#wordaday Archives -

November 8, 2018 By Marisa Moks-Unger

Mistryst Haunts Until Action Creates Flow

Mistryst Echoes Reminder to Meet Writing Goals

Today’s word-a-day selection is mistryst: verb, Scottish and Northern English: 1. to fail to meet or keep an appointment with (someone). 2. to be confused or complexed by (something). All writers and hobbyists have writing goals. One of my far-reaching goals is to write a novel in a month using the framework provided in an annual online challenge. I’ve unsuccessfully tried writing a novel in a month on top of my regular writing work load. I am not alone. How many people do you know that are working on the November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge? If you have been writing grant proposals or grading student essays and have missed this challenge, get more information about it here: https://nanowrimo.org/

Mistryst will keep coming back to haunt you until action is taken to meet a goal. — To avoid mistryst in a project, set doable goals for success.

Hitting the Replay Button

I have found success this year writing and publishing poetry, essays, articles, and flash-fiction. I’ve even authored and edited an anthology. But the longer sustained creative version? Not so much. I get started with it and before the end of the first week, I hit the wall and miss a word count. And the reality is you either quickly recover the word count fail or you fall too far behind to catch up. The two basic rules of the NaNoWriMo are pretty straightforward:

Write a minimum of 1,667 words a day in November. These writing sessions need to advance the novel’s plot daily. (Rewrites, as I found at an earlier attempt, do not count towards the daily count.)
Reach 50,000 words and the end of the story by November 30.

What I am learning is that the pre-planning and outline preparation is what is key to completing this challenging challenge. Have I successfully learned this lesson? No, I have not, which is why I have my own version of Groundhog’s Day occurring annually at the beginning of each November. Perhaps next month I can schedule NaNoWriMo prep into the early summer of 2019? It would coincide nicely with the free-writing I do at the annual summer conference for the International Women’s Writing Guild now wouldn’t it? Not familiar with that fantastic offering? Wonder what the benefits of being an IWWG member are? Look here: https://www.iwwg.org/join/

The Message from a Confused and Complexed Verb

Mistryst’s message is pretty clear to me. The appointment I am missing is the one with myself to write my novel and other creative writing projects. So says this sassy transitive verb: I will come back over and over and over again to remind you to take time to meet with your creative self and to work on that which needs to be uncovered. Ummm, Boom!

Your Turn

Take out your journal and make a list down the page numbered 1-25. As fast as you can list the obstacles that prevent you from writing long-term goals, including novels, memoirs, and non-fiction books. Now note if any of the situations, people, or other obstacles are repeated. Take time during the next six weeks to plan to successfully complete a long project of choice in 2019.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

November 5, 2018 By Marisa Moks-Unger

Fill the Sound Hole with Joyful Noise

Aligning Sound Hole Increases Flow

Today’s word-a-day is sound hole (noun) an opening in the soundboard of a musical stringed instrument, as a violin or lute, for increasing the soundboards capacity for vibration. The term reminds me of middle school music survey class. I recall completing fill-in-the-blank lines, which pointed to different places on an instrument. Sound holes had to be part of one of those lessons! Typically resting below the bridge, the sound hole resonates the tones and shades the music being played. The only other place that blank space shades so well is in a painting’s negative space. Or, perhaps, an intended broken line of poetry. Sound holes provide a surprise of pleasure to the beholder. Why? The flow is intensified through the sound hole.

Sound Holes and Their Various Connotations

When I consider the spiritual connotations of a sound hole, I think of infants. When babies are happy, they coo and babble. But when babies are upset and need to be held, fed, or have a diaper changed, everyone is aware of it. Their mouths – tiny sound holes – vibrate with urgency. And don’t our own hearts leap and beat faster when we hear a panicky infant on public transportation? Those who try to help the baby calm down – or the baby’s parent stay calm – seem to understand how to align the heart’s intention with a physical cry for help.

Sound Hole’s Message Resonates Deeply

Sound holes are found everywhere. The denotation refers to musical stringed instruments. People providing care and random acts of kindness are metaphorical sound holes. The Beatitudes remind us that blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. I thought of that as I journaled this message of sound holes: Do the words coming from your mouth resonate with those beating in your heart?

Your Turn

First, take out your journal and draw a line down the middle of the page. Next, label the left side MOUTH and the right side HEART. Think of a recent conversation. Were you perhaps misunderstood or did you misunderstand someone? Write down the phrases that came out of your mouth and then jot down the feelings that they stirred in your heart. See where you might need to work on aligning your energies so your physical and emotional sound holes align.

Until tomorrow, here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

Scrabble Words for Flow

Create a Word Bank from Scrabble

Word Lists from Scrabble — First play the game, then get writing from your curated word list.

Sunday afternoons find my husband, mother-in-law, and I playing Scrabble. This ritual helps us to pass the time during the pandemic. The games usually run one to two hours. We have taken these games to a new level by anticipating them each week, then carefully crafting our word choices. It helps that all three of us are avid readers and come up with a variety of interesting diction.

Also, the game gets my mother-in-law’s mind off of the local paper’s with its teeming death notices of Covid-19 victims – most from local residential living facilities. And, she is now interested in the fact that I am using these word lists to write from professionally.

Next, free write for a few. Make a list of the words developed during the game. Then use the list as a springboard to write a creative piece using as many of the words as possible. Play with long and short lines. Add some rhymes. Look for alliteration. Give yourself about 10 minutes. See what images appear.

Then, select a genre or two to carry through. As a theme arises from the free write of the word list, follow the lead. Perhaps a poem rises up. Or, a one-act play. Or, both! Choose one genre knowing that you can come back and create more works from any single topic.

Now, it’s your turn! If you have a Scrabble game somewhere hidden in a hall closet, it is time to get it out and try your hand at this writing tactic. It employs procrastination by allowing you to blow off writing at first by playing a game. Then, you are rewarded for the time you invested in the game by writing a piece from the words you and others generated.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

TGIFF – Thank God It’s Friday Flow

Cliché Finds Flow on Friday

Congratulations, you’ve made it to Friday. And, at the workweek’s end, there is time to find flow. But, where do you go to find flow? First, realize that flow can happen anywhere at anytime. Need proof? Look at this past post on finding flow in a card and party goods store. Simply click right here: https://wewriteitright.com/visit-flow-in-a-party-goods-shop/

How Gratitude Leads the Way

Use grateful eyes to take in the world around you. Then, instead of planning to hit the bars and clubs when the clock strikes 5:00 PM, other options present themselves during these times of pandemic. Why not take a virtual tour a museum? Or, take a walk or bike ride through a park? Or, spend an hour working on a poem, and essay, or a blog post. When you are grateful for the options you have – even if you are working from home amid shutdowns – then that is enough.

Your Turn

Playtime creates greater flow. — Spirographs, Etch-a-Sketch, and Slinkys are just a few ways to re-enter flow through playtime. What was your favorite activity as a child? When was the last time you tried it as an adult?

Think back to grade school, junior high, or middle school. Think about the electives that you took that helped round out your schedule. Did you take dance or music classes? Weight training? Or, perhaps, like me, you did candle making. Whatever it might be, try to reunite your lost teen with your adult self. Take time to write, dance, sing, paint, or play with your Spirograph! You’ll be glad you did!

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa