This week in stead of another playdate I offer you something else. It's the workshop the playdates are based on: play with your writing.

note: This is a bonus post for the workshop I held on MuseCon (also known as the Muse Online Writers Conference).

A personal story

At the start of this year I was very ill. Pneumonia in both lungs. To "entertain" myself while being ill, I decided to write a project that had been floating in my mind for a while. A paranormal romance, with a special kind of vampires. My own brand so to say.

I wrote, and eventually finished the book in june/july of this year. I have no desire whatsoever to go back and edit that book. Why? There is no passion for it in me. I don't care whether my main character gets staked, sauteed, or snarfed up by the werewolves. He isn't talking to me, I never connected with him, and I doubt I ever will, given my complete lack of love for purely alpha males.

Even though I did finish that first draft, and I am very proud of doing that, I know I broke my own first rule of writing.

Write what you love, and write it passionately.

Write what makes the joy you felt in typing every word sizzle off the page. Write with fire, and care deeply for your characters, fall in love with them, or, in case of an antagonist, hate them with every fiber of your being. Care what happens to them, and they will pay you back tenfold. Care about your readers, make them fall in love with your main character like you yourself are, make that love show in every page, in every sentence.

When you write with that passion, there is no room for fear. There is no room for nagging doubts, for what if questions, for the vice grip of fear on the in your stomach.

You just write whenever and wherever you can, because you can't wait to find out what happens next.

The non-fiction writers amongst you, can use this same passion to make your readers empassionate about your subject, you can use that same fire, to really get into the research. Love your subject, it is all the same as fiction writers love their characters.

Right now I am working on a plot for a science fiction novel. It is hard work, as I need to do a lot of research, and the plotting needs to be tighter than anything I have written until this moment. But it is SO much joy, fun, bliss. My inner two year old is engaged with everything she has in her. She is too happy to play to realize she really would be scared otherwise.

As for me, two events led me to finally realizing what my true writing passion is. The first was realizing you need to write something that touches on your interests, thanks to the "How to think Sideways" course from Holly Lisle. The second was reading the first Stardoc novel from S.L. Viehl, a book I won in a contest she ran during the Left Behind and Loving It workshop.

I went back to my folder of writing projects, and just dug in there. I put the stories that didn't say anything to me in a separate folder. What was left over? A couple fantasy tales and 10 science fiction stories.  My inner two year old just jumped up when I realized that. She loves the stars, she loves to discover, she loves to learn, to engage her mind. She loves to muddle over things, figure out how they work.

Science fiction.

I know isn't the easiest passion to have, lots of research involved for the new novel project I am plotting, but damn, I am so in love with the genre. It touches on so many of my interests, and that is why I love to work on giving these characters the book they deserve. I am also editing a novella that has been on my hard disk for almost a year now. Why did I never edit it? Because I didn't realize how important it was to me. Because my inner two year old still managed to toss fear in front of me, until I realized how important it was.

The funny thing is, I started writing the novel project I am planning, and abandoned it. There was no passion in it. I tried to apply a plot that came to me for a mystery novel, and turned it to a SciFi novel. That SO didn't work. But I love my main character. Only now I am sitting down, and let her come to life on my computer screen. I know I can give her a book that does her justice now.

And in writing that book, there is no room for fear.

What is your passion?

Earlier this week you have met your inner two year old and worked with her to make your writing playful. Now it is time for the concluding chapter. How do you use the things you have learned this week, and make it easy to remind yourself that fear no longer has a grip on you?

Part 3: the FREE writer

Fear is a fickle thing. One moment you are playing, writing a scene that makes you giggle, the next your inner two year old tosses her fear of the unknown at you, and there you sit, all your good intentions blown to smithereens and all there is, is fear. You stare at your computer screen and wonder what drivel you have written there. Even the 20.000 words you wrote before are shit. Where is the delete button?

Fear's eyes always cloud the truth, with images of things that happened in the past, always coloured with an extra sprinkling of sour grapes. Remember that next time you tell yourself you aren't good enough, or your writing sucks. Fear lies, and fear likes to keep you in fear. Your only job is to write, and to keep writing, and eventually you will write something others like. You write for yourself though, you write because you can't not write. And most of all, stop worrying about publishing while you are in the first draft. No writer, not even the most prolific of them all, writes everything in one draft. You can fix everything later.That is the only truth you need to worry about while you write.

