1. For When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed by Life 

Sometimes the problem isn’t your writing; it’s everything else going on in your life. The mind can be a crowded place even on the best of days! But when you’re stressed, the swirl of thoughts and feelings can be a tidal wave reaching up to drown you. Your writing goals (like mine) might be a victim of this overwhelm because, unless you’re a full-time writer, it’s a “you” thing that can be cut without impacting anybody else. 

And yes, sometimes simplifying your to-do list is needed. But other times, you need to declutter your mind (not your schedule) to help you see the time and space you do have for writing. That’s why meditation can be a great pre-writing ritual! Even a 13-minute meditation like this one can help clear the way for a productive, easeful writing session. 

2. For When You Want to Keep Your Writing Sprints Interesting

Writing sprints are a great tool you can use to get over a resistance toward writing. For me personally, after a long day on my computer, often the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer and restart my angry typing. But if I can tell myself, “just do twenty minutes and then you can go read,” I’m much more likely to get to it. And then once I start, I might find my groove. And when I find my groove, I’ll keep going!

There are tons of musical meditations you can use that are in increments of ten minutes. Simply hit play and write until the music stops. Here’s one of my favorites! It’s upbeat and has no words, so it is fun without being distracting.  

3. For When You Need a Power Nap Before You Write

Rest is a key ingredient to creativity! But if you’re like me and wake up actually grumpier and more tired after a nap, you probably avoid siestas altogether and just accept tiredness as a part of life or skip writing and go to bed early. 

An alternative you could try is Yoga Nidra. Don’t worry, this won’t require you to bend into a pretzel or stand in tree pose. Yoga Nidra is actually “yogic sleep”. It resets your nervous system through a set of body scans and other techniques that put your body into a state of rest and digest…without you actually needing to go to sleep. It’s not meditation, but has similar benefits. 

So if you have time (most Yoga Nidra sessions, like this one I love, are 20+ minutes), give it a try! You’ll feel both invigorated and at peace. That’s a great state from which to write. Bonus tip: there are tons of Yoga Nidra’s you can do before bed to help you fall asleep faster, too! That might set you up for more energy to write the next day.

4. For When You’re Stuck in A Plot Hole or Other Writing Mishap

Sometimes you write yourself into a hole that you just don’t know how to dig yourself out of. It might be that you’re bored by your own book, changed your mind about a subplot or character too many times and don’t know what to do next, or don’t know how to get your character from point A to point B. 

Visualization exercises can be a great way to get your mind processing ideas and information in a different way. Here’s a “treasure hunting” visualization that I enjoy. It really stimulates all your different senses as you move through a magical cave and into a room with thousands of little treasure chests, each containing a message for you! Perhaps one of them holds the key to your present writing conundrum? 

5. For When Rejection Stops You In Your Tracks

Rejection is one of those more unfortunate ingredients in the writing process. But if you’re bravely putting yourself out there, sooner or later, you’re gonna get rejected. It may be from a beta reader who thinks your most beloved character is two-dimensional, it may be from a your dream agent, it may be from a publishing house, or it might be that first 1-star Goodreads review you read even though you know you shouldn’t have. 

Rejection is a reality of the process. But knowing that intellectually and dealing with it emotionally are two different things! Meditation can be one tool in your toolkit for sorting through the sadness (or anger) and finding the motivation to carry on despite it. Here is one meditation that might help you press pause on your emotions instead of letting them swallow you whole. 

Ashley Christiano is a fantasy writer, experienced tarot reader, and professional astrologer based on Los Angeles, CA. As The Novel Mystic, she combines the power of astrology, tarot, and creative writing to empower women, educate the astro-curious, and inspire her own storytelling. You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter to learn more or get your own reading.

The post #5onFri: Five Meditations to Help You Find Your Writing Confidence appeared first on DIY MFA.

At dusk I listen to the birds tucking in for the night. Their chatter is loud but not quite as loud as the morning. Hearing the birds wind down from the day signals my mind to likewise slow down for the night. My stress levels calm down on days my internal clock is synced to birdsong at dawn and dusk.

