A few weeks ago, I published a journal entry called “STOP HIDING AND DO THE EXERCISE.” Today’s entry is a follow up. So, quite often in Method Writing, a teacher will say: Always be dong an exercise. In the beginning, our first exercise is simply ” go to Ralph’s to get a chicken” and “write…

STOP HIDING AND DO THE EXERCISE As we try to “write well,” we often wind up hiding our natural way of speaking, hiding our half-formed ideas, hiding our process, hiding our tendency to avoid the truth, hiding our vulnerability. It is as if, while writing, we study ourselves (and our thoughts) in an imaginary mirror.…

The great teaching artist, Robert Henri, once wrote: “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state that makes art possible.” Henri is talking about process versus product, a central idea in Method Writing and important to any creative work. I sometimes like to talk about “working well” versus “making good…

Next Saturday, I’ll begin teaching another session of Method Writing. And as usual I wonder if I can do this. I’m a wonderer. I’m never certain of anything I do. My life and my work and my teaching are always tentative. I ask more questions than I have answers. Like other creatives, I am chased…