It's interesting to observe that what was once frightening and/or marginal has become an accepted … mainstream… activity.

It used to be that writing was reserved for an elite group of people. The writers were considered a kind of artist. And, though they still are, writing has become more accessible to many people. These days, anyone who believes they can write can learn to write better… and/or more easily. That is, without anxiety. Anyone who does not believe they can write can learn to believe they can write. Both are challenges of different sorts.

I was struck by the elderly couple sitting next to me at lunch today. She was editing his writing. They were sitting close enough that I could make out some of what they were saying. I could make out enough to know he was in a learning curve with respect to his writing. Easily, they were in their 80s. It was inspiring to me to see their work together.

It's never too late to do something new, or re-engage something old. And, if writing is something that's been on the back burner, it's never too late to bring it forward.

Bode Miller had considered giving up Olympic skiing at least once that was reported in the news.
"Four years after failing amid lofty expectations at the Karin
Games and a year after practically walking away from the
sport, Miller won the super-combined for his third medal
in as many events at Vancouver." (AP, Andrew Dempf, 2/22)

Joannie Rochette lost her 55 year old mother and major supporter of her Olympic skating yesterday in a sudden heart attack. Joannie is on the ice today. Many say they believe that Joannie is keeping on because she and her mom were so close and the Olympics was a goal they had together. And so Joannie was honoring it. Psychologically, carrying on is a way to keep her mom alive.

Of late I've written a great deal about taking writing breaks. Nor would I back off from the importance of doing that. But, as these two stories indicate, it's necessary as well to not give up. We many never know the true motivation that kept Bode Miller and Joannie Rochette in action. But, whatever it is, it is deeply inside of them. And, our writing runs deeply inside of us writers. It is evidenced if not in our writing, then in our thoughts about writing. I have never taken a writing break where I had not been thinking about writing. And, I have found that to be the case for writers I know and writers I've worked with.

We can stop and question our motivation. It's natural. And, at these times, our well honed perseverance carries us through if not in action, then in thoughts.

This is a day when the Hallmark and other greeting card companies can be especially assured a profit. But, as well, the sentiments expressed in these cards have become more real and heartfelt over the years. Kudos to the card companies for tuning in to what people want and need.

Today is a day to express your caring to someone important. In my case, I have taken a feral cat into my home and gentled her so that by now she enjoys being petted, massaged, and even held. I had a photo taken of her to celebrate my decision to have her as my new feline friend. Nellie, my sweet cat of 16 years died August 22nd, and since then I haven't felt much like writing. Since I do not get paid for writing (my preference), I have the luxury of writing as I feel I want to or as I believe it is important. I have talked about taking a writing break in various previous posts — and likely will in future posts — because taking a break is a necessary part of the writer's process.

I did not expect such a long break this time. Life happened in a way I didn't expect. No need to go into details beyond my missing Nellie. What matters is that I believed it was necessary to allow this break to happen and so I went with it.

As a writer, trusting your intuition is essential. Even for technical and nonfiction writing, intuition counts. I will write about intuition in my next post.

In the past I've suggested taking a break from your writing, and I've suggested doing some different activity. But, writing on a different topic, or writing in a different style can be just as or more invigorating than leaving writing altogether.

Writing needs to be alive to engage our readers. No matter what kind of writing we do from light fluff to serious academic, still there can always be life in our writing. And there needs to be. We don't want to put ourselves or our readers to sleep.

Especially when we are deeply engaged in a project, we need to bring life to it. When we work on our short pieces, the issue of aliveness is not likely to be as compelling, just because the pieces are short. And there hasn't been enough time for tedium to set in.

So, don't keep your nose to the grindstone if you're involved with a long project. Not matter how determined you are to get it done. Make sure to take writing breaks, and do a different kind of writing, or start a different project. And, you cannot help but notice life being breathed into your primary long project.

Specifically, I find myself wanting to talk to you about the role of curiosity in writing.  Of course all of us who write, or want to write, know that we are often driven by psychological factors.  For example, we may feel we have something we are compelled to say, or we feel that we must write for some emotional reason, or we get paid to write (our choice of careers) and must therefore write to deadline.

In this blog whose focus is on writer's block, it seems valuable at this point, to point to the possible role of curiosity, which is a positive motivation.  The author of Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life
, Todd Kashdan, frequently focuses on guiding people to pay attention to what energizes them as a way to deal with negative emotion, in particular anxiety.

Is there any doubt that we experience writer's block as a negative experience?  Don't we frequently talk about overcoming it?  But, Todd Kashdan suggests going where the energy is positive and let the anxiety go up and down as it will.  And, he says that typically what fuels us are our values.