I feel like a part of my day is missing if I don’t hear the birds sing. I start the day relaxed and centered, and my observational skills are sharper. This is the perfect time to start listening. Spring is prime time for males to show off in hopes of attracting a mate. Birdsong is in full swing.

Why does birdsong relax the brain?

Our brains love predictable patterns. Knowing what is next in a pattern helps settle the mind into a groove so that everything is in sync. An example is the A-B-A pattern in music. Even if you aren’t a musician you subconsciously learn and anticipate what comes next with the structure of verse-chorus-verse. Fractals in nature, such as the repeating patterns of the leaf mimicking the structure of the tree, relax our minds in a similar way.

Tai Chi is also a restorative series of repeating patterns. I learned and now teach the forms by repeating these patterns. With each repetition a new circuit is created in the brain. Over time muscle memory takes over. This frees my creative energy to flow and my brain to percolate ideas in the background. My students love the soundtrack of birdsongs I play during class.

Birds create their own songs with a set series of patterns. When you listen to birds in your neighborhood you get familiar with these patterns and anticipate them. The white winged dove always sings woo-woo-ho-hoo. The pygmy nuthatch sings in monotones of peep-peep-peep. The owls talk across the trees by saying hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo, hoo.

On days when I am stuck or life events have pulled me away from writing, listening to birdsong hits the reset button and reframes my mind in a setting outside my inner monologue. The birds don’t care if that sentence didn’t work or I’m behind on a deadline. This time spent simply listening anchors me in a present place. It also gives my brain a rest to process and connect ideas.

How does listening to it help my writing?

I started this daily ritual after hearing nature writer David George Haskell advise other nature writers to go outside and just listen before writing a single word. It is now as much a part of my life routine as it is my writing routine.

I’ve learned from observation that birds start singing at dawn, get louder at daybreak, and go quiet when the sun is fully up. With daily practice I now anticipate who will be singing first and when others will join in the chorus. The curve-billed thrasher is the last to sing. Once he goes quiet, so does everyone else.

I love mysteries, and solving puzzles of bird behavior sparks my imagination. When the birds suddenly stop singing I look for clues to solve the mystery, such as a hawk on top of a nearby lamp post or a sudden shift in the weather. Connecting these cause-and-effect elements in nature translate to developing subplots that drive the main plot forward.

Listening to birdsong improves concentration. Your brain adapts to focus on just one thing. At first you only hear the main notes. After you recognize this pattern you’ll start to hear the in-between notes too.  Many characters and plot developments in my book were inspired by observing what was happening in the landscapes around me.

Paying attention to birdsong also helps with world building. You notice things you often overlook: the plants and trees in your area, the weather conditions, daylight or darkness, what the wind is doing, or how sound travels in different conditions. Taking in these details subconsciously helps your brain with the setting of your story.

Listening also helps with story structure. Starling songs are the shining example. Like a three-act story arc, their songs have a beginning of tea kettle-like whistles, something improvised in between, and a whistled crescendo at the end. The improvisation of a curve-billed thrasher might seem without any structure at first. In time, though, you learn the patterns and inflections of this bird’s song and the story he is telling. Sometimes these stories are warnings, and other times they are news reports.

We share 50 genes with birds related to vocal learning. Young birds learn songs from adult birds in the same way that human infants learn words from human adults. Both learn by a repetition of sounds, leading to a sequence of sounds that communicate meaning.

What are some best practices in listening to birdsong?

Ideally you want to listen sometime between dawn and sunrise. If this doesn’t fit in your morning routine you can also listen at dusk. Start with one bird and listen to that one bird’s song for a couple of weeks. Over time you will hear other notes in the song.

Once you are familiar with this one bird, start paying attention to the other layers of birds’ songs. With each day of practice you’ll hear who joins in at what time. Imagine their world. What are they saying, and why? Once you are tuned in to birdsong, you will hear it everywhere!

