Learning from Nat Goldberg How-to Books; First in a Series

Hi. Welcome to Purple Goat's blog on writing today. I am T.E. McCormick M.A., a writer and a member of Mensa. I felt tackling a project like writing a book (My first born was Ephemeral Mind of a Climber.) helped my intellectual growth as a cerebral exercise to get me prepared before testing into Mensa. Some such culminating. (Not a promise, yet writing is an excellent brain exerscise.) Added benefits exist from the practice of writing beyond the shear pleasure. When I started writing in the early nineties I read Nat Goldberg's books on how to write. Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind were the two I adhered for supportive ideas w/ this (Dylan quote) "wild unknown country where I could not go wrong." An outline she had in Writing/Bones was instrumental in an attitude/mood adjustment/structure/mindset, and made a beginner's mind feel comforted. It waas just enough to get to the raw stuff. What was it in the early days? Write to learn; learn to write. Read on ... .

Here goes. From N. Goldberg's Bones ...

1 keep your hand moving

2 don't cross out

3 don't worry about spelling

4 lose control

5 don't think; don't get logical

6 go for the jugular.

These are enough directions for a while to keep one busy "doing scales." Make time, take time, partake in the active lifestyle of the writer. Discilpline today might not be the healing of the creative inner being tomorrow. It is time betw/ you and your Creative Higher Power. Claim your place on the "eternal page." Your energy is the "eternal womb." The comfort, excitement, growth and healing, the feeling of healthy self-esteem from giving your ideas/thoughts value enough to put them down on paper help one grow beyond measure. Feed the well. Fill the well. Tap into the creative well. Loosen up and dump/drain your brain on the page/screen/monitor. Dig into the subconscious. Find your own inner voice. Think it up, yet let it manifest on the page, get it down ... on the paper, into the concrete, the document file, etc. Create. Allow yourself to create. Surround yourself w/ supportive people. And how inexpensively can one go into business for oneself w/ others? Pen, paper, computer, ink and you're set, entrepreneurs. Hang your "shingle." Get your tools/implements and two, three, four, GO!

And yes, say, "Get lost, toxic, pathological critic." Generate. And yes, yes, yes- produce!!! Bon chance!!! (By the way Windows 8.1 was designed for more equally producing/consuming purposes rather than mostly being a consumer tool as previous Window OSs. Interesting.)

One last call: Check out Seth Godin, guru of the Information Age business model and creativity connections consequently. Horse/cart? Chicken/egg problem? Crank up the word count!

So readings? Nat Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones ,Wild Mind. Dig in to the other blog entries here. And please, write. Thanks. One more thing; are you adding play into your life? It is the best thing for a counter to burnout!!! Be creative. And off we go!!!