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Written by Samantha Fenner
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Thursday, 10 January 2008 18:00 |
Hello Gang,
I'm still behind on reading the last several messages, hope to get to
them tomorrow. Does anyone who wants to participate in this not have a
book yet? If not, could you please let me know - on or off list. Thank you.
This Fri's assignment is a two 15 min parter.
Visualize a partition separating you from the glaring opinions and
half-truths that stop you from writing. Set your timer for fifteen
minutes and write about it. Be specific: What is the partition made of?
What does it look like? Is it a curtain, a screen, or the walls of an
office cubicle? Can light penetrate it? Now imagine surrounding yourself
with this partition as you write. How does it feel?
That's the physical component. What about your mental partition? Write
the words NO DISCLAIMERS on three by five cards and tape one on your
computer monitor, push pin one on the bulletin board - put them wherever
you'll see them. Set your timer again for fifteen minutes and write
about what you will tell yourself when the negativity tries to penetrate
your creativity. It may come down to one line: /Somebody has to make it,
why not me?/ That's what I told my friend Billy Weiner, years ago in a
car on a dark Vermont road, and I've repeated it to myself over the
years when the going was rough and it looked as if I was getting nowhere
with my writing.
If you don't protect yourself, you'll stop writing before you have even
begin. You'll look at your tablet or monitor screen and you'll say,
"What's the use?" And if you don't write, you'll be miserable. You'll
depress everyone around you. Your dog will stop eating. Your cat will
hide under the bed. Your canaries will stop singing.
Chin up, hang that partition, and write your defensive when the voices
begin.
Ready, set, GO!
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Writer's Corner - Pen On Fire 
