Turning a Lose-Lose into a Win (or at least a Bit Better.)

November 29, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 3 Comments

Writing, planning.... is easier when you aren't surrounded by other people. Here I am in a park with my notebook, alone.

How did conflict show up in my writing this week?

Conflict showed up for my writing in how much time I wasn’t able to write, where I was and who I was with, which sounds more like excuses than I wish it did. Time, context and external interference. No one else I was with felt conflict, only me.

This is what happened that prevented me from writing in the week behind us. I was at an AirBnb with family. I wanted to keep up a modified but still focused on creating consistently. I am not sure exactly when things started falling apart, I just know they did.

It’s funny how resignation works when you don’t show up at the page.

And another day you don’t show up at the page. Resignation builds.

And another day you don’t show up at the page. Resignation gets higher and higher.

Perhaps if I wrote a short story or a scene with these elements, I might be able to step out of myself and study it a bit without shaking my finger at myself, wagging like my third grade teacher, Ms. Pizarro.

This sounds ideal to me: take what caused me conflicts in my writing and use it to fuel my creativity this week. Win-win-win.

How can you create a win-win with what might have felt like a loss otherwise?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

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How to Use Journaling to Become Clear on Your Weekly Goals – and Beyond

November 15, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 5 Comments

Because I am an artist, I have a lot of friends and coaching clients who are also artists – and many of my creative friends have an aversion to setting goals. While I know this is true in other fields, I must confess in my informal research from years of working with people on reaching their goals and fulfilling their hopes and dreams, we turn away from naming and claiming our goals for several reasons:

We are afraid to speak our goals because if we speak them and we don’t achieve them, we convince ourselves this will mean we failed. It doesn’t mean we failed at all. If our goals don’t work out exactly as we planned means your results were different than expected. You got feedback. You experimented. You won!
We are embarrassed about where we are or by what we want. People won’t understand us, won’t want to spend time with us anymore and worst, will judge us, abandon us and no longer associate with us. I can tell you, some of my wacky goals have helped me immeasurably in the “I don’t want to get tangled up in other people’s opinions” categories, so if I want to set and work toward a goal of leaving 100 pennies in random places for people to find, pick up and feel happier because of it – you and others may think I am incorrigibly silly. And that’s ok.
We don’t believe we can achieve the goal anyway so… while the heart-call is there, the energy isn’t so we ignore it. Ignoring or denial is among the most dangerous actions to take. This is where block begins to build. When we resist the desire and pile up lots of over-thinking, underappreciative energy on top of the overthinking, the mindclutter can translate into life clutter. Even taking micro-actions will keep energy flowing and will help you gain evidence that you CAN begin and you CAN move forward.

Even if it is just for this week, try this exercise as an experiment.

If you feel doubt seeping into your thoughts, consider this wisdom from Eckhart Tolle, best selling author and thought leader who wrote, “When the basis for your actions is inner alignment with the present moment, your actions become empowered by the intelligence of life itself.”

We gain clarity when we write without editing, judgment or forethought. Our inner wisdom is given room to roam. We can explore what we truly want without letting other people or our own negative thoughts get in the way of becoming energized and empowered to move forward.

Write using a stream-of-consciousness or free flow,journaling style for five minutes following the framework in the prompt:

First free flow write or journal for up to five minutes using the prompt:

This week I want – and consider what you want to feel, what you want to achieve, who you want to connect with, what you want to let go.

Build on what you want by creating a connection with

This week I intend: and base your intentions on what you discovered from writing about what you want.

How often are our intentions the same thing we have automatically been speaking for weeks, months or a season but not related to our heart’s call?

Using journaling as a tool of clarification will help you align your desire with your intention and then tie back together with what actions you will choose to take in the final prompt:

This week I will choose….which is where our goals, intentions, and vision takes form. You can want something for years or decades but if you do not set intentions and goals and move forward with love through action, you will more than likely find yourself ten years in the future in a very similar place now to where you were when you started.