If weather prevents you from being outside, you can find wonderful soundscapes on Soundcloud. While writing I concentrate best when listening to soundscapes. I mostly listen to places familiar to me but occasionally I try something new. Bird songs from other parts of the world can sound so foreign that it’s like listening to science fiction.

Remember that it takes 30 days to create a habit. Right now is the perfect time to begin. Start with simply walking outside at a set time each day and listening. In time you will know who is singing what and why. Let the birdsong sync your mind and awaken your senses. 

Ambre Dawn Leffler is a Tai Chi instructor, gardener, and weather geek who writes about vegetables, seasons, communing with nature, and the interconnections of mind/body. She loves trees and cherishes time in their presence. Learn more about her tree time, garden residents, and wellness practices at her website ambredawnleffler.com and seasonal inspiration from her newsletter.

The post Sync Your Creative Process With Birdsong appeared first on DIY MFA.

If you think about it, our relationship with the natural world is as ripe with conflict as the relationship between two characters. Maybe that’s why so many writers have explored it as a literary theme in their work. But why exactly is this theme important? Let’s explore five of those reasons in today’s edition of Theme: A Story’s Soul.

1) The Natural World is One of the Reasons Why We’re Alive

Nature isn’t simply part of the world we live in. It provides us with food, water for drinking and bathing, and air we can breathe. It nurtures our crops and gardens with rain and sun, offers shade on hot days, and abounds with herbs and botanicals that have medicinal properties. Essentially, the natural world enables us to survive.

Books such as Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins, and C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe remind us to accept and be grateful for the sustenance and protection that nature offers us. Calling this theme “man versus nature” would be unfair and inaccurate for this reason and others we’ll discuss shortly. The point is, since we live in and are alive because of nature, it’s important for us to appreciate nature for all its beauty, nourishment, and lifesaving relief.

2) It Compels Us to Reflect on Our Relationship with Living Things

If you’ve read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or watched its film or TV adaptations, you might remember that several of its characters – Aslan the lion, the Beavers, even Mr. Tumnus the Faun – are animals or mythological creatures with animal-like features. Now, what other stories have you read where animals are part of the cast of characters? I can think of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Stacey O’Brien’s Wesley the Owl, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty – and that’s just for starters.

Indeed, our relationships with other living things are highlighted in stories where man and the natural world is a central theme. With animals in particular, we often see them portrayed as characters with human-like traits and qualities that we can relate to or see in ourselves. Sometimes, these characters are treated with love and respect. Other times, they’re neglected or mistreated in violent and heartbreaking ways. Both approaches underscore how humans and animals (and the natural world at large) depend on one another, for better or worse, in order to survive—and, more importantly, how the love between us and an animal can be one of the most nurturing and life-changing bonds we’ll ever have.

3) It Teaches Us to Reconnect with Ourselves on a Spiritual Level

Why else would Mary Oliver have compared death to “the hungry bear in autumn” in her poem “When Death Comes”? Or Robert Frost have used the famous “[t]wo roads diverged in a yellow wood” to symbolize choice in “The Road Not Taken”? Whether we realize it or not, our connection with the natural world goes deeper than survival. In fact, it takes us to the deepest parts of ourselves that find joy or solace in the calm that nature offers.

Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha is an excellent example of the spiritual side of this theme. As Siddhartha embarks on his quest for enlightenment, he experiences both the beauty and brutality of the natural world, and his feelings toward it seesaw between scorn and admiration until he learns to see nature as a source of healing and reconnecting with himself. He also meets Vasudeva, a ferryman who views the river he paddles across as a source of contemplation and mysticism. Thus, stories like Siddhartha that delve into this theme help us remember our place in the natural order of the planet. If fictional characters can remember who they are by spending time in the stillness of nature, so can we.

4) It Demonstrates the Power that Nature Holds Over Us

Of course, nature isn’t always calm and quiet. We see this in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, where select people have the power to control the earth’s energy and prevent earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions—or cause them. We also see this in Rae Carson’s Walk on Earth a Stranger, where young Lee must endure drought, extreme heat, buffalo stampedes, and the Rocky Mountains before she can join the California gold rush. And let’s not forget how the crew of the fishing boat Andrea Gail was lost at sea during a massive nor’easter in Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm.

