Write with me - Lesson 1

What do you see? What images come to mind? Take pen in hand and write them down. Listing words is the purest form of transparently receiving what your inner spirit wants to bring forward. Capture you feelings, emotions, thoughts and make them visible on the page. No longer is the white canvas bare, you've been there. Your words paint a portrait of who you are as a person. Nothing matters more than being who you are supposed to be. In all its purest and rawest form, the good, glum, and glorious. For five minutes, draw your portraiture with words. Release yourself into the world of journaling.

After five minutes have passed, surface and explore the pattern in front of you. Which words jump out at you? Gather them together, circling these standouts. See if any partners combine. In your mind, read pairings of words and feel how they go together. When something fills you with a sense of rightness, write them on a separate space. Writing is messy so go with it. Continue to build your pairings like matching a fine wine with the perfect meal. Allow the nuances of language mingle with your emotions as you build a piece of art in front of you. Be patient. The process takes time. How many partnering words can you find? Two? Four? Twenty-nine?

Group partners together and when necessary, or fitting, or simply for fun, bring in another word that makes the ideas flow smoothly together. A conjunction, a transition, who cares what it's called, just add a word that you feel makes sense planted between others. Grow your vision. Slowly, you should begin to see your pattern build in volume. Partners turn into lines. Lines turn into stanzas. How many stanzas should you form? One? Two? Twenty-four? However many it takes for you to feel complete. Then, step back and reread your poem in its entirety, with pen in hand, jotting revisions as you go. Dotting the i, past tense or present, amping up colors and emotions by switching them out for a stronger, word with greater clarity. Set it aside for a day, or two. Come back with fresh eyes, and read. Read your metacognitive discovery. Revise, if and as needed. Then, the important part - share your writing with the world! We write to share our thinking. . .with your cat, your dog, whomever you consider to be part of your world, share your writing. Stay true to you because YOU is beautiful! StayNonfiction                            Follow me on: Wordsbyjeanie (Instagram)