Julie JordanScott is a multipassionate creative who delights in inviting others into their own fullhearted, artistic experience via her creativity coaching individually or in groups, courses and workshops. To receive inspiring content and videos weekly and find out more about Coaching, Courses, Challenges and what’s going on in the Creative Life Midwife world? Subscribe here:

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What Happened When the Inner Critic Crashed the Forest Bathing Party

November 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 4 Comments

Woman writing in a notebook in the middle of the forest. Words say "Hello, Inner Critic! Fancy meeting you here!"

Forest bathing is one of the most pleasant experiences anyone may enjoy – it doesn’t require equipment or skills or new shoes. All it requires is one have a willingness to be in a wooded area – a forest or park – even an urban park or a back yard with numerous trees will work. The technical definition (if you don’t know it yet) will show up later.

Last Monday, I visited High Point State Park in Sussex County, New Jersey which is where I am living right now. I brought my notebook with me to possibly write, but that was a second part of the plan. The true plan was to be with trees and hug a tree or two for good measure.

How did I end up laughing in the Forest with my Inner Critic?

Even as I typed the words “Laughing in the forest with my inner critic” I realized how foreign or flat out wrong this may appear to some people. Who laughs with the villain?

Who chuckles with the one who makes us feel unworthy of praise?

Admittedly as a writer and as a writing coach, I have some unconventional ideas – and trusting the process is one of them. Stay with me as the story unfolds.

These moments among the trees were like a tree fest of profound, beyond language joy. Gratitude is a close description and the feelings were – if possible to understand – so much more than simply gratitude.

Definition of Forest Bathing.

My plan was to do some forest bathing and tree hugging. What is forest bathing? National Geographic defines it like this: “The term emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku: “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”.

I brought my notebook “just in case” it felt right.

There, in the forest, I came upon a companion black oak tree which invited me to take a seat on a makeshift stool and experience forest bathing with words.

This is where my inner critic (or perhaps the spirit keeper of the woods) stepped in when the very first two words off the tip of my pen were “majestic oak.”

Woman sitting at the base of a tree, writing in her notebook. Julie Jordan Scott (Julie JordanScott) is the writer.

Smack! I felt the energetic sting of a ruler on my pale, bent fingers cradling my trusty writing utensil. I kept my head lowered as I mumbled, “I know. Horrid. What was I thinking?”

This is when my Inner Critic and I started laughing.

My inner critic was being helpful. That’s what editors do, after all, they make our writing better.

How often do writers trot out the most maligned and overused meaningless words in the beginning of their writing?

Here I was, sitting in a forest surrounded by oaks of orange, brown, and assorted mottled spotted leaves. There were enormous green-yellow leaves on baby oaks that didn’t seem capable of bearing the weight of them. Deep blue sky over head with wispy clouds like smoke from candles that have been blown out. Leaves, sounding like foam on the Atlantic’s waves or perhaps imitating rocks on the flow of the river.

Woman hugging an oak tree in the forst. Tree hugger who is forest bathing.

Here an oak, there a beech, similarly covered with lichen.

It was possible, when I close my eyes, to smell the leaves returning to soil.

I noticed there wasn’t evidence of many other feet walking here in recent days.

My focus pulls aside when I turn toward the hum of a truck on the highway. After the truck I notice the hum of a small airplane, a motorcycle, a sports car.

The trees patiently wait for me to notice them again.

The tallest yellow tree, an eastern oak, seemed to call out to me.

“Let people know we are here,” he said, seeming to give my notebook and pen a half nod. “Let people know we are grateful for when they visit us and sit a while.”

Looking more closely, I see signs of a broken bough, a torn branch or two up his spine. This tree, like me, is healing and whole at the same time.

Just like I am healing and whole at the same time.

Just like so many writers and creatives are both healing and whole at the same time.

