Mindful Reading: Boice pp 14-19

This section of Boice clarified some of the questions I had about the 'brief daily session' approach to writing. As he talks about 're-framing the problem' he gives some concrete suggestions on how to shift from the passive waiting phase in to the more productive 'active waiting' phase. This made a lot of sense for me because I was having trouble thinking about how to actually get to a place where I'm comfortable writing in short, daily chunks.

The metaphor of 'joining the conversation' is really important for 'active waiting.' Boice describes how much there is to do before you even put pen to page: talking with other writers, reading other works, thinking about what types of problems are relevant (and the subsequent problem solving skills required to handle them), etc, etc etc. If you can see the conversation from the outside, before you fully immerse yourself in it, I think it's easier to see the parameters that will help guide you through your own writing process. If you are fortunate enough to be able (and willing) to see the writing you're about to do as one small part of this broader conversation, I feel like it makes the process of 'starting' that much easier.

The real takeaway for me from these pages was the simple statement Boice makes on page 19. His fourth point in his list of topics that come up in his session really gave me some perspective. He states that "motivation and inspiration follow, not precede, the practice of regular accumulated work... We err in waiting for motivation that impels us to write." Sitting naked in a room waiting for the great-pumpkin of writing motivation to visit us, we could be sitting there (uncomfortably) for a long time. It's not hard to set aside 15 minutes to do some kind of writing. And with most things (meditation, throwing a curveball, driving, Tiger Woods Golf '13 for PS3), the more often you do it, the easier it becomes. Motivation then arises, I assume, because you have proof that you're doing good work, that you're a capable writer, and that you have something to contribute to the conversation.