Plant a Seed. Watch it Grow.
A few days ago, I got started on an assignment from a Christian publisher. The assignment is to write seven devotions for students from 3-6th grade.
So, I planted seeds.
First, I thought (one of my favorite activities.) I thought about topics, checked the internet for events that happened on the dates I was assigned, then thought some more. I found a topic for each day. Those are my seeds. I simply wrote the idea or cut and pasted the events onto the pages. Then, when all the seeds were planted on their pages, I went through each one. On each page, I stopped, thought, then typed. Only one seed didn't sprout. I may have to change that topic. The others are all growing. I wrote a sentence or paragraph, or a few paragraphs for each one. I'll go back and see how much each one has grown today.
This is how my writing seems to work best. I plant a seed (an idea) and then let it grow in the back of my mind. I sometimes have to fertilize it with research and more active thought, but a lot of the time, if I simply let it sit in the dirt of my mind, it grows on its own. I sit down and type - the leaves bud, stems grow, flowers bloom. Then, later, I have to prune. Editing my work is not my favorite thing to do, but since it's rather messy, it makes the writing shape up in a way that is more pleasing to others. They don't see all the dead blossoms, the weeds that have popped up, or the branches that may be ready to fall off. Instead, they see a pruned, edited, piece of work that they too can enjoy.
So, I planted seeds.
First, I thought (one of my favorite activities.) I thought about topics, checked the internet for events that happened on the dates I was assigned, then thought some more. I found a topic for each day. Those are my seeds. I simply wrote the idea or cut and pasted the events onto the pages. Then, when all the seeds were planted on their pages, I went through each one. On each page, I stopped, thought, then typed. Only one seed didn't sprout. I may have to change that topic. The others are all growing. I wrote a sentence or paragraph, or a few paragraphs for each one. I'll go back and see how much each one has grown today.
This is how my writing seems to work best. I plant a seed (an idea) and then let it grow in the back of my mind. I sometimes have to fertilize it with research and more active thought, but a lot of the time, if I simply let it sit in the dirt of my mind, it grows on its own. I sit down and type - the leaves bud, stems grow, flowers bloom. Then, later, I have to prune. Editing my work is not my favorite thing to do, but since it's rather messy, it makes the writing shape up in a way that is more pleasing to others. They don't see all the dead blossoms, the weeds that have popped up, or the branches that may be ready to fall off. Instead, they see a pruned, edited, piece of work that they too can enjoy.
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