How We Write

The secret room in my mind.

I’ve painted since the early ‘60’s, but I’ve always been interested in psychology and the other arts. I studied in LA with Hal Stone to learn voice dialogue, Paul Newham in London to learn his Voice Movement system, at the Strasberg method acting school in New York, Roberto Ciabani in Florence, Italy to learn kinetic expressionism. I have tried a good number of psychotherapeutic interventions too.

I want to know what blocks artistic creativity and I’m interested in strategies that release it. Early on, I wanted to find the source of creativity in myself, and I did manage to dismantle a lot of the impediments to expression that I had absorbed growing up.

I’m a kinetic person, so my approach to artistic creation may not work for others, but I’m not sure. I do think there are typical ways people block themselves.

I’m a painter, so I write by the seat of my pants. Never having studied writing, I approach it with a certain “innocence.” Not being aware of the many pitfalls involved, I may benefit from beginner’s luck but here’s a description of my process. I’d like to hear how others do this work.

I decide to write at a certain time of day, after I’ve watered the garden of our house-sit and had coffee. At that time every day, I sit down and look through my handwritten notebook and grab an idea. If I find…