My Favorite B Words

      I love words as does any writer. However, I have some words that are my absolute favorites, either because of how they sound when I say them, the feeling or picture they produce, or what they intuitively mean to me. 

     Today I thought I would share my three most favorite B words. These three words pretty much govern my philosophy of life. They provide a paradigm that I live by. Interestingly, I think they also apply to the writing life.

      Believe  A belief in yourself, a belief in the benevolence of others, and a belief that there is something larger than all of us. I'm not sure the specifics of what that is is as important as the belief that we are part of something greater, part of a power that governs the universe in which all living things play a vital role.

      Balance  Living and growing is a chaotic process. When we are in balance we see things clearer and make better choices. Our daily choices of how we spend our time are rarely between good and bad. They are about balancing our precious time between our families, our work and ourselves.

     Be     This is the hardest of the three. This is the word that tells us to slow down, stop and listen. To be is about learning to accept ourselves. Being allows us to stop the treadmill in order to hear our better self and appreciate who we are. It is about enjoying the moment. Being present in our lives.  

What are your favorite words?

Motivating Your Monday: Mental Writing

For a writer, staring at a flashing cursor is the worst next to a rejection. I have found a way around that brain numbing practice. At that moment it's so easy for me to get lost in the Blogger world or Facebook. Not to mention "researching" on cyberspace. I can easily blow an entire morning under the guise of research. What do I do? The bottom line is, if I don't have something to write-- I don't sit in front of the computer. 
     I often completely leave the room. There are lots of options;  pen and ink in hand I go to the cafe, sit at the kitchen table, out on my deck, anywhere I can still write. The key to remember is this is not a break from writing. You still have a job to do but you are using different muscles than when you sit in front of the computer.
     This A flashing curser often means I don't have a plan. When I sit in front of the computer I have an idea of what I'm going to write before I even sit down. Planning can be as vague as working on chapter 2, rewriting a scene, or as specific as describing a character. A writer always has something to work on. Don't go to the computer until you know what your writing about. Seems obvious but the pressure of a blank page and no plan is horrible.
     OK, you have a plan and still the nagging cursor is flashing or now you're staring at a blank piece of paper. This usually means I haven't done enough mental writing. When I am in the midst of a project, I am always writing in my mind. Most writers do, that is why we carry notebooks with us.(Heaven forbid we miss a flash of inspiration or a great idea). But I am talking even more basic then that. For me mental writing happens everyday, even when I'd rather it didn't.
     I have often been accused of spacing out or daydreaming. Usually, I am lost in a description, a visual image or even a dialogue with a character. Crazy? Maybe. I call it a writer's frame of reference. An artist is always storing visual images, a writer does too. However, we also collect words, feelings, descriptions...We take in the world around us in literary terms, we write it in our brain. Do we create perfect sentences? Of course not. When a non-writer looks at a chair, he sees a chair. When I look at a chair I see its rich wood grain, its worn seat and the high strong back. Get the idea? There is always something to write.

What is your cure for the flashing cursor?