Somtimes that wholeness is when we are able to laugh when our inner critic gets it right and she becomes a collaborator. Special note: you are best knowing how to write free flow style well before you allow the inner critic to interject her corrections and suggestions.

One of the reasons I was able to shift gears into better writing was because I knew my word choice was tired and cliche almost as soon as they tumbled off the tip of my pen. I didn’t respond to the appearance of the tired, cliche words with a gasp or a barrage of negative self talk, I laughed.

What would happen if you decided to play with your inner critic instead of making your inner critic wrong?

The most effective way to work WITH your inner critic

The single best thing you can do is give your inner critic space to help you AFTER your first draft is complete, after you have allowed your words to flow wherever they wanted to flow – even if the first words are trite and cliche.

Did it occur to you if my inner critic hadn’t showed up and overstepped her boundaries while I was forest bathing, you would not be reading this? Maybe YOU are the exact reason she showed up with me while I was minding my own business, enjoying nature with my notebook and pen in hand.

Consider this an invitation to take your notebook outside and find some trees to spend time with soon. Bring an open mind and heart. Enjoy finding words that fill you with delight as much as the experience fills you with delight.

Reach back here and tell me when your mission is accomplished, please.

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How to Find a Writing Practice that Works for You (and recognize it will change over time!)

November 9, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 3 Comments

I laughed out loud this morning when I read an excerpt from yesterday’s writing practice. I wrote:

♡ Today I want to get over the hurdle of fear, preferably without smacking my face, my ass or my thighs on the way down.

How can I get more honest than that?

For years I wrote in the style of Julia Cameron’s morning pages, but after more than a decade of this practice, I needed to try something new so I borrowed from poet Billy Collins to include a list of 20 things I did the day before.

This works on many levels AND I have gone on to modify this practice more.

Playfully experiment with different types of writing practice rather than giving up entirely.

I happily experimented my way into a writing practice that collects images, sensory observations and day to day using Collins “Yesterday I” with the first five entries honoring “what I did” and the rest following a combination of sensory prompts, listing my desires and also noting what I read (perhaps a good quote or two among blogs, books, etc) and more.

I put my list into a monthly google doc. Everyday when I start working it is the first task. I take each prompt and respond five times to each.

My current, everyday writing practice foundation looks like this:

Here is what my current daily prompt currently looks like.

Yesterday I (action)
^ Yesterday I felt
Yesterday I saw
𝅘𝅥𝅲 Yesterday I heard
🕮 Yesterday I read
⇌↪Yesterday I smelled
♡ Today I want

☆ Today I affirm (and I write an affirmation or affirmative statement. Sometime I use scripture or modify quotes, too.)

╳ Any a-ha’s? (More often than not I don’t have anything to list but when I do, this is a beneficial category. I also think it helps to awaken my subconscious mind to remember and bring them to the front of my brain instead of getting stuck in minutia.)

By the way, I did not get physically injured when I climbed over the hurdle of fear. If anything I rose higher than I might have expected.

I may challenge myself to write what I want to do with fear on a more regular basis!

I know not everyone believes in writing daily or even regularly. For me, it works.

Most importantly when the practice I was using stopped working, I circled back and experimented to find what worked better for me.

Right now I have two distinctive, short (takes less than 15 minutes) writing practices – the one you are reading here and #rolloverandwrite – which is a brief before sleep write (sometimes literally a scribbled sentence) and then soon after awakening I roll over while still in bed and pick up my notebook instead of my phone.

In the latter practice, I have gotten much better at remembering my dreams AND I tune into a lot more of my personal wisdom I didn’t know was there that I use in my work with coaching clients, my blogging, my relationships and even in my social media planning.

How regularly do you write?

Portrait of Writer, Creative Life Coach, Speaker, Group Facilitator and Blogger Julie JordanScott

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Platitudes May Be Poison: 3 Reasons Platitudes Aren’t Helpful and What You Can Do to Avoid Them

November 3, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 13 Comments

A wooden floor reaches into a not very clear, cloudy yet colorful sky. The text reads: Platitudes are poison. Choose to be mindful to restore relationships.

