Place: a fishing boat
Character: a painter’s helper
Object: a baby monitor
Mood: energetic

As a transformational leadership and life coach, Cara Moulds mentors people who are changing the world by living from their inner power and purpose.  With National Board Certification in English, an MLA from Johns Hopkins University, Administration & Supervision Certification from Johns Hopkins University, and five years of administrative experience in secondary education, she inspires others to dream big and achieve their life and career goals at The StillPointe. She is also an accomplished fine-art photographer with work in private collections, on permanent exhibit at the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center in Columbia, MD, and in the Howard County Council of the Arts Juried Silent Auction for several years. Her online gallery is StillPointe Photography.

I’m sorry I wrote you such a long letter; I didn’t have time to write a short one. ~Blaise Pascal

The social media revolution has trained us to communicate very efficiently — sometimes in 140 characters or less. Although such brevity is fun and somewhat challenging to do on occasion, we also struggle at times with finding just the right words to get right to the point.

Again — Not necessarily a bad thing at all.

But when it comes to writing letters, I think we have lost the beauty of our voices in such efforts to be concise.

Today, break out the writing pad and the trusty Bic and write a letter (or two) to a friend or family member. Write about the weather, the events around the neighborhood, what you really think about the upcoming election, or the challenges you have faced in picking out a new pair of shoes.

Whatever you write about, take your time. Slow down. Write a long letter, and savor the extra moments you spend in sharing a more conversational letter with a friend or loved one.

Rus VanWestervelt is a writer, photographer, owner of Ravenwater Press, and Teacher-Consultant with the National Writing Project. He is the founder and editor of Maryland Voices, a creative nonfiction journal for high school writers and educators. Rus has published hundreds of articles locally and nationally, and nearly all of them relate to writing and living an inspired life. His latest work of fiction, Cold Rock, was released December 9, 2011 and can be ordered at Amazon or at ravenwater.com. For more information about Rus and his work with writers, you can visit his website here.

Write a poem about the number 7.

Have you subscribed to The StillPointe yet? Get your spirituality with bling.  It’s straight talk on self-awareness, spirituality + success to help you cut through fear + resistance, overcome limiting beliefs, and breakthrough to a new paradigm.

You have success on the outside! Now feel success on the inside.

It’s spirituality with bling. Check it out here. 

That’s what fiction is for. It’s for getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth. ~TIm O’Brien

Two days ago, we journaled about writing toward the truth of some of our more challenging topics. Tim O’Brien suggests that, when we can’t get our point across using truth, sometimes it’s best to use fiction to get the job done.

Today, take one of those challenging topics that you’ve struggled to write about, and fictionalize it. Change the names, the setting, even the conflict if you can.

You know, though, what it’s about. Use the shield of fiction to really get into that challenging topic, and free yourself to tell the story you’ve been struggling with for some time.

Rus VanWestervelt is a writer, photographer, owner of Ravenwater Press, and Teacher-Consultant with the National Writing Project. He is the founder and editor of Maryland Voices, a creative nonfiction journal for high school writers and educators. Rus has published hundreds of articles locally and nationally, and nearly all of them relate to writing and living an inspired life. His latest work of fiction, Cold Rock, was released December 9, 2011 and can be ordered at Amazon or at ravenwater.com. For more information about Rus and his work with writers, you can visit his website here.

                  annoying

     attention

                            pull

            immense

                           long

As a transformational leadership and life coach, Cara Moulds mentors people who are changing the world by living from their inner power and purpose.  With National Board Certification in English, an MLA from Johns Hopkins University, Administration & Supervision Certification from Johns Hopkins University, and five years of administrative experience in secondary education, she inspires others to dream big and achieve their life and career goals at The StillPointe. She is also an accomplished fine-art photographer with work in private collections, on permanent exhibit at the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center in Columbia, MD, and in the Howard County Council of the Arts Juried Silent Auction for several years. Her online gallery is StillPointe Photography.

Some things are hard to write about. After something happens to you, you go to write it down, and either you over dramatize it, or underplay it, exaggerate the wrong parts or ignore the important ones. At any rate, you never write it quite the way you want to. ~Sylvia Plath

Plath is right — sometimes it is just too hard to write about the things that are closest to us. Like she states, it’s a real challenge to find that place between the extremes, and we feel like we just can’t get it right.