When it comes to breaking through your fears, you always need to

• - be truthful (fear is the best liar. The truth always sets you free. And in this case the truth is that you truly are AWESOME)
• - be focused (when you sit down to write, only keep your attention on your writing project, the rest is ballast)
• - be aware (fear sneaks up at any moment, be aware of your thoughts)

But let's go back to a couple paragraphs before, you, sitting down at your desk, scared shitless of your writing. Here are some simple tools you can use as a reminder of the free writer that you truly are.

Journal
Write down your experiences while writing, write down where you felt stuck and where you felt so elated you were ready to burst. Reading through those entries at a later stage will help you identify the spots where fear mucks up your writing, and it will be so much easier to stop yourself before fear drags you to that dark place again.

Create a Bliss book
In my other blog: Simply Blissful, I offer simple tools to help you increase your bliss. One of those tools is the bliss book. You can use this tip to create a writing bliss book. Write down quotes that make you smile, positive things people said about your writing, advise from writers you admire, pictures that inspire you. Anything that can help you just turn a page, and see something that reminds you of the amazing ability your inner two year old has to feel joy.

Make a mantra
Mantra's are words or short lines that are believed to have power to achieve spiritual growth. The most famous mantra is Om/Aum. When you feel really good about yourself, and care free in your writing, write a mantra that instantly gets you back to that feeling. It can be one simple word or line to remind you. (mine is "follow your bliss"). Then, when fear has a grip on you, just close your eyes and recite it, or light a candle, and stare into that while you recite.

Surround yourself with beauty
It will surprise you how much a small potted plant, a gorgeous artwork, or a picture of your loved ones can inspire you to write with all the playfulness you have inside you.

Stop listening to negativity
Everyone of us has one of those people around who says you will never be a published writer, or that you never will write anything good enough. They only read highly literary novels, and your science fiction doesn't do anything for them. Just don't talk to them about your writing, how much you wanna do it. All they do is trigger your fears, and make it all the harder for you to sit behind your desk the next day, hearing their judgement mingling with your own as an endless audio tape in your head.

Allow
Of all the steps to deal with breaking free, this is the most important. Allow yourself to be a free writer, and allow yourself to sit down and write every day, allow yourself to write what you love most of all, write what makes you tingle with anticipation about what comes next.
Don't listen to all those advices about genres that are popular now, or genres that don't work now. Good writing does get recognized, and genres get popular because a writer took the leap and wrote an amazing book they shopped around until a publisher said: "heck yes, that is a GREAT book!"
If J.K. Rowling, with all the setback she had during writing and shopping around the first Harry Potter book, can do it, so can you. If James Redfield can do it, so can you. There are countless examples around of writers who struggled getting their books published, and succeeded against all odds.

In closing
I really hope my workshop inspired you to break free from your fears. I will keep posting articles on this subject, both here, and on Simply Blissful.
When I started out writing this, I thought: "if I can help only one person with this, my workshop is a success."
I did help one person the minute I posted the first part, and that was me :) When I realized that I could just give the fears I had about hosting this a kick in the butt and just feel free writing this. I hope you all could feel that while reading :)
It makes me really happy to see the honest and heart warming responses to the previous posts. I am really proud of you all, for being courageous in fighting your fears, breaking through your own barriers.
And remember: never underestimate what you can do for yourself, allow yourself the freedom to write, and remind yourself that you are worthy.

And now: the prizes
Anyone who posts a reply, can enter into a raffle to win the following prizes:

1. An Ebook of Stephen King's On writing You choose the format, I buy the book and mail it to you.
2. A one hour coaching session Through chat (or if you wish we can correspond through email, 3 emails total), going deeper into your personal aspects of fear and the way it influences your writing (and your life)
3. A story - tarot session You email me a description of one of your characters on a problem they face, and I do a 3 card tarot reading for him or her.This is a great way to find underlying emotions and problems.

Just say in your first reply to my workshop which prize(s) you would love to win!

Blessings!

On Tuesday you have met your inner two year old, today we are going to explore how you can use her on your travels through your writing :)

Part 2: Come out and play!

On Tuesday I wrote about your inner two year old's positive and negative sides. She can play and dream and be utterly blissful, but she can also be very very very afraid, and is very good at giving up on something she really doesn't like (ever tried to get a 2 year old to eat food she didn't like the first time?). If you let those fears take a hold of you, you are neglecting the other side of your inner two year old: play. The funny thing is, that play is one of the best ways to deal with fear.

