up your computer without bumping into someone singing the praises of meditation. The first time I told my orthopedic surgeon husband I wanted to meditate he accused me of joining a hippie cult. That was six years ago, and now he meditates every morning before performing surgery.

There are many different types of meditations, such as Zen, yoga, guided imagery, and creative visualization, and each culture seems to have its own unique meditations. I practice Transcendental Meditation, often known simply as TM, a type of meditation that helps the person meditating to focus on one thing—a sound—thus cutting down on scattered thoughts and other distractions. This sound, or mantra, cleanses the body and mind of negative thoughts and energy and helps develop a point of concentration. People who meditate have fewer doctor visits and can lower their blood pressure, cholesterol, and stress hormones. They have less heart disease, less depression, and increased confidence. They are calmer. But the one point that sold me is that meditation seems to slow the aging process. After months and months of TM, I was able to let go of the zillion thoughts that pass through my frenzied brain, but this took practice and commitment.

Om is said to be the basis of all sound and is so widely acknowledged in our culture that it is usually the first sound someone thinks of in relationship to meditation. Meditation is the awareness of the flow of reality, space, and time. Unlike philosophy, which strives to achieve an order through mental reasoning alone, meditation looks for a deep acceptance; a knowing that comes from the mind.

I commit to once a day, thirty minutes. I work these thirty minutes into my daily schedule. On the days I am in and out of airports, I meditate on the airplane. The people sitting next to me assume I am asleep.

Meditation teaches us to become less attached to our jealousies, fears, and judgments. Meditation allows us to engage in our work and hobbies, but without defining ourselves in terms of them. As the Bible says, “Being in the world, but not of the world.” Through mediation our sense of self remains steady and complete, no matter what chaos or crisis happens to be in our lives or in the news. We maintain our center and thus our balance.

Here is one simple way to make meditation a part of your routine. Before you begin to write, take 88 breaths. The number 8 means strength. Start by counting to 44, don’t think about anything else, and just count. Here’s the pay off, around breath 44 you will start to relax. Your mind will let go of distractions. The next 44 breaths will feel like nirvana. Now you are ready to begin writing.

Mediation can enhance your writing and change your life.

* * *

 On September 1, Balboa Press/Hay House released Michelle Cromer’s spiritual memoir, Where Am I Going? Moving From Religious Tourist to Spiritual Explorer, endorsed by Caroline Myss. A woman of contradictions, Michelle believes that spirituality and capitalism can co-exist, that you have to sit still to get somewhere, and that - despite her best efforts - there are some questions for which the answers only come when you stop asking.  She lives with her family in El Paso, where her nonprofit works to bring justice for the missing and murdered in Juarez.  Where Am I Going is Michelle’s third book.

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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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Leave a Comment Friday Speak Out, meditation, Michelle Cromer, writing practice