But that’s when we’re so focused on an audience beyond ourselves. We put that pressure on ourselves to get it just right so that others can understand.

For me, it took 17 years to write through a period of 4 minutes that followed my father’s passing. It was through constant writing in my journal, though, that finally got me to a place with my words that I felt I could share.

Did it hit that perfect place? Did it strike that balance? Probably not. It was close, though, thanks to the trust I put into my journaling all those years.

Write about one of those challenging topics today, but with no goals made to share. Write to understand. To learn. To work toward that balance.

And trust that this is just one of many steps you might take. Trust that this is okay.

Trust that you are in control.

.

Rus VanWestervelt is a writer, photographer, owner of Ravenwater Press, and Teacher-Consultant with the National Writing Project. He is the founder and editor of Maryland Voices, a creative nonfiction journal for high school writers and educators. Rus has published hundreds of articles locally and nationally, and nearly all of them relate to writing and living an inspired life. His latest work of fiction, Cold Rock, was released December 9, 2011 and can be ordered at Amazon or at ravenwater.com. For more information about Rus and his work with writers, you can visit his website here.

Place: a smokey poker room
Character: a hotel receptionist
Object: 14 blue candies
Smell: fresh roses

As a transformational leadership and life coach, Cara Moulds mentors people who are changing the world by living from their inner power and purpose.  With National Board Certification in English, an MLA from Johns Hopkins University, Administration & Supervision Certification from Johns Hopkins University, and five years of administrative experience in secondary education, she inspires others to dream big and achieve their life and career goals at The StillPointe. She is also an accomplished fine-art photographer with work in private collections, on permanent exhibit at the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center in Columbia, MD, and in the Howard County Council of the Arts Juried Silent Auction for several years. Her online gallery is StillPointe Photography.

The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. ~Richard Price, Ralph Fletcher

One of the best exercises for writers is to use the strategy, “The bigger the issue, the smaller you write.” It’s a technique of understatement, where the bigger story is in the finer details.

Ralph Fletcher offers many examples in his videos and books, but one in particular stands out. In this tip on YouTube, Fletcher recounts an observation about his grandfather’s senility, shown in missed belt loops. The seasoned writer doesn’t write the obvious about growing old; he or she writes about the little details that demonstrate the enormity of the issue.

Today, choose a “big issue” from your life, and find the smaller details that really bring out the meaning of its significance. Focus on the finer detail, and resist interpreting its meaning to the reader. Let them make that leap to the next level of understanding.

Rus VanWestervelt is a writer, photographer, owner of Ravenwater Press, and Teacher-Consultant with the National Writing Project. He is the founder and editor of Maryland Voices, a creative nonfiction journal for high school writers and educators. Rus has published hundreds of articles locally and nationally, and nearly all of them relate to writing and living an inspired life. His latest work of fiction, Cold Rock, was released December 9, 2011 and can be ordered at Amazon or at ravenwater.com. For more information about Rus and his work with writers, you can visit his website here.

You can see through your mirror to another dimension.

Have you subscribed to The StillPointe yet? Get your spirituality with bling.  It’s straight talk on self-awareness, spirituality + success to help you cut through fear + resistance, overcome limiting beliefs, and breakthrough to a new paradigm.

You have success on the outside! Now feel success on the inside.

It’s spirituality with bling. Check it out here. 

I sing the body electric; The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them; They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul. ~Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1900

Although Whitman doesn’t mention it in this opening stanza, I think of harmony every time I read this poem — harmony and interconnectedness with individuals and our surroundings.

Whitman suggests, as I do as well, that there is an energy current that is created among friends whose souls are open; this current enlivens the soul and powers us to create, to live, to thrive, to love more genuinely, and more often.

Write about the people in your current who make your soul sing. What do you give back to them? How open are the chambers to allow such love and energy to flow freely among you?

This morning, Sing The Body Electric with the energy already surrounding you, and let that current run freely as you journey along your way.

Rus VanWestervelt is a writer, photographer, owner of Ravenwater Press, and Teacher-Consultant with the National Writing Project. He is the founder and editor of Maryland Voices, a creative nonfiction journal for high school writers and educators. Rus has published hundreds of articles locally and nationally, and nearly all of them relate to writing and living an inspired life. His latest work of fiction, Cold Rock, was released December 9, 2011 and can be ordered at Amazon or at ravenwater.com. For more information about Rus and his work with writers, you can visit his website here.