Humans who love one another, on the whole, want to be helpful. They want to do their best. One of my oft-used phrases my children have been known to repeat is “No one wakes up plotting ways to make other people mad.”

Granted, some people do, but the majority of people do not wake up as sinister characters in mediocre books and movies.

What are platitudes?

Platitudes are throw-away phrases that are used because people are more comfortable saying something than not saying something, especially when they are in a conversation where people are being vulnerable.

Platitudes are not always wrong to use. Think of it like nutrition: we won’t expect to stay healthy and strong if our diet is 100% donuts. Sure, they may make us feel better for a short burst of time – and donuts can also become harmful when consumed too often and replace more healthy choices.

Here are some examples:

“Everything happens for a reason.”

”Good things come to those who wait.”

“Whatever will be, will be.”

Platitudes are not always bad: especially when not overused

Sometimes we say platitudes to ourselves and they serve as a bridge from feeling horrible to feeling more able to get to our next task or next conversation. This is a positive use of platitudes (and remember choosing between chocolate raised or a cruller six times a day will not make you a healthier person.

The reasons we ought to be mindful of using platitudes are many, and it is especially important when we have loved ones who are grieving, hurt or recovering from illness or trauma.

Questions to consider before speaking in a cliched “tried and true” statement to a hurting person

If I say this phrase, do I run the risk of shutting down the conversation with my loved one? Will this help or harm the healing process?
Am I saying this to make myself feel better or am I saying this because I am uncomfortable being silent?
Your mother may have given the admonishment mine did: “Think before you speak.” which may be considered a platitude, also. In fact, I heard my sister get lectured about this so many times I started thinking too much about thinking so my voice and thoughts most often went unspoken and lead to many years of therapy and healing work.

This platitude did lead to an acronym to consider before you blurt another phrase:

Easy check in to discern whether to speak or wait or say somethign different:

Is this true? Think factual rather than a big T truth.
Is this helpful? Can any action be taken from what you say? Will the person feel better or worse having heard what you say?
Is this inspiring? Will it build the person up or tear them down.
Is this necessary to say? Or is it empty fluffy “donut talk”
Is this kind? Is it compassionate and offered with love? Will the result of speaking this make your loved one feel more loved or will they feel defensive and dishonored or someplace in between?

When people are struggling, the last thing they want is to feel judged, shamed or surrounded by people who don’t want to listen and don’t seem to care about them.

Instead of platitudes, speak with your heart

Using platitudes may cause irreparable harm. Share from your heart, authentically, instead. with your heard. Being more and meaningfully may cause irreparable harm to your most important relationships. You may be well-meaning when you use platitudes, but unfortunately, this may not land well.

Options to use in uncomfortable conversations instead of platitudes:

I am not sure what to say right now.. I want to help you feel better because I care about you. I am afraid to say something stupid that I may regret saying.

Would you like some advice or would you like me to listen more?

I’m here for you: keep saying whatever you need to say. I am listening.

This must be difficult for you to talk about – because I love you so much my knee jerk response is to rush in and make it all better. I am doing my best to not do that anymore. I apologize in advance if and when I do that.

The less you rely on platitudes, the better communicator you will become, the more comfortable you will be with uncomfortable conversations and the more meaningful your relationships will be.

Below: a 5 minute video on this topic that may be helpful to watch and share with people:

Julie JordanScott is a multipassionate creative who delights in inviting others into their own fullhearted. artistic experience via her creativity coaching individually or in groups, courses and workshops. To receive inspiring content and videos weekly and find out more about Coaching, Courses, Challenges and what’s going on in the Creative Life Midwife world? Subscribe here:

Introduction: Who Enjoys Writing a Bio?

