Category: Creative play

Tuesday Tickle: Renaming Today “Muse-day”

Posted on by Joy Held

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

                ~Stephen King, On Writing

Waiting on inspiration? Really? That writer must not need the money or realize how important the process is. It’s just as important as the product when it comes to writing. Lots of us know we have a mysterious “writing muscle”, and true, it needs a kick in the thing we use to hold chairs down with but the process doesn’t require inspiration to be put into gear. The process requires perspiration. And since the advent of the psychological term “writer’s block”, the invention of a muse is popular when it comes to needing the proper impulse to write. What is a muse anyway? Is it the inner critic? Is it a secret font of ideas stored in our subconscious we just have to tap into for stuff to write about? Is it some guy sitting in the basement smoking cigars admiring his bowling trophies (more Stephen King) while we struggle for the stream of words that make us writers? Muse, inspiration, whatever, are all just another word for courage. Are we brave enough to be the writers we dream we are?

What the muse or the inspiration may actually be is the time it takes for our brains to sort through the muck of stimulations we absorb constantly and bring something cohesive to the surface. That’s why English professors have a far off look in their eyes all the time. It explains why novelists spill things. Brain work for writers is the equivalent of an intense cardio workout for not the recommended thirty-minute session with a cool-down afterward, but a continual mind boggling distraction until we figure it out. Then we have something to write. The muse is our minds organizing the clutter of the process until the words fall into place and we can fill the pages with them. There is no inspiration. There is only the process of thinking, connecting, writing drivel, and more thinking until it becomes the answer to the question we have asked with our stories. The muse is the imaginary delivery girl dressed or undressed in the costume of your own mental doing. She (or he or it) gives us somewhere to place the blame while we’re waiting on the brain to tidy up the mess of stuff we’ve fed it. But it’s the writing process that enables the brain to have what it needs. So keep the process going: journal, write ugly grammar, blog, and read, read, read until the muse is inspired enough to bless you with the story.

 

“Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:

‘Fool!’ said my Muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write.’”

                ~Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

                Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet I

This inspiration-muse thing has been going on for quite a while. But notice the Muse says, “…and write.” She doesn’t say, “Take a seat, honey, and when I get this figured out for you, I’ll call.”

Will you take the process challenge this “Muse-day” and give her something, anything to work with?

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Heat Up Creativity With These Jan. Celebrations

Posted on by Joy Held

Who doesn’t need a moment or two of mental game playing to relax the mind? When we are deeply engrossed in a project and start to feel bogged down or out of focus, taking a mental play date with some fun or nonsense notion can provide the respite we need to feel refreshed enough to finish the chores. These out-of-the-box January holidays may be just the ticket for giving you a moment of merriment and perhaps provide you with an idea or two for conversation or blogging like this first date did for me.

January 4 Trivia Day

I’m always looking for connections and synchronicity in my life. I needed something to jump start my blogging for the week and my husband has been obsessed this holiday with reading a particular book. It’s wonderful when my husband reads because usually he’s quiet, and I always know where to find him-in his comfy reading chair in the family room. But this book has been a noisy intrusion. He’s reading BRAINIAC, ADVENTURES IN THE CURIOUS, COMPETITIVE, COMPULSIVE WORLD OF TRIVIA BUFFS written by Jeopardy game show phenom Ken Jennings. Like I said, it’s fine when my husband reads, but he’s way too excited about this book. I know because instead of being quiet, he’s sharing out loud as he reads. And there are obviously many banal trivia questions in the book that he simply must ask me if I know the answer to. The holiday break has been a daily game of Jeopardy in my TV room while I’m trying to watch something serious like the New York Jets get their rears handed to them on a silver platter. But I’m patient because trivia, I’ve decided, is a form of higher intelligence. After all, as my daughter said during one of the quiz sessions, “I’m not so sure there is such a thing as useless knowledge.” Okay. I can agree with that because I’m a word person and the juxtaposition of ‘useless’ and ‘knowledge’ intrigues me. But when she immediately searched for useless knowledge dot com and started to add to the trivia swirling around the room, I went to another room to finish the cooking show I was watching. Cooking and food. That’s important.

In all fairness, Jennings’ book is well written and who would have thought to organize the world of trivia into a “Trivia Timeline: A Brief History of Time Wasting”? And I admit, I finally picked up the book and as my habit, read the last page first and was rewarded with trivia I consider valuable.

