Introducing Proprioceptive writing – steps for writers with purpose

By Nick Sanders

The proprioceptive mode of writing was discovered by eminent psychologists to help people overcome emotional blocks, unravel deep-buried secrets and heal them. The general idea was that as a person got more in touch with his or her own experiences and emotional values, a complete cycle of stories would flood out of them. If a person wishes to heal their psychological hurts, and use their past experiences to enhance one's creative outputs, there is no better way.

Proprioceptive writing can be used by people of all ages, and some psychiatrists have helped teenagers and children with low self-esteem, or those in need of counseling, with this method. Children who could not express themselves properly through writing were given crayons instead of pens or pencils, and were told to draw instead of write. So, how does one get started with proprioceptive writing in the first place?

Well, there are a few things you need to know before setting yourself the proprioceptive ‘mode’. We first need to ready our brain for appropriate reception, and calm the mind. We all know that settling into a state of immense calmness is very difficult for our fast paced life, but the essence of the proprioception comes only when we are settled into meditative calm. Our object is therefore to primarily settle the turbulence of our minds.

To do this is not that difficult, once we are committed to looking after our well-being, and seek the wonders that lie within our minds. Since each of us have had experiences, desires, feelings, dreams and disappointments unique to us, we can tap into their experiential residue and extract positive and creative content out of them.

Proprioceptive writing can turn even the most bitter experiences and nightmares that we may have harbored within ourselves for ages into positive, creative material. At the unique and individualistic emancipation of something so-far held as negative, we get a sense of high-held liberty. "Seek the truth and the truth shall set you free..." – this remains at the core of every one seeking help through proprioceptive writing. Through a well-guided process of following the proprioceptive method, our long-term hurt becomes healed, and we receive a sense of well-being by realizing the lessons behind the most hurtful events in our lives.

We even get our very own creative fodder from our individual experiences! Eventually, we reach our dreams of being the best in ourselves by realizing the crazy uniqueness and individuality that creates our true self, and we learn to accept ourselves with our faults and mistakes along with our good points. In short, we learn to enjoy our lives to the fullest!

So how do we go about it? Any life-coach would charge you a hell of a lot of money to get you back to yourself. Try these techniques and see your life evolve. Let these points become your own free therapy, your own special time that you keep reserved each day just for your own use, and you will slowly see your "me-time" yielding great dividends later on!

Nick Sanders is the owner and founder of Supaproofread.com, an online proofreading and editing services company, specialising in book author proofreading and editing services. You should visit them if you are looking for a professional proofreading service

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

How Can You Say What I’ve Written Needs Work

By Joyce Shafer

You must fall in love with editing and rewriting or with your editor if you want what you write to be a good read for others. There really is no way around this. You can choose to improve your skills or you can choose to find a freelance editor you trust and work well with.

Some new writers don’t realize that what they’ve written needs more than words spelled correctly. They write it, read through it once, and consider it done. They may even think, "Maybe someone needs to look at it just in case I missed a comma or two." Here’s another quote you might wish to take to heart:

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. -- Enrique Jardiel Poncela

. . . Or, it’s at least a fair number of hours spent on revisions. It’s rare that I don’t spend several hours revising a 600-word (or less) article I’ve written, after I’ve put it aside overnight. The more you do this, the better and somewhat faster you become; but a fact is a good job takes as long as it takes.

A few words about editing: we usually write to either entertain or inform. To even consider becoming a writer, we have to feel passionate about what we choose to share with others. This means in some way, we write from our heart. This is why our egos might feel bruised if an editor suggests we change something (or lots of somethings) about what we’ve written and poured ourselves into. With publishers, if you don’t follow their suggestions, they may drop your contract. If you self-publish, you have total control over everything; but you really do want to make sure you offer a quality product.

I helped one client with a non-fiction book that ended up being nearly 400 pages long. He felt it was ready to go to the formatter, though he understood I needed to read through it with my editor’s cap on. He said, "I read it in about four hours, so it shouldn’t take you longer than that to work on it."

Well, it took 43 hours to go through that draft and make all the (necessary) changes. The total number of hours it took to get it to publish-ready copy might astonish you, so I won’t tell you (he added new content until the day before it went to print). Consider this: When was the last time you read a comprehensive 400-page book in 4 hours, or 6? And, that didn’t involve looking at it for ways you could or needed to improve it.

I can’t fault him for this assumption. It’s tempting to read narcissistically (in love with what you’ve written and yourself for writing it) rather than as an editor would and must. This is why I recommend putting your piece aside for at least a day before you read it again. Sometimes what thrilled you when you wrote it causes you to cringe when you read it. It’s also called evolving; and you and what you write evolve together.

Once you write and publish your first creative or professional work, you’ll begin to appreciate this part of the writing process because your goal will be to do the most excellent job you can with your material.

An editor’s role, and this includes you as the writer, is to focus attention on content from the perspective of readers and the writer. When I work on behalf of a client (and their readers) I can’t afford to speed through it the way my client did. Since you’re serious about your writing career neither can you.

Joyce Shafer is a writer and life coach. Get Write, Get Published, and Promote: An Easy e-Guide for New and Aspiring Writers direct from her at discount and receive the free pdf of How to Have What You Really Want: An Easy Guide That Can Take You to the Next Level in Any Area of Your Life. Ctrl + click on link http://www.freewebs.com/writegetpublishedandpromote

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com