Want to come out and play? My inner two year old just went: "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"

Dance! Shake up your sessions
Your inner two year old hears music she loves. She drops everything she is doing, and dances, sings along even though she doesn't know the words, just hearing the music makes her blissful. And ooohhh don't get her on a swing set, because she just rocks at swinging, the biggest smile possible on her face, she tosses her legs high in the air, and is completely carefree.
Let your inner two year old out to play when you start your sessions. First do something that brings her out in full,  like dancing like mad, listening to upbeat music, start your writing with a big smile on your face, and see it as the gift that it is!
You rock, and it is time the world SEES you do! Let your characters dance like you do, and be blissfully happy in a scene, just convey the feeling you have when you play into your character's happiness.

Play somewhere else
Even though your inner two year old has her play room, she loves to get her toys and toss them all over the living room floor, or to bring a toy to bed, hiding it under her blankies, playing until she blissfully falls asleep.
Write in the subway, in the park, in a pub, in the doctor's office. Don't be afraid to just step out of your boundaries, and just write anywhere you want. You are a writer, show that to the world without a care. Whenever fear or shame pops up, tell your fear to shove it, you are playing :)

Get in trouble
Remember the feeling of being up to no good. Sneaking around the house, hiding your daddy's car keys, hiding behind the sofa, ready to shout: boooo! when someone passes by, and giggling like mad when they are all shaken up. Or be all aloof and angelic when someone asks you: "did you do that?" and shake no trying to keep a straight face.
Just bring this playful mischief into your writing, sit behind your desk with a grin, throwing in a major twist at your readers that they never saw coming until they notice they did see a hint to that earlier, or by letting one of your characters pull a prank on someone else. Get your characters in trouble, be playful and mischievous in your writing, your readers will love to see your stories sparkle with that!

Get a new toy
Your inner two year old loves nothing better than getting a gift! A new toy, a doll to play with, a new book to "read", a new friend.
Get one of your characters, and plop them into a whole different genre, a genre you love to read but haven't really thought about writing in. Get yourself a new colourful writing pad, and write with the pretty coloured pen that you always wanted but thought was childish. Anything to get your writing into a new, fearless, gear!

Build a huge tower of bricks
Just see your inner two year old, sitting on the floor surrounded with building blocks. She picks some up and tosses them away, others she puts on top of a big stack in front of her. She has a big tower already. Then she "accidentally" throws it over, and laughs like mad. She gets the bricks again, and with the tip of her tongue out of her mouth she puts a big red block at the base of the amazing new tower she is going to build. Even better than the last one, she promises with a giggle.
Don't be afraid to start over, with a story, with a book, anything. Just keep what you know is good, and just leave the rest by the wayside. It may be that you use them, or it may be that they sit in a plot bunnies folder for eternity. You rock at playing, and you can reinvent your writing every time you sit behind your desk and play with your blocks, the words that weave together the story you desperately want to tell.

Be excited
Your inner two year old sees gramma coming from a mile away. She jumps up and down and can't wait for the front door to open and let in the woman she loves the most. She really really wants to hug her and smooch her. As fast as her little feet can carry her, she runs to open the door.
Yay! You get to write! Of all the things in the world you love, this is what you love best, you, your desk and that amazing story you want to tell with every fiber of your being. And if it gets rejected, just grab the bricks, and build again, make the story better than ever, and submit it again. You are a limitless being, after all!


Your assignment
Get out the story I asked you to bring along, and select a character. Now play with him or her using one or two or all of the tips above! Remember to write with a big smile on your face, and allow yourself some play time before sitting down to write this scene. I will post my scene too, as a reply to this post.

This is a great way of using the positive aspects of your inner two year old (her llimitless imagination) in your writing. Post this meeting in either a reply to this post or an email to tamlynleigh at gmail dot com.

On Saturday I will post the last part of the workshop: the FREE Writer :)



And last but not least: the prizes
Anyone who posts a reply, can enter into a raffle to win the following prizes:

1. An Ebook of Stephen King's On writing You choose the format, I buy the book and mail it to you.
2. A one hour coaching session Through chat (or if you wish we can correspond through email, 3 emails total), going deeper into your personal aspects of fear and the way it influences your writing (and your life)
3. A story - tarot session You email me a description of one of your characters on a problem they face, and I do a 3 card tarot reading for him or her.This is a great way to find underlying emotions and problems.

If the reply to this post is your first reply to my workshop, please state which of the prizes you would like to win :) The answers to tuesday's post are already on my list. (and yes, I checked it twice ;) )

Good luck!

One of the biggest obstacles on a writer's path is their fear. It can be fear of anything: what if they won't like my stories, what if I am not good enough, what if my story is just plain stupid. From the starting block of a story to the publication of it, fear likes to play a part in each stage of writing.

In this workshop I want to offer tools to break through that fear, and get you to write through all stages, putting fear on the back burner.

