Workshop: Six Conversations for Writing Creative Journals
“One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began.” Mary
Oliver
“Who
Am I” (b)
As we all know, time is elusive. Regardless of our
age, we reach points where we stop to ask ourselves who am I, and what am I
doing, and why? There are some major markers such as changes in relationships,
or education, or jobs, that clearly require a deeper than normal evaluation.
But sometimes even the chosen daily patterns can create situations where we
need to stop and evaluate our goals and priorities and passions.
Just as we schedule maintenance checkups for our
cars and our health, it’s good to examine whether we are en route personally,
or if somehow time has swallowed us up in its own snowstorm.
In
her book Just As I Am, author
Virginia Hearn suggests three different approaches to the time questions and the
possibilities that journey with us through all the threads in our lives.
What Time
1. “What time is
it in my life?” Write a paragraph or two in response to this question.
What Season
Another variation on time would be “what season of life am I in?”
2. Make four
lists—each on a separate piece of paper with these titles:
a. It is too
late to….
b. It is too
soon to…
c. The time is
right to…
d. I need time
to…..
What
Priorities
3. Another
three-question list.
a. What do I want to accomplish in my life?
b. What do I want to accomplish in the next
three years?
c. What would I do if I had only six months
to live?
Or
for those of you who are visual observers, map out a set of clusters using any
of the starting points above. Follow it as far as it goes, then pick out
different ‘branches’ to write about. If you are not familiar with the cluster
brainstorm, below is an example from a fiction workshop as an example. The center word begins the topic. Then draw lines to each main category. Then within a category connect sub-categories. Follow the threads for one or more until you run out. Then examine where you have the most material and where you have questions.
Photography
Dance
Painting
Art Collage
Music
Sculptor
Novelist
Literary
Fantasy
High
fantasy
Urban Paranormal
Action
Steps:
1. Over a
three-week period set aside a block of time to process each of the exercise
questions above. Begin with whichever one draws you immediately.
2. After you
complete all three approaches, note where you were comfortable in your reactions
and where you struggled.
3. Take the one
that was the most difficult to consider and write down the reasons why. Then
after another week tackle it again.
4. Did anything
change for you? Process why, yes or no?
Share: Which
question did you instinctively relate to first?
Read deep, marcy
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