TO WRITE: Behind me and before me...
Welcome to 2007! After a short winter recess, WriteOutOfDepression is back, and I am looking ahead to the new year with a lot of excitement and a little trepidation too. Now that that busiest of seasons for many of us is over, where are you turning your attentions? In order to take stock and prioritize my ideas for the coming year (or at least the coming week or so), I have been making lists. For me, lists are a good way to trigger my sometimes sleepy winter brain, and they provide me with lots of options and ideas for further writing, something that always helps ground me in a new place or time.
Play with this...
Take a few minutes to quickly list 10 things that you remember about 2006. They might be personal, local or global. Choose one to write on continuously for 15 minutes, focusing on what that remembrance means to you yourself.
Then take about five minutes to list 10 things you imagine for 2007 - things you expect to occur or things you hope for. Look over your list and try to identify at least one small action you'd like to take to affect a desired item - or to hinder something you hope won't come to pass. (I, for example, would like to keep writing consistently on my book manuscript so that it's in good shape when I get a publishing offer; I also want to be more active in contacting my representatives about ending the war in Iraq.) Write continuously for 15 minutes on what doable action(s) would make you feel empowered in 2007.
May you find peace, good health and creative fulfillment in 2007,
Beth
About Me
- Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer, Ph.D.
- My book, WRITING THROUGH THE DARKNESS: EASING YOUR DEPRESSION WITH PAPER AND PEN, was published by Celestial Arts in June 2008. I've been a science journalist, textbook editor and author, poet, memoirist, creative writing instructor and -- sometimes -- a bipolar depressed person, since earning my Ph.D. in biology at Stanford University in 1991. For the past ten years, I've combined my interests in writing and mental health by teaching creative writing to other people with mood disorders in a class meeting at Stanford's Psychiatry Department. I speak on mental health topics, both personal and professional, to a wide variety of groups.
3 comments:
Good idea. I'll try to do this one soon.
I have written a book/journal on having bipolar disorder. I am not sure what to do with it, if anything. Do you have any advice?
KL
Hi KL,
Good for you! It's a big job. I would be interested in knowing how the writing experience was for you -- helpful?
I do have some ideas on what to do with it. I'll put them on a post today, 9/28/07, so take a look there.
Best,
Beth
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