October 31, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 14 Comments

In the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community we recently polled our members and more people confessed writing biographies of all sorts for social media account, for public speaking introductions, for event programs, for blurbs on the back of books and “about me” pages is the worst sort of writing assignment to complete.

I decided to try a simple template to write a simple bio to introduce myself to new people here at my blog. When you’re done reading, I would love if you would share one thing we have in common from what you have read here.

Results from a Bio Writing template:

Julie JordanScott is an experienced writer, a creative life coach and an award winning storyteller and actress. Driven by a desire to leave her community and the world better than how she found it, she takes pride in providing the best personal development and writing courses possible.

As a writer, her goals include completing her two current book projects and continuing to build up the people in the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community, a private facebook group. Her work has been on both the New York Times Best Sellers list and the Amazon Best Sellers list.

As a creative life coach, her goal is to continue offering life altering courses to help people break through their blocks of belief and create books, blogs and social media content that will not only benefit their clients, it will also build a better world.

Julie has also been recognized for her commitment to the arts community in Bakersfield, California and special education departments throughout California. She has worked with students learning English from across the world as well as with refugees.

What makes an expert?

Her expertise expands to blogging, social media and livestreaming. (Note to readers: the expertise is made from experience, words crafted, livestreaming from know how. All of these came from time invested and practice.)

She started blogging in 2004 – and prior to this she had several newsletters (then called Ezines) with more than 15,000 subscribers.

Her three children can each do a fine impression of Julie lapsing from “mom at home Julie” to “Julie Creative Entrepreneur makes a live stream video or talks to students in her zoom courses!”

Information, Edutainment and Connection

I tried to include enough information in this bio so that everyone who visits will be able to find some way we may connect. I attempted to be interesting, to provide crucial information and hopefully hold their attention so that they will keep reading.

Please comment so I may get to know you better, too. Which part of this introduction did you connect with the most?

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Top 7 Writing Micro-Goals for Creative Entrepreneurs

September 18, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 2 Comments

I’ve seen this happen with more of my coaching, healing arts and creative entrepreneur clients than I can count – and I have even done it myself. We plunk down at our desks at our designated writing times and absolutely nothing happens.

Here’s the thing: creating a small, micro-goal specifically aimed to help you with consistent content creation is deceptively simple. Try one of these on for a week. If it doesn’t appeal, try a different one for seven days. Repeat as necessary.

My secret success is from having one solid “writing not for content but for exercising the writing muscle” practice, for me it is a daily stream of conscious journaling in the morning, and then have a second micro goal I mix up and serve differently, like a writing buffet.

Watch the video here and read below for more details for each tip.

My newest accidental micro-goal is a daily #RollOverandWrite. That’s it. Wake up, roll over and pick up the notebook you placed at your bedside before you went to sleep and write a few sentences.

Write an affirmative intention daily in the morning. “I am capable of writing effective blog posts.” “People enjoy what I write.” “My sales letter is both effective and engaging.”

Exercise for 20 minutes and write immediately after. Set up your writing space before you go for your walk, job or attend your zumba class. If you work out someplace besides your home, bring a notebook with you and write in your car or at the gym or at a picnic table in the park. Your subconscious is watching to see how important your writing is to you by the consistent time you give it.

Journal/free write for a set amount of time or set number of words/pages each day. You may write as few as 250 words (approximately one page) or for three minutes. The amount of writing matters less than simply flowing with your writing rather than attempting to mold it or edit as you go along. That comes later – and believe me, if you can get the words on the page to begin with, editing will come easily.

To practice writing concisely and with the most writing “bang for your buck” write a daily haiku, six word story or American Sentence poem. Any of this “very micro writing” will help you be use your best words. It will help you write compelling copy and/or characters with a more curated conversational style than you may usually write. It will teach you to cut out unnecessary words that often bog down our readers.

