I've decided to work with some of the prompts from The Passionate Writer and Let Your Words Flow here, right out in the open, because I thought it might help you to decide to write, too - to see it is simple and perhaps exactly what you've been looking for to improve your writing.
These words are from the Ernest Hemingway quote about writing a true sentence, more specifically from the List prompt about five-to-ten moments of true-ness in my own life Here is what I have written so far and yes, it is most definitely a work-in-progress.
Not a polished piece of writing, simply a stream-of-consciousness with perhaps a bit of editing for writers to realize we are all works-in-progress. I'm experimenting to see if there is an interest in such a topic for people who want to improve writing.
I remember true moments by what my hands were doing and the fact I remember my hands at all. My hand high in the air and coming down, letting go and releasing. The moment I discovered I was supposed to act. The moment I held my first born in my hand. The moment I touched his face as I kissed him, five years after the first kiss and more intense than ever before.
I capture true moments: those words that burst out without thought but are so much richer than the premeditated, prepackaged words that sound straight out of a thought factory. They are written in a certain language, dialect and flavor.
To read the original prompt from "The Passionate Writer" click here for the link.
Vanilla phrases here, Ekhardt Tolle inspired words there, a phrase in French thrown in alongside English to add the perfect “joie de vivre” into the center of the conversation.
Those aren’t true sentences, they are homogenized, made-from-a-box sentences that contained regurgitated thought, like the artist whose paintings always look like someone else’s or the actor who solely mimics others rather than finding his own style.
I’m not saying those aren’t “good” - they certainly can be. I remember once being told I “out Ruth Buzzi Ruth Buzzi” when I was in a play that was an homage to the variety show “Laugh-In.” I wasn’t wild about playing the old maid Ruth Buzzi character but I gave it my all. It was the “my all” that shined through, not the “true” bits within it.
I once had a friend who, at the time, was my dearest of all friends. I was enamored.
Over time, though, I learned how untrue his words were.
His words were prepackaged, homogenized and seasoned with whatever his latest fascination was rather than what he was currently processed. Conversations with him began to feel as if they were part of a seven week run on off-Broadway rather than a conversation with a dear friend.
One morning I asked him a simple question and he started to riff, jazz style, on the answer only he didn’t know he was doing it. He was responded with raw vulnerability, with an openness I hadn’t seen in years. My heart fell out of my chest and met his somewhere as I gave him space to talk about his heartache.
I didn’t see him again for a couple months and when I did, his briefest moments of vulnerability had been replaced by his well-worn mask of “I, Shaman!” rather than his sincere work clothes of “I, with you.”
= = = = =
This is just a snippet of writing inspired by The Passionate Writer series of quotes, prompts and more as well as the Let Your Words Flow series. These new "Writing in Progress" blog posts are meant to offer further insights into how these prompts may work for you in your own creative process.
=====
Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming Spring, 2014 and beyond.
Check out the links below to follow her 
on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot
Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)
Follow on Instagram
And naturally, on Pinterest, too!