“Trivia, to borrow a phrase from Walt Whitman, is large. It contains multitudes. In fact, it contains everything. That’s what we love about it.” (Brainiac, Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, Ken Jennings, The Random House Publishing Group, New York, 2006.)

January 20 Penguin Awareness Day

Again the connections and synchronicity of this observance caught my attention. I don’t typically have much use for penguins. I don’t understand how they can be so content waddling everywhere, but I guess if that’s all you know… The holiday information site Holiday Insights provided me with the loosely structured information about this day. While not a holiday or a national recognition of penguins, it provided me with a bridge to this post. I received a copy of the dvd The King’s Speech for Christmas which has an endearing scene in it where the king (played by Colin Firth) tells his daughters, (the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret) a bedtime story about a father who had been turned into a penguin by an evil witch. He is subliminally complaining about having to wear the tuxedo he is dressed in and claims that in the story, the papa is heartbroken because as a penguin he can’t hug his darling daughters because penguins have no arms. I loved the movie but I still don’t have much use for the poor penguin except to notice how the image cropped up twice in as many days on my personal radar. Well, that’s my contribution to Penguin Awareness Day January 20.

Here’s the website if you need some more random, synchronous connections to notice in your own world Holiday Insights.

Do you have any January observances you are especially looking forward to?

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Stillness and Creativity

Posted on by Joy Held

Create is a verb that requires doing. Creativity is a noun that thrives on setting aside moments to think something through. Stillness contributes to the creative process by allowing our minds and bodies to become deeply involved in the steps needed to compose the work. The idea again is to recognize the balance necessary to the creative process. A process usually involves multiple steps in order to achieve the desired outcome. A book, a cake, a painting, a ceramic vase, or a ballet all demand the ordered task of recognizing a question then answering it with creative effort.

What artist hasn’t come up with the answer in a dream at one time or another? Sleep is a good example of how moments of stillness allow creativity to noodle around and come up with an idea. Journaling is another good place to explore ideas. It’s a place to still the mind by keeping out the normal daily assaults we endure and focusing on the mundane or the particular as we write. Many creative notions are discovered in a journal. And a great many eureka moments happen when we’re wet. Almost everybody can remember a time when a brilliant idea happened in the shower.

Create is a verb. Creativity is a noun. Creative is an adjective and describes those who take the time to be still and wait for the imagination to do its job.

Can you remember a moment of stillness when a creative idea popped into your head?

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

 

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

 

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

 

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

 

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

 

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

 

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

 

 

 

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Books that changed my life week

Posted on by Joy Held

THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron with Mark Bryan changed the lives of a lot of writers and artists when it appeared in 1992. It delivers on its claim to be “A spiritual path to higher creativity.” The foundation of Cameron and Bryan’s twelve-step approach is the journaling practice they call morning pages. When some people read the rules of morning pages about sitting down every morning and writing three pages of whatever in long hand, they put the book in the donate box and never looked at it again. Not everybody has the time to devote to a serious journaling exercise as suggested by Cameron and Bryan, but anyone who has ever taken up the challenge to follow the morning page routine as described is changed forever and never look back on the dry, stale, uncreative days of the past. With the space and freedom created by regular journal writing, no artist has to waste time on worrying about blocked spells of unjuicy times. Following the morning pages routine even just once in a career without cheating or missing a day for whatever time period you set (a month, twelve weeks, etc.) will reboot your creative powers. Whenever you’re feeling low, return to the morning pages and watch the blocks melt away and the creative juices flow again.

“Morning pages are nonnegotiable. Never skip or skimp on morning pages. Your mood doesn’t matter. The rotten thing your Censor says doesn’t matter. We have this idea that we need to be in the mood to write. We don’t.”

“Morning pages will teach you that your mood doesn’t really matter. Some of the best creative work gets done on the days when you feel that everything you’re doing is just plain junk. The morning pages will teach you to stop judging and just let yourself write. So what if you’re tired, crabby, distracted, stressed? Your artist is a child and it needs to be fed. Morning pages feed your artist child. So write your morning pages.” (THE ARTIST’S WAY, Julia Cameron with Mark Bryan)

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Creative Ways to Stay Positive

Posted on by Joy Held

 

Continuing to support “National Positive Attitude” month, here are a few ideas for creative ways to stay upbeat in spite of the natural pitfalls of daily living.

