Читать книгу Rewrite Your Life - Jessica Lourey - Страница 21

I've created a simple, three-part journaling exercise to help you increase your self-awareness as well as nudge you toward thinking about how to apply it in your writing. It's called Truth Before Tale. You can find it in its entirety at the end of the chapter, but here's an overview:

Step One Crack open that notebook you straightaway got your hands on after reading this book's introduction. Starting on the first page, freewrite on five topics for ten minutes per topic. If you're unfamiliar, freewriting means writing without judgment, fear, or correction. It's about quantity rather than quality. Turning off your inner critic is crucial to the writing process, and giving yourself permission to freewrite is the quickest way to achieve that. The five topics you will freewrite on: what you are most scared of, what you are proudest of, what your greatest strengths are, your deepest shame, and most importantly, what you're most seeking in life.

Step Two Carry the notebook around for three days and write down your mental chatter three times each of those three days. I recommend setting a timer to remind yourself to do this. This step provides insight into what your mind is up to when you're not paying attention.

Step Three Cull the information you uncovered in Step One and Step Two, neat and sweet, gathering what resonates and leaving the rest. Begin to consider how you can use this material in your novel. It's okay if you don't have an idea for your novel yet. Just go with the process.

In the hopes that it is helpful to you, I'm going to show you my Step Three below. No way would I ever show you my Step One and Step Two, though. They are messy and incoherent and terrifying. I expect yours will be, as well, and that it might be hard to let the truth spill out on paper. Remember that you don't need to show it to anyone. If that assurance isn't enough, I recommend you plan on ripping out the pages and burning them when you're done writing them. I'm serious. You need to access the past and the truth, but you shouldn't live there. Getting it out will provide relief, and you'll have enough to create Step Three from memory, which is the only step you need for writing your novel.

My Step Three below is the result of freewriting on each of the five topics in Step One (scared of, proud of, strengths, shame, life goals) and randomly checking in with my brain à la Step Two. Finally, when organizing the information from those two steps, I started to think about how I could use it in my writing. Here goes. Please, think about your own Step Three while you read mine.