Write a 5 item gratitude list before you go to sleep. You may also make a list of “What went well today” or “5 Good Things that happened today” list. Thesetrain your brain to focus on what is constructive and helpful in your life. A bonus is the subject of each item on the list may easily become a blog post, a social media post or a chapter in a book or poem.

Use a timer to write 5 minutes a day for 5 consecutive days, #5for5BrainDump style. You may try unprompted or prompted writing. In the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community we have prompts and videos to guide you as you practice this – plus it is free to join the group which also has a thriving community, lots of tips, video teachings and daily discussion for creative entrepreneurs.

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Writers: How You May Use Fear of Failure to Fuel Your Success in Going Live

August 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

Think about your response to this question before you continue reading:

How often have you given up before you had any real evidence that you might not succeed at whatever your most recent sense of close-to-failure might be?

How many of us look forward to making mistakes and worse than that, how many of us look forward to failure?

Keep reading: this is important.

Successful Power House Sara Blakely Aims for Failure

Sara Blakely, founder and creator of Spanx Shapewear, credits her tenacity amidst failure to her father’s attitude.

She wrote, “We’d sit around the dinner table and he’d ask, ‘What did you guys fail at this week?’ If we had nothing to tell him, he’d be disappointed,” she said. “He knew that many people become paralyzed by the fear of failure. My father wanted us to try everything and feel free to push the envelope. His attitude taught me to define failure as not trying something I want to do instead of not achieving the right outcome.”

I teach writers how to successfully go live (live-streaming) the easiest ways possible. I love going live myself, so this is a natural extension of that love and then I discovered many have challenges because they are afraid to make mistakes.

What would happen if you made making mistakes fun?

I even made a video about it for you – watch the video here.

Sarah Blakely has continued her quest of mistakes, failure and embarrassment. You may read of her latest conquest here.

Now it’s your turn: More on Success & Making Mistakes

How do you feel about making mistakes?

How might you use fear of making mistakes to fuel your future successes?

Comment below to continue the conversation!

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Self Care Creativity Retreat: It is easier than you think!

July 13, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

There is something about being outside and creating: painters are more known than writers for creating outdoors, but as one who enjoys taking her notebook and journals out into either the countryside or a local park, I know replenishment through creativity is absolutely possible.

Creative Self Care outside in July in the Desert (or humidity or insert your objection)?

Here in Bakersfield, in mid-July, it is hotter than most humans can bear easily and at the same time, getting outdoors in the early evening to write sustains me. Right here, close to home is sometimes all that is out there.

It is up to us to shift our mindset and say “YES! It is enough!”

This extra fun (and instructive) video about a unique “tool” you may choose to put together to enjoy a personal self-care creative retreat – whether it is 15 minutes or 15 days long. Watch the video and below are 4 quick tips for you to consider in planning your next self care creativity retreat.

Mindset Shifts to Create a Pleasant Self Care Creativity Retreat:

You may be raising all sorts of reasons why you can’t do a self care retreat on your own. I understand this more than you know. I am a mom of 3 including a special needs child, I know how difficult it can be to take care of yourself amidst everything else which makes it even more important to find a way.

Here are some final tips:

Keep your retreat basket in a place where it can be seen when you are busily doing your other work. It will serve as continual inspiration.
When you plan for your week, be sure to include creative self care on the list. If you don’t plan for it, don’t expect it to magically happen. You may add it as a reward – and be sure you are confident in reaching that reward or once again, you will never get there.
Sometimes when we have small children, we may practice retreating in parks when they’re playing. See if you can tag-team with another Mom or two and give one another 15 or 20 minute time outs to devote to solo creativity.
Do the best you can – and remember, if you don’t at first succeed… that’s right – try, try again.

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. To receive her email newsletter to be inspired by her transformational articles, essays and videos as well as find out about her new programs, products and challenges, please click here to subscribe.

How to Use Simple Writing Warm Ups: 5 Easy Ideas to Try Now

May 28, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

Musicians and athletes understand what some writers don’t understand. Before musicians do their primary work – singing that intense musical piece or performing before an audience or before an athlete runs (or swims or bikes or walks) the race, one must warm up one’s “instrument” the voice or the body.

