Daily Nourishment for August 22, 2024: Doodling towards Memories with Guidance from Nicole Parsons
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 50 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
“Direct your heart upward.”
Pause.
On a fresh sheet of paper, “doodle” while you listen to this five-minute recording.
Keep your hand moving. If you’re not a doodler, try slowly, steadily writing the letters of the alphabet over and and over while you listen, or make along series of dashes or dots or circles. Just keep your hand moving while you listen.
Prompt.
Without re-listening to the recording, pick any noun (any person, place, or thing) that you remember from it. Write the noun down on top of a fresh sheet of paper, and beside it write: “That reminds me of…” now write for five minutes, at your own pace, but keep your hand moving.
Practice.
Read your prompted memory back to yourself out loud (no editing). On a clean sheet of paper, jot down one line or sentence you really like. Notice the virtuosity in that line, your own style and way of capturing something. Notice what’s pleasing, where your preferences shine.
Now write down one line or sentence from what you just wrote that you cringe at. Look gently at this less than satisfying line. What is hidden in that line that you didn’t see at first? What might be hidden in it? Spend 5 minutes re-seeing and working with this line however you want (expand, re-word, cut, rearrange, whatever). Make it into a sentence you love, or two or three. What do you notice about doing this?
Want More?
Check out George Saunders’ “First Thohts on Reviision” (sic)
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Upcoming Workshops & Gatherings
—The August Co-Writing Schedule is live.
—Spiritual Direction for Writers® + Enneagram for Creativity Gathering will take place on Friday, September 27th and Saturday, September 28th. Recordings will be available if you can’t join us live. You can register here.
—August 31— Online Revision Stations Designed by Lauren F. Winner
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Nicole Parsons in 2023 before we began to offer Daily Nourishment on the website. Nicole Parsons is a spiritual director with an M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction, and almost everything she knows she learned from stories. Learn more about Nicole and her writing here.
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