Still/Shaking/fast….

It sounds too self indulgent to claim ‘Writers block’…. but I know I should be typing some work here that is ‘work in progress’ and I can’t YET! I read the stuff by Emma on here and it was so beautifully written, and true that it made my pathetic efforts look even worse:(

Ever have those times where you just either can’t write anything at all, or when whatever you write is just trash and I’m not being perfectionist – just honest:) So what do you do to combat this?

One of my writer friends swears by meditating for 20mins in her garden when her kids have gone to school – but I live in a flat with a tiny window box too miniscule for my lanky frame to squish into in any yoga position for a dose of stillness. An Osho Buddhist tradition is to do a shaking meditation, where you just let your body begin to shake from the inside out with no pattern, just whatever your limbs need to do to discharge any energy/tension built up in there…. and this shaking Osho style can go on for an hour or more before you either fall to the floor for some stillness or do a quiet sitting meditation. Theory being that after the movement your body is more prepared for the static time. I’ve never managed an hour of this, but a few minutes seems to move things around a bit. Useful if you’ve either been sitting for hours at a laptop, or working and travelling all day and your sternum feels crushed down to your hipbones.

Then another writing mate swears by ‘Fast writing’ where you just write any old rubbish very fast without stopping to think for at least 10 minutes and then stop to see if anything is useful that you’ve written for what you’re trying to compose.

So I’ve tried all three of the above in varying combinations this week, and still DRIVEL comes from my pen, hmmmm:(   Any other ideas?? I like Rukus’s idea of just backing off and chilling out for a bit of space from your writing, but I’m kind of behind on a few projects already so time pressure keeps nudging.

Apart from that, I taught 3 great groups of pupils from Chase Terrace school up at the National Memorial at the Arboretum in Alrewas yesterday. It’s part of a project called ‘Words and Willows’ where students get to work with poets writing about aspects of the place…. so we get to explore outdoors at this immense place. Then they also get to work weaving with willows to create a giant sculpture. Lucky kids eh? They have a ball, and I’m genuinely touched by the voices coming through in their poems.

In the afternoon session we worked on getting a different perspective and writing as if you were a part of the memorial – so a few pupils decided to write as if they were the giant portland stone wall where the names of dead soldiers are carved… and some chose to write as if they were the blank walls expectant of future names to be remembered. One wrote as if they were the boots of a soldier at war which was genius I thought. Talented writers – so even if I can’t write anything decent this week it felt good to get them writing!

The pitch at West Brom is currently being ripped up, so I’m arranging to spend time there next week and hope that will be the edge I need to approach a piece from a new angle. Having ripped up enough pieces of paper this last couple of weeks already it’ll be nice to see a  pitch being ripped to shreds and rebuilt. Hopefully the Litup conference in Kendal I’m at tomorrow will inspire wiser words on my return.

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