writing

Saint Ephraim teaches creative writing

art, Christianity, writing

I was reading some essays by Scott Cairns recently, and came across this 4th century prayer from Saint Ephraim.

Lord and Master of my life, grant not unto me the spirit of idleness, of discouragement, of lust for power, and of vain speaking.

Grant, rather, unto me, thy servant, the spirit of chastity, of meekness, of patience, and of love.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant that I may perceive my own transgressions, and judge not my brother, for blessed are you, unto all ages. Amen.

After I read it two or six times, I realized it was about the writing life. I don’t know anything about Saint Ephraim, but I’m glad he knew what a creative writer in the 21st century might need, and might want.

Guest Post: Every Damned Tangle and Knot

art, writing

 

This morning I have a guest post up at Ross Gale’s blog. It’s part of a series he’s doing on creativity. The whole series is worth a read. From Ross:

The Bereshit Bara Creativity Series asks 13 Creatives to wrestle with how they make the first move, write the first word, fling the first brush stroke, peel back the first layer of clay? What inspires them, what moves them, what drives them? I’d also like to hear from YOU. Send me your thoughts or a link to your post wrestling with these questions at rossgale4@gmail.com.

If you comment on today’s post you will be entered into a drawing to win David’s book Rookie Dad: Thoughts on First-Time Fatherhood. I’ll announce the winner over the weekend.

Creativity Series: David Jacobsen “Every Damned Tangle and Knot”

Head on over to Ross’s blog and let me know what you think in his comments.

Metaphors for writing

writing

Creative writing

is headlights on a dark road

is a way into the forest

is a way out

is a mountain we can only ever see part of

is a mirror

is a hammer to shape reality

is how we see what we think

is both/and

What do you think creative writing is?

(Most of these are floating around in our global writerly consciousness already;
I’m not claiming to have invented them.)

Wednesday writing prompt: write an eight word story

writing

My friend Ross has a post up about very short stories. You may have seen those six-word-story prompts floating around, based on Hemmingway’s famous:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

There’s a lot packed into that, right? Well, today’s prompt gives you eight words. Just think what you can do with 33% more material! Here’s my first attempt:

Three brothers. Two hugs. One silent goodbye.

I still have another word—maybe I should toss in an adverb! I like this because it could be about a few different scenarios. But it could definitely get better.

What’s your eight word story?