But first, an introduction to the basics of play and fear. As I don't want to write a long post that no one reaches the end of, I will keep things short in this.  I might write a more detailed post on the nature of fear after the workshop if you would like to learn more :)

Part 1: Meet your inner two year old

Deep inside of you lives a little temperamental two year old. For the sake of the rest of this introduction I will use the female form. I am a woman after all, just read he if you are male :)

My inner two year old is a blonde curly haired girl in a dress with big pop art flowers, and she constantly demands my attention.

Can you picture your inner two year old already? (if it doesn't work, just get a picture of yourself at that age.)

Your inner kid can do two things really well.

She knows how to enjoy life to the fullest. She plays like a pro with all the toys that are at her disposal. She dances through life, loves to giggle and sing songs. She can often be found in a corner of the room, making up stories using her dolls as characters. Her stories are the best, because she excels in visualization, and her imagination is limitless. She dreams up whole new worlds during those moments of intense play.

She knows how to be scared shitless. She also has a dark side. She hates anything new, and she is afraid of dogs, thunder, darkness, aunt Bertha's persian cat, basically everything that gets thrown into her little world. The strangest things scare her, and she is really good at hiding away under the blankets.

Writing, two year old style
You as a writer get to deal with both aspects of this two year old, and oh boy, does she show off at all steps of your writing life.

You write something you are happy with, it is playtime to the max. You have a big smile on your face, and the words just write themselves. You see everything clearly, you can visualize your characters, and you giggle at the in-jokes you know only you will really get.
Your inner two year old goes all out, dancing, singing, joking, everyone is laughing, which makes her go even wilder.

You write a story, but you aren't happy with it. There is something missing, you just don't know what.
Your inner two year old listlessly toys with her food. Any question you ask her, gets answered with a grumpy: "don't wanna!"

You are editing your story, cut out some parts of your story, and polish it until your story shines from all sides.
Your inner two year old wonders when life got so boring. She only has her dolls, but she really really really wants to play with the jigsaw, anything but the damned dolls. She forgets that last week all she wanted to play with were the dolls, and that back then the rest of the toys were completely forgotten.

Then you show it to someone, and don't get the same reaction back that you had. You send it in to a publisher, and get a rejection letter.
Your inner two year old made a drawing, and shows it to mommy. She doesn't get the response she expects, and stomps away to the corner of the room.  She wraps her arms around her knees, and vows to NEVER do it again. Complete with a pout and a growl.

You have made a sale!
Your inner two year old is so happy, there can not be a bigger happy than the one she has. Everything is awesome in her world!

Your story is published, and gets a bad review.
Your inner two year old locks herself in the bathroom.

The last time you sent a story in to a publisher, you received a well motivated but still painful rejection, so you scratch that publisher from your possible list for the next story.
This when her fear starts meddling with her play. Last time the thunder scared her, so she never plays in the room when there is a thunderstorm.

I can come up with a lot more examples, do hope you get where I am going after these, though :)

Now the microphone is on you

Tell me about your inner two year old. What does she love to do, and what is she afraid of? What drives her insane? What makes her want to hide in the corner? And now, with this realization in mind,  what is the aspect of writing you have trouble with, how does your inner two year old come into play?
You can answer either as a reply to this post, or in an email to tamlynleigh at gmail dot com. Both ways makes you eligible for prizes.

On Thursday: Step Two - Come out and play 
For this day I want you to get out a story you have really struggled with, it can be in any stage of writing, from the first idea to several submissions.

And now for the prizes!
Anyone who posts a reply, can enter into a raffle to win the following prizes:

1. An Ebook of Stephen King's On writing You choose the format, I buy the book and mail it to you.
2. A one hour coaching session Through chat (or if you wish we can correspond through email, 3 emails total), going deeper into your personal aspects of fear and the way it influences your writing (and your life)
3. A story - tarot session You email me a description of one of your characters on a problem they face, and I do a 3 card tarot reading for him or her.This is a great way to find underlying emotions and problems.
   

Please write which prize you would like to win in your first post, so that I  can give away the latter two prizes to people who really want it :)

This year I am hosting a workshop for Lynn Viehl's Left behind and Loving It on my blog! I am very excited about doing this. In a couple of hours I will post the first part of the workshop (am posting it then to keep in tune with the US timezones :) ), and will tell you about the competition I will be running throughout the week.

I will post three times total this week (unless I think of something else I can post in between), and they will appear today, and on Thursday and Saturday.

For this workshop I use my own experience in writing, and some information from the studies I have been doing on relaxation and yoga.

I hope you enjoy what I have to offer you for this workshop, and I look forward to your posts!