When I recommend, as I often do, "just write," I'm presupposing that you will become interested in the process of writing.  This comes from years of my own experience as well as my experience of coaching writers and wannabe writers.

Now, I'd like to suggest that we enter into our writing — whatever we write — with an attitude of curiosity about what we will find there.  And further, that we look for the "gems" in our writing.  No one but ourselves needs to see or believe in the gems.  A gem is simply anything that we value about what we write.

For today, my gem is that I have discovered the concept a a gem in our writing and that I've shared with you what I perceive as the wonder of curiosity.  I hope you embrace it in your writing.

What's necessary for me are day to day responsibilities.  Emotionally what's necessary is journaling.  That has been going on daily  and has been a huge source of comfort.

Probably the last pieces of the "puzzle" regarding Nellie's passing has occurred with my trip down here to Florida.  I cried over he not being in the house when we spent so much time here on vacation.  And, I spoke with her vet to review the circumstances of her medical condition before she died.

The vet, a diplomate in feline medicine, consulted every kind of allopathic and alternative vet she could when her 22 year old cat (that's right… 22 years old) was so sick that she felt she would likely die.   And, the cat did in fact die.  And, the vet felt guilty that she could not save her.  At 22 years of age?   Even I knew that the issue was wanting to be in control and death.  And we simple cannot be.  So, I got it that not only are we not in control of someone's dying, but I was able to more deeply appreciate the wonderful life I spent with Nell.

So, whatever you're writing needs — I encourage you to be in touch with them, rather than to force yourself to do what's not natural.  Unless you have writing responsibilities where you need to meet deadlines, pamper yourself so your writing self has the opportunity to grow.

I went through many feelings on a daily basis as I wrote to my sweet feline best friend Nell every day for the last two weeks since she passed.  Well, to be completely honest, I wrote first to Mirabelle, Nell's sister feline who passed in 2002.  I've been writing in my journal to Mirabelle since Mirabelle passed.  At first,  I continued to write to Mirabelle about Nell because it was simply too painful to write directly to Nell.  As well, I wasn't sure Nell had yet arrived fully into the spirit world.

Now I am comfortably able to write to Nell, though as well I write at times to Mirabelle, and sometimes to both.

Writing is deeply ingrained in my heart and soul, and rarely a day goes by without my writing.

If this habit has not yet become strong for you, regardless of the medium in which you choose to write, do not lose heart.  Practice makes… near perfect.

While the above quote refers to fiction writing, we know that nonfiction writing has rules as well.  Rules can be guides or they can be a prison.  It depends entirely on how committed you are to the rules.

In my experience as a writing coach I have seen writers and wannabe writers shut down — writer's block — because they feel constrained to follow the writing guidelines/rules they have learned.

Recently Lucy Calkins (e.g., The Art of Teaching Writing) has influenced writing in school aged children with her program of writing that emphasizes the individual children's inherent ability to tell a story.  Rules (guidelines) are suspended.  The only "rule" is for the child to say what they have to say.  There is no correcting of sentence structure, spelling, etc..

What a wonderful message for all writers and wannabe writers… Just say it.  Rules can always be applied later.

Remember, for a writer the only thing that is important to keep your hand moving and write.

This time I got fairly far along, and then rushed the ending.  I knew it wasn't working.  I was tired and wanted the story to be over.  I knew this was not a good idea.   I  knew I was pretty much writing a sketchy outline.

So, I took "an idea break."  I sat down with a bunch of writing magazines.  I began to read for the fun of it.  As I did this, not only did I get stimulated by the ideas, but I felt a sense of community with the writers who were writing the articles.  I could feel myself being refreshed.

I've talked in my blog posts about the importance of community.  Sometimes taking an opportunity to refresh yourself, you may find yourself reconnecting with community.  How much of a break is needed is a gray area.  And, you've probably learned by now that there are no hard and fast writing rules except that a writer or  a wannabe writer needs to keep on writing.

Am I ready to get back to the novel, or am I learning something new about the way I need to write now?  Too soon to tell.  What I do know is that writing is a discovery process.  If the novel doesn't continue immediately, blogging and journaling will.

This came home to me as  I read a recent magazine put out by Writer's Digest.  It's a yearbook on novel writing.  Yet, there are many things in there that apply to nonfiction as well.

As regards writer's block, the author of the article interviewed three writers and himself.  While this is a small number, what was meaningful was that each of the authors had a distinctively different way to deal with writer's block.  The only consistency was that all faced writer's block.  Therefore, even from the small sample we can conclude that writer's block will occur if you write.  Writer's block is probably the most frequent complaint of writers and wannabe writers.   It's not something to be afraid of or to dread.  Rather, it is something you can become better at dealing with the more you pay attention to yourself and what works for you.

There are no quick fixes, but there are solutions.  As many as there are people who write.