The same is true with writing.

It is a rare case when the first words we write are the best of what we write.

Why should a writer use writing warm ups?

Consider the writing warm-up as an “on-ramp” to the rest of your writing. We have to get onto the on-ramp in order to build up speed for driving on the highway and getting to our next destination.

Writing Warm Ups Allow Us To…

Reconnect with previous writing
Get focused on the task, mission or purpose of each particular writing session.
Provide a “Starting Point” that is better or more clear than the confusion when the writing session begins.
Stretch our “writing muscles”. Playing with words that we aren’t attached to being good or right or perfect helps our later words improve.
Experiment: make your warm up into a game you may use to try new and unexpected things. You may find these experiments turn into some of your best ideas of all. If you didn’t do warm ups, you would have no space for such frivolity.

Writer Lindsay Price said, “I use warm ups especially when I don’t feel like writing. Instead of walking away from my desk, I do an exercise. Nine times out of ten by the time I’m done my warm up, I’ve changed my tune.”

How do writing warm ups work?

As I started writing this, for example, I was reminded of a test taking strategy that always resulted in a better grade: I would read the entire exam before I made a single mark on it.

Why?

If I knew the answers to the questions, there would be no problem in quickly checking those off, but for the questions that were tricky, it gave my subconscious mind a chance to “find the answer for me”. By the time I had zipped through the easy questions I knew I had right, my brain had warmed up to take on the more difficult questions.

In case you are not sure about how a writing warm-up may help you, I invite you to do a writing experiment using warm up exercises.

Challenge: Experiment and play to see how writing warm ups work best for you

Here are five warm-up exercises to try. The rules of writing engagement are:

Do not warm up for longer than 5 minutes. 3 to 5 minutes is ideal.
If you try one technique and it doesn’t work, choose a different technique. One not working doesn’t mean writing warm ups aren’t good, it means that particular writing warm up didn’t work
Have a plan or purpose for your writing after the warm up. For example: “I will write 1000 words of my novel” or “I will work on my sales campaign for the next hour.”

Writing Warm Up 1: Free Flow, Stream of Consciousness or Automatic Writing: these are synonymous. Simply write without editing, judgement or forethought. Let your pencil float across the page or your fingers tap on the keyboard or scan the screen. This is my personal favorite warm up.

Writing Warm Up 2: Use prompted writing – the best single prompts include “I remember”, “Yesterday I….”, “If things were perfect, I would…”, “What would be wisest to do next is…” and the sensory prompts – “I see, I hear, I smell, I taste, I touch, and the sixth sense – I feel (intuitively or emotionally.)

Writing Warm Up 3: Take 60 seconds to write a complete description of an ordinary object that can fit in your hand. Experience the object fully – feel it in your hand but lift it to your face, feel it against your cheek, smell it, compare it to similar sized objects. Write everything down, take note of the tiniest details. Warning: this may change your relationship with the things you own. 🙂

Writing Warm Up 4: Explore where a quote takes you. If you don’t collect quotes, google “Quotes about (insert your favorite subject of the day.) Choose a quote, copy it into your notebook or document and add, “This makes me think” and/or “this makes me feel” and see where the thoughts and feelings take you. You may find it takes your main character someplace, too!

Writing Warm Up 5: Write about your favorites… whatever. You can even make a jar with papers listing “movies, teacher, sci fi films, poems, athlete, musician, book, genre of book, comedian, city to visit” or whatever your likely favorites may be. If you spend a week or ten days focusing on your favorites, you will likely have a week to ten days of more pleasant writing experiences.

Which writing warm up will you use first?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, Writer, Speaker and Mom extraordinaire who loves working with creative entrepreneurs, artists and healers to get their words written on the page, spoken in their videos and shared across social media platforms with confidence.