In other words, we (and living things in general) are often as nature’s mercy. The challenges that the natural world can present through its weather, landscapes, and geological phenomena can threaten our ability to travel, our means of electricity, our homes, and even our survival. So when a story demonstrates how nature can be an obstacle to a character’s goal—or, in some instances, can serve as part of the main conflict—it illuminates how nature can be violent, unpredictable, and deadly. And when it is, we should respect its power just as we respect its gifts.

5) It Reminds Us to Take Better Care of the Natural World

It’s true that mankind’s impact on the natural world is one of many hot-button political issues right now. But it’s equally true that, just as nature affects our lives, we affect nature in return—and usually not to nature’s benefit. Look long enough, and you’ll also find plenty of stories that show characters tipping that balance in their favor and the natural world suffering as a result.

Take Jay Kristoff’s Stormdancer, for example. After an industrial revolution, the story’s fictional setting has become so polluted that its people are sick or dying, and so much of the land has been deforested that many plant and animal species—including the arashitora, one of the country’s mythical creatures—have become or are believed to be extinct. The planet Athshe in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest faces a similar crisis. Colonists from Earth enslave the Athsheans and begin clearing the mostly forested land for timber, which has become scarce on Earth. In each story, the destruction of its setting plays a major role in the plot and compels the characters to interact with nature—and to consider the beauty of what’s been lost and how to save what’s left. So when we read about this take on the theme of man and the natural world, we can’t help but think about our own planet’s environmental issues and how we can take better care of the place we all call home.

In your opinion, why is man and the natural world an important theme? What other reasons would you add to this list? Which stories have you read that are compelling examples of this theme?

Sara Letourneau is a freelance editor and writing coach based in Massachusetts. She’s currently taking clients with manuscripts in speculative fiction, literary fiction, or YA, though she’s open to other genres as well. She’s also a poet whose work has appeared in Amethyst Review, Canary, Muddy River Poetry Review, Soul-Lit, and elsewhere. A Massachusetts resident, she can often be found performing her poems at local open mic nights, reading good books, and enjoying a cup of tea. Learn more about how Sara can help you with your writing at Heart of the Story Editorial & Coaching Services. You can also connect with her at her writer website, Twitter, Goodreads, or Instagram.

The post Why Is the Theme of Man and the Natural World Important? appeared first on DIY MFA.

Alka Dhillon is the founder and CEO of Technalink, one of the leading companies in the Washington Metropolitan area providing Information Technology and Management Consulting services to both  government and commercial clients.

She received the 2012 BRAVA! Women Business Achievement Award; the Top 100 Women Leaders in STEM award; the 2013 Locally Grown honor from Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, and the Abe Venable Legacy Award for Lifetime Achievement from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Agency. She holds B.A. degrees in economics and Spanish from the University of Virginia. She contributes to The Huffington Post and blogs at The Spiritual CEO.

In this episode Alka and I discuss:

• Accessing your creative potential through meditation (Everyone has two minutes)
• Being able to release your creative agenda to meet your creative inspiration
• How to be more responsive than reactive
• Writers and leadership.

Plus, Alka’s #1 tip for writers.

More about Alka Dhillon:

Check out The Om Factor and if you want to know more about Alka, you can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram, or visit her website. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by and see her at the Mindful Fitness Festival & Concert in Highlands, New Jersey, September 12-13!

Announcements:

Don’t forget to check out the DIY MFA 101 course and join me for our open house and free video series.
Go to DIYMFA.com/OpenHouse to sign up. I can’t wait to meet you and answer your questions!

Also, Writer Igniter Con will be here before you know it. Sign up now for the lowest rate and a chance for a critique spot.

Link to Episode 59

(Right-click to download.)

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 59: Finding Your Om Factor – Interview with Alka Dhillon appeared first on DIY MFA.