As a novice poet, I recently received a recommendation from a writer friend about a valuable writing program. It is Jack Grapes' 'Method Writing'. His first book is very readable, and his approach is based on Stanislavski's Method Acting that he learned as part of his graduate work in theater (his undergraduate work was in History and English).
(Book Cover)
The first assignment is a practice of writing at least two pages in one's journal daily. The primary goal is to write like you speak - nothing fancy - and your writing is to be about self not other-focused. Putting your pen to paper, you start writing about you -- not having thought about what you were going to write in advance. This is not writing to create a product. It is writing to find your voice.
Today, I finished Week #1 of doing the work. First, I noticed that I use a couple of words as fillers when talking - that I never use when I write, and I don't want to. So, I'm also working to break that habit (the use of 'um' and 'anyway' in conversation).
With a week's effort under my belt now, I'm happy with the 12 pages written so far...not for their content, but because I actually did them. Sometimes it was challenging to start, but when the going got tough -- the first best word I used was 'I'.
If you've learned from and use Grapes' Writing Method, what has been your experience as a result?
If you'd like to know more about Jack Grapes' or find the list of his published books including those of his poetry, his website is: https://jackgrapes.com.
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