Pen + Page = Your Portal.

Writing is transformation.

Table of contents:

• Pieces about writing.

• Exercises and practices.

  • Easy things to try

  • Framework, ritual, and environment

    • The Value of Discipline: Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages

    • Can writing heal? JournalSpeak by Dr. John Sarno and Nichole Sachs)

    • The Screenwriter’s Prayer by David Milch

    • There are no problems: A trader’s take on the Samurai.

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Pieces about writing.

Writing as shadow work. I write because I believe it has the power to transform. I write because it lets me love, or at least accept, what may otherwise feel unlovable. — Why I Write (An Invitation)

Advice for online writers. Above all, write honestly. Write about what feels important to you. Write from the heart. Write to enrich the world of your readers for a short moment. Life is too short for anything else. — Three Years Of Writing Online

Writing as alchemy. At the intersection of our talents and our wounds is our chance to practice alchemy — to turn what is buried in darkest depths into gold. The reward is not to be released from suffering but to find meaning in it, not a happy ending, but the a life profoundly experienced and generously shared. —David Milch and the Alchemy of Story

Can writing change our perspective on ourselves? We must also learn to meet ourselves the way a writer would: with curiosity, love, and and the right questions. A writer does not care about a character’s success but about its truth. The richness of your character rests in its contradictions. It is your complexity that uniquely breaks the light and lets you shine. — Dying Without Regrets (How to See Yourself Like a Writer)

Writing can be a struggle. Keep going. The answer to contraction is expansion — reaching out, hanging out, working out, walking out, praying, chanting, even crying out loud. — Reflections on Writing, Grinding, and Money

Writing as a mission. Following curiosity wherever it leads is an unreasonable idea in an age that glorifies efficiency, grinding, grifting, and wealth. Allow yourself to aim for the unreasonable. The world needs your best effort and highest ambition. — The Writing Mission (is to be curious)

Writing and singing are intertwined. It’s valuable to be proficient, but invaluable to be resonant. — How to Find Your Voice

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Exercises and practices.

For stream-of-consciousness writing I recommend you use a fresh notepad/journal and use a pen that allows you to write smoothly and quickly.

Dead-simple things to start a transformational writing practice:

• Journal (use prompts like gratitude or surprise or this one by Devin Martin about personal energy; or the rose, bud, thorn)

• Brain dump: write down everything that is on your mind. Seriously. Write until your hand hurts. Dump it all out on however many pages it takes. Put an ‘x’ in margin for the sentences that seem important but keep going.

• Tapping into the unconscious: let the ‘night shift’ connect the dots using the The Most Important Question method.

A framework for the following practices:

• Build a ritual.

  • Start for example with a few minutes of breathing.

  • Express gratitude and ask for guidance (I say a prayer but do what works for you)

  • Do the exercise — set a timer. Try to do at least 20 minutes. It can take time to get in the zone, especially early on.

  • Close it out: use a separate page or document to track what came up — memories, emotions, quotes/sentences, surprises, questions, ideas, insights…

  • (Share them here!)

  • If you’re doing an emotionally intense exercise: make time to soothe and relax after (I love Ally’s Yoga Nidra)

• The right environment.

  • This is a dance. Structure and routine are good — same time, same place. But once you have a routine, it’s good to break it up!

  • No distractions! No phone. No nothing.

  • If that’s tough at home, go to a cafe or an empty conference room or whatever

  • Noise-cancelling headphones! Soft ambient ok, but no music. Music can be very effective for writing but it can steer us. Music leads us to emotions, to rhythm; it speeds us up, slows us down. Through music, an artist can take you in all sorts of directions, but during these practices you want to listen to yourself.

  • We’re not looking to ‘get in the zone’ or speed up or do anything expect be with what already is.

Writing exercises and practices:

• The Value of Discipline: Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages

• Can writing heal? JournalSpeak by Dr. John Sarno and Nichole Sachs)

• The Screenwriter’s Prayer by David Milch