See full size image

1.Health-get a check-up. Schedule an appointment with your health care practitioner and ask for a full work up. It helps to know exactly where we stand in the areas of dental and overall health. If something pops up in the test results, address it as soon as possible. This is a great way to feel good about our health and gives us a reason to feel positive. A regular mammogram schedule saved my life by identifying a problem well before it got out of hand. Good health is everything.

 

2.Donate-give some time, money, or resources to a local charity. Clean out a closet and deliver unwanted items to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or your church. Offer your volunteer services to work office hours for a non-profit or read to children. Send a financial contribution to your favorite charity or hospital research center. Don’t know who to support? Try the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, P.O. Box 6025, Albert Lea, Minnesota 56007-9832.

 

3.Gratitude journal –it’s an amazing process to take the time to sit down and write out everything we’re grateful for. From the smallest (our pets) to the largest (our health, our freedoms), everyone has a few things to be thankful for. Write them down and carry the list around with you for a few days. The smile on your face will catch on with others.

How do you plan to stay positive this month and always?

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Two Things Art Journaling Has Taught Me

Posted on by Joy Held

I recently discovered art journaling when I stumbled across a magazine dedicated to the concept. It fascinated me by combining things I’d done separately for years. Art journaling combines writing, scrapbooking, and art into one satisfying activity that has taught me a few things about what it means to be creative.

 

The term “art journal” has more than one definition depending on who’s doing the talking. An artist is never without her sketch pad much like a writer is never without a small notebook for jotting down ideas. The new twist on the phrase is the inclusive nature of the activity. Practically anything goes as long as it can be applied to the page. Art journalers are very resourceful when it comes to getting something to stick to a journal page. Glue, brads, staples, needle and thread, masking tape, and adhesive bandages are just some of what’s possible to use when affixing something to a page.

 

This is an early attempt at art journaling when I was learning to incorporate different textures.

 

 

 

The freedom of art journaling has taught me two valuable lessons that I’ve carried out into the world.

 

1. Although I have great respect for the study of art, you don’t have to have an art degree or be really talented in art to succeed. The goal for me is an artistic interpretation of something written. This has given me confidence and expanded my ideas about what creativity is and made me more accepting of other people’s creative efforts.

2. I’ve learned that it’s not enough to be brave enough to write down difficult things. What counts is being brave enough to really face the difficult things in writing and then the make changes.

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

 

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

 

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

 

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

 

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

 

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

 

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Tuesday Tickle: Creativity In Six Words

Posted on by Joy Held

 

 

Art is blind faith in control.

 

Comments limited to six words, please.

 There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

 

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

 

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

 

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

 

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

 

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

 

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance! 

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Puzzles For Brain Power

Posted on by Joy Held

Creative people need brain power. It is brain power that brings the good ideas out in the open so we can shape and form them into novels, paintings, or whatever your medium of choice should be. Besides inspiration and the right foods, our mental faculties need regular workouts to stay sharp and focused so we can recognize a good idea when we see it. Puzzles are a quick and easy way to keep our thinking powerful.

How and why do puzzles help our brains stay alert and focused? The brain’s mini-computer runs on “software” much like our laptops and other digital thinking tools. Our brains require attention, processing, cognitive flexibility, the ability to retrieve stored information, and reasoning skills to get us through our basic day. These functions need regular challenge and are strengthened and more readily available to us if we remember to weave brain exercises into our lives.

Schedule creative play and work puzzles on a regular basis and your brain skills will remain sharp and intact for much longer. We all have so much on our plates these days that working a puzzle for brain training rarely crosses our fuzzy minds. Keep it simple and play games on your cell phone, carry around a small word puzzle book, and keep puzzles readily available in the house where it will allow you take just a few minutes on a regular basis and work it out.

Here’s an interactive word search puzzle using words from the Writer Wellness plan to get you started. It’s fun. Try it and then look for other puzzling ways to keep your brain humming.

Writer Wellness Interactive Word Search Puzzle

 http://www.wordsearchmaker.net/wordsearchplayer.aspx?puzzleid=42e906f1-39ae-431c-ba09-3847845e5b61

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

Be well, write well.

Tuesday Tickle: The Consequences of Creativity

Posted on by Joy Held

Tuesday Tickle: The Consequences of Creativity

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

This word “consequences” has mistakenly gotten a bad reputation in my opinion. Lots of people equate it with punishment for an action. That’s one way to look at it. Another way is to appreciate that for every action there is a reaction. What a scientific thing to say about something as karmic as consequences.

Being creative has its consequences. The degree of reaction to one’s creativity is directly related to our perspective, how we view things. Is everything black and white, a rainbow of color, or some shade of gray in the middle? Every view is creative to a certain point, some more creative than others.

The Either/Or Creative Soul: For example, some person’s degree of creativity is to see everything as either/or. It’s black or it’s white.  Is that a rigid viewpoint or a distinct one? Perhaps it’s just clean-cut and easy to classify. There are less containers to worry about and less brushes to clean up after an artistic episode. It’s a simple yet creative in a basic sort of way to live. Caution: with so little variety in this form of creativity boredom is a real danger.

The Rainbow Creative Wacko: Another type of creative personality sees a rainbow of colors and possibilities regardless of the situation. Maybe a bit Polly-anish for some of us, a tad too optimistic, but this persona fills a need in the circle of creativity. Without this person, the rest of us might never see the options. There’s always another way, and the rainbow creative does not recognize boundaries ever. Caution: fatigue easily sets in to this personality because the answers to questions are endless. Whew.

The Delicious Middle Ground Artist: Then there is the middle creative personality who keeps the rest of us in check, holds us together like the yummy center of an ice cream sandwich. But on hot days, middle-of-the-road-creatives melt down pretty quickly because they are never really sure about anything. Caution: this might be a depressing place to be over and over, day after day. Buy some rose colored glasses for a change of pace.

Do you recognize your creative personality in one of the above? Take heart, we can be them all anytime we want.

Happy Note: Book signing and hatha yoga demonstration Saturday, June 25 at Borders in Vienna, WV, 2-4 p.m. Will I see you there? Bring your yoga mat!

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayerhttp://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

Tuesday Tickle: Memories as Writing Gifts

Posted on by Joy Held

One of the most memorable gifts my husband has ever given me was a packet of letters. We were going to be apart for three weeks, which is a really long time for us. I won’t go into the mushy details, but neither of us looked forward to the lengthy separation. On the day I boarded the plane, he handed me a stack of large white envelopes with a rubber band around them. On the front of each envelope he had written “Day 1”, “Day 2”, and so on.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s something we did in the Navy when we were gone for long periods of time,” he said. “Wait till you get there to open the first one.”

I couldn’t stand the suspense, but I waited and it was worth the wait. He had written a brief letter to me for everyday we were to be apart. Every morning I would open another envelope and read a story, a poem, a wish, a memory, a joke, or plans for something we wanted to do when I returned home. It was absolutely the most romantic thing ever. I loved it and returned the favor the next time our schedules pulled us apart for several days.

Letters are a foreign language to some people in this age of emails and social networking. Technology pales, however, to the warmth and power of words prepared just for a special recipient. The letters from my husband were funny, charming, sexy, and interesting. And when I sat down to create a packet for him to take on a trip, the challenge was bigger than I expected. It required me to think forward and backward at the same time. I wanted my letters to be meaningful and interesting, and I wanted them to be something he could enjoy on his trip.

People love getting letters. Is there someone in your life who is taking a trip in the near future? Want to tell them they are loved? Prepare a packet of letters in advance of the trip. The letters don’t have to be lengthy, just meaningful in some personal way that you share with the receiver. Here are some ideas:

*Write a quote a day at the top of each letter.

*If you have plans while the person is away, tell them in the letter for that day. “Today I’m scheduled to see the dentist. I hope he has purple toothbrushes this time!”

*Copy poems about travelers or journeys

*Draw pictures or include photographs

*Send jokes

*Remind them to visit your blog on a certain date and include a note to them in your blog post

*Include any special dates they should remember while they are gone like birthdays and anniversaries

*Tell them how much you are looking forward to their return

This is an example of a writing gift that makes an incredible memory for friends and couples. Have you ever done this before? Any similar ideas that you’ve experienced with writing gifts?

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.