In Part 1, I wrote about what it’s like to discover you can actually design and create what you wear. Here in Part 2, the focus is on designing your own writing practice.

THE INTRINSIC PATTERN

Maybe the notion that you can actually design a writing practice will be new to you. But why not? It’s involves a combination of trying things on, and finding out what will work for you – what will “fit” you. And as with actually doing the writing, it depends on what calls to you in the moment.

Yet, there is one unchanging principle that I can share with you, which comes from my experience with designing clothing:

All clothing is based on the actual shape of the human body.

Yes, professional clothing designers have tried to get around this, just as certain chefs have turned the art of food making into unique science experiments that are very attention-getting but you would never want to actually eat.

But there’s no getting around the basic shape of the body: one head, two arms, two legs, a torso, “designed” in the shape of a five-pointed star. Whatever fabrics, colors, or textures are used to make the clothes, they all must follow this intrinsic pattern.

So your task is to find the intrinsic pattern of a writing practice.

What do you think the intrinsic pattern of a writing practice is?

Is it like a meditation practice, which you do (or seek to do) with enough regularity that you feel “off” when you don’t do it?

Is it that it interweaves with the actual life you’re living, speaking to it and infusing it in ways that help you grow?

Is it that you find ways to grow your commitment to your writing that your book has a chance to put down roots and reach out from underground as well as send up branches into the sky?

What do you think is the equivalent of the five-pointed-framework of the human body, on which a writing practice can hang?

You could inquire into this. You could experiment to find out your foundation.

MAKING THE INTRINSIC PATTERN YOUR OWN

Because you are going to be the designer, I actually can’t prescribe how you “should” go about finding your writing practice(s). But I can give you some hints, one or more of which may spark your own creative esthetic and a sense of what fits you.

Here are some questions to reflect on:

WHEN are good times for you to write?

First thing in the morning?
At night, when the world is put to bed?
On the weekend, when you can more easily turn away from to-do’s?
(Fill in the blank – try things and see.)

WHERE are good places for you to write?

At home? (Well, these days, probably. But I love writing at home the best, providing I can invoke a sense of quiet.)
In your car?
In nature, even if it’s a local park?
At a friend’s house?
At a coffeehouse?
At a B&B?
(Fill in the blank – try things and see.)

What BODY POSITIONS are good for you to write in?

Sitting down?
Standing up? (I stand up when I write at my typewriter.)
Lying down? (This is more conducive to letting your unconscious have a say, letting your mind roam on a given subject.)
On the floor? (Lying on your belly with your feet in the air like a kid – worth a try: will it affect what comes out, and/or how it’s said?)

What are good ways for you to GET THE WORDS DOWN?

A computer?
By hand? And if so, are there certain kinds of pens/pencils that ease and inspire you? Certain kinds of paper?)
A typewriter? I use an electric typewriter for much of my own, nonprofessional writing. (I experience it as an ally, an instrument like the piano. And its hum accompanies my thoughts.)
A tape recorder? There’s no rule that the way the words come out of you has to be through your hands. It can just as well come through your mouth. (I spoke the Prelude to my book-in-progress on my tape recorder while at a local marina, looking at the water. The words came slowly, up from the depths of my silent inner life. There was a rhythm to it. Later, when I translated what I had spoken into typed words, that rhythm remained; very valuable.)

What’s a good ENVIRONMENT for you to write in? What SETS THE STAGE? What allows you to enter into the Holy Silence of your true nature, and give it space to speak?

Set an intention?
Make a prayer?
Do deep breathing?
Light a candle?
Re-read something you wrote earlier, which you love?
Put on some music?
Make some sounds and note how they feel in your body?
Sing a fitting song, and let that vibration carry you into the rich unknown of your writing?

What could you be doing during your “writing time” that ISN’T DIRECTLY WRITING but can CONTRIBUTE to it indirectly?

Staring out the window with a diffuse (for now) attention?
Doing research?
Taking a walk (or otherwise moving your body) to “digest” what’s been taken in (from your own mind or externally) and see what bubbles up in response? and even
Cleaning the house? (I have a theory about the value of this in connection with writing – to be shared another time)

What question HAVEN’T I ASKED that you would like to inquire into / reflect on in connection with this concentration? (You can respond in the Comments section, below.)

My conviction is that the “Intrinsic Pattern” in this context has something to do with the Hidden Treasure inside you that wants to be known. When you can reach into your deeper Self—even if knowing little-to-nothing about what you will write—that depth of being, born of a cosmic intrinsic pattern, has room to reveal itself to you. And rejoices in doing so.

You can play with this!

As with designing clothing, jewelry, or any other art that is both useful and esthetically pleasing, you have latitude as to how you design your writing practice.

Just remember to be kind to yourself, and to take note of what does and doesn’t work for you. As with any art, including dressmaking, some parts will come easier, some will need to be discovered before they can be put into practice. If you have the equivalent of puckered seams, notice how that came together and the next time try it differently.

Keep experimenting with what is the closest match to your own nature. When you have a match, celebrate! And repeat it.

But don’t turn it into a formula. It may work every time, or it may not. If you keep your aliveness, your living interest, at the forefront, you can design more than one way to do it. You can come up with a whole wardrobe of ways to move into your writing that fit you.

Wear them well.

INSPIRED TO WRITE YOUR BOOK?
BUT DON’T WANT TO GO THROUGH IT ALL ALONE?

I help people who value the inner life write the book of their heart. Together, we listen out what's there wanting to be written. And we discover your natural ways of creating, so you can be even more of yourself) in the process. Because you are essential to the writing of your book. And only you can do it.

As the creator of the "Writing from the Deeper Self" process, with over 30 years in the publications field, I have worked with many wonderful authors (often, first-time authors) whose books are now in print. I also provide help with self-publishing.

Contact me to explore how we can do this important work of birthing your book together.