Do not stop at description. It is not enough. It is the uncut fabric, it is the unsewn piece, and it is far from the final product your readers can apply to their lives.

Organize your notes regularly. Otherwise, as in a weedy garden, your ideas will not flourish like the beautiful flowers they were meant to be.

The New Year's Happiness Raffle

In your foyer, place a bowl filled with rolled-up slips of paper containing personal messages and poems of your own composition, and ask each guest to draw one as they come in.

A writer keeps a notebook to flush excess thoughts and maintain a clear mind.

Write without guilt. Paint without guilt.

Write and paint on the first day of the New Year, for what you do on that day subconsciously sets a trend for the rest of your year.

A Writer's Year-End Exercise

If you are keeping a journal, reflect on your previous year, a month at a time, from January to your present situation. Write one important thing you learned each month, coming up with a list of 36 (or less). Which three things helped you the most to grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?

Draw a pyramid of squares (bottom row, five squares, middle row, four squares, top row, three squares) and arrange your 12 lessons accordingly with the three most important things you learned on top.

Then draw three blank squares to complete the pyramid. Write, inside those squares, what you hope to attain in 2018.

Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Once you have written its end, do not dredge it up again at some other time in the future. Otherwise it is a sign that you ended your story too soon and failed to reflect on it.

If you feel that you must rewrite your work, do so. It is the equivalent of a painter adjusting his composition, color combination, contrast, and/or tone.

Write as though your life and other people's lives are on the line.

Never be concerned about being published. Always be concerned about being read.

Every writer enjoys sitting alone in a coffee shop and watching all kinds of people go by.

In-Depth Writing Exercise #8: Merging With The Elements

This exercise sounds easier than it seems.

1. Should you happen to have four, small, translucent glass containers with lids:

--fill the first glass with potting soil (earth),
--the second with incense dust (air),
--the third with ashes (fire),
--the fourth with sand (water).

Should you have two more:

--fill the fifth glass with sawdust (wood),
--and the sixth with iron filings (metal/iron).

2. Place the bottles on your writing desk--the more decorative they look, of course, the better.

3. Do this exercise not at whim but whenever you seem to be stuck on a passage or a scene that you are writing.

4. Take the bottles one at a time, holding each bottle in your hands, merging with the element and then re-visualizing or mentally re-composing the passage or scene in your mind.

5. You will find that each element will "write" the scene or passage for you in a different and distinct way.

6. Go with the scene or passage that resonates within you most, like an inner bell, an inner chime, or an inner tuning fork.

7. Your choice may determine the dominant element in your particular piece of writing.

We write things down because it easier to edit our thoughts on paper than inside our minds.