Writing from the Inside Out

“Reading
Writing From the Inside Out
is like bathing in a sea of words that connect with your soul and make you understand the true meaning behind what poetry is. This book is a stunning peek into the author's mind and heart as he shares and explores the life experiences he's had that contribute to his unique gift. Stephen takes you on a journey of what it is to write, what goes into the practice, the parallels between writing and yoga, the meditative approach, the idea of action, outlining your book, moving through and embracing the ego, and all along the way discovering your truth in the process. Absorbing the lessons in this book will add a dimension to your creative practice and make you a much stronger writer in the process.”

— Jen Grisanti, author:
Story Line
and
Change Your Story, Change Your Life

“I urge others to write from the heart to find their true artistic voice. Here is a book that profoundly helps one explore that mysterious personal journey. A navigation guide to our inner creative magic.”

— Pen Densham, author:
Riding the Alligator
; screenwriter:
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

“If you wish to learn the ‘attentiveness' that Thoreau and Emerson felt was the essential quality of the writer, read Stephen Webber's breakthrough book,
Writing From the Inside Out
. Webber, a bold thinker and a searching, unconventional teacher of creative writing, gives you unique opportunities to significantly alter your processes of composing and revising every aspect of your work.”

— Kevin McIlvoy, author:
The Complete History of New Mexico & Other Stories

“Somewhere inside this quietly-stocked storehouse of reflection and anecdotes, of sound advice and exercises, I found myself involuntarily re-centered — my crossed wires came gently uncrossed — the act of writing (and reading, and breathing) took on a freshness I'd forgotten. Webber likens the art of making art to ‘meditation in the midst of action.' That's a mighty fine description of this truly helpful book.”

— Joseph Scapellato, writer and teacher

“In
Writing From the Inside Out
, Webber reminds us that any and all pursuits such as yoga and writing are all a reach for realizing The One, and that all worldly pursuits seek what is beyond ourselves.”

— Catherine Ann Jones, author of
The Way of Story
and
Heal Your Self with Writing

“There are many frothy writing books.
Writing From the Inside Out
certainly is not one of them. Stephen Lloyd Webber's writing is charged, energetic. His chapters are surprisingly titled, his exercises fresh and inviting. As a writer and yoga practitioner, he brings new meaning to ‘the body and mind are one.' Yoga and writing both require sustained attention and in this book Webber has paid very close attention. The language is poetic — ‘garden-fresh' as he says in talking about what happens in the moment of creation. ‘A Life With Poetry at its Center' is a chapter that calls all of us writers back to what we may have forgotten, if we ever knew it: ‘poetry is the ethical stewardship of ideas.' There are two kinds of structure, he writes: supportive and musical. Webber's book has both. It's tight without being skeletal, robust without being overblown, and well worth every writer's attention.”

— Karen Speerstra, author:
Sophia: The Feminine Face of God
and
Color: The Language of Light

from
THE INSIDE OUT

the practice of
FREE-FORM WRITING

STEPHEN LLOYD WEBBER

 

Published by DIVINE ARTS

DivineArtsMedia.com

An imprint of Michael Wiese Productions

12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111

Studio City, CA 91604

(818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (FAX)

Cover Design: Johnny Ink.
www.johnnyink.com

Book Layout: William Morosi

Copyeditor: Annalisa Zox-Weaver

Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., Saline, Michigan

Manufactured in the United States of America

Copyright 2013 by Stephen Lloyd Webber

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Webber, Stephen Lloyd, 1982- author.

Writing From the Inside Out : The Practice of Free-Form Writing / Stephen Lloyd Webber.
      pages cm

ISBN 978-1-61125-015-2

1. Free verse--Authorship. 2. Poetry--Authorship. 3. Creative writing. 4. Poetry, Modern. 5. Poetics. I. Title.

PN1059.F7W43 2013

808.1--dc23

2012040691

Printed on Recycled Stock

CHAPTER 1. BLIND FAITH

CHAPTER 2. TANTRA FOR WRITERS

CHAPTER 3. MODES OF ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER 4. IT'S MADE TO IGNITE

CHAPTER 5. NONACTION WITHIN ACTION

CHAPTER 6. BALANCE

 

 

Several years ago, when I was attending Oklahoma State University as a creative writing major, I became acquainted with the poet Ai, and not long after that, I became her driver. For a couple of months, whenever she was going out of town, she'd give me a call. This went on until I graduated and left town myself. So for me many stories of Oklahoma are, in some way, about getting out of town.

I remember one instance in which I drove Ai to a Lawton library so she could research her Native American ancestry. While she spent hours doing this, I sat mesmerized under fluorescent lights at a long wooden table reading Julio Cortazar's
Rayuela
, that great body of writing that allows the reader to impose his or her own sequence on the chapters.

A couple of weeks later, I gave Ai a ride to a poetry reading she was giving in Dayton, Ohio. It was a fourteen-hour drive from Stillwater, and because she had a lot of anxiety associated with travel, we didn't even get started until midnight. She kept putting it off. Finally, we got out of town. I drove in silence. It was a big white extended cab diesel truck she'd rented from the school (safer than a car, I suppose). She didn't want to hear the radio, music, anything. We spoke occasionally of poetry. She said of my writing that they weren't true poems, but that I could really “turn a phrase.” It wasn't the most useful criticism I'd received, but the thought resonated with me, nonetheless.

Over the years, I continued to write and make my own discoveries. I earned my MFA in poetry at New Mexico State University, and a couple of years later, I set a New Year's resolution to write twenty books in a year. Through the experience, I learned a lot about writing, and about myself.

With regard to my goal, I turned a phrase. I came to think about the resolution as “putting together twenty book-length projects,” as opposed to “writing twenty books.” The different turn of phrase gave me more flexibility to compile works, because I wasn't limiting myself to writing one book at a time from start to finish. I was sometimes working on six books at once, and I felt the freedom to write them in any order. I gained familiarity with modes of organization, and eventually each project snapped more or less into place. One major component of making this shift was that I was practicing yoga — particularly, pranayama and meditation — regularly. Prior to yoga, I had been active and in good shape, though my time at the gym wasn't necessarily the sort of physical activity that merged seamlessly with my writing practice. My life took an even stronger shift toward the contemplative when I went through a medical issue with the retinas in both of my eyes and, for several weeks, faced the possibility that I would go blind. Things that had once appeared important lost their charge; things that had once been difficult, I realized no longer needed to be so. I recentered my life around what I loved and tried to let go of the things I could not control.

Experience is our best teacher. More important than any writing “trick” is a creative approach that is true to life, trusting in the sufficiency of the present moment to contain the right expression. This approach means not trying to fit new material into familiar categories and not over-anticipating the result. While I recovered from the surgery that saved my vision, I couldn't be sure how things were going to turn out. Working creatively, I can't know the result in advance. I love abiding in uncertainty when it leads to a flash of recognition or a new idea. But if I hope to be sustainably productive, I need to appreciate the state of being that precedes intellectual recognition.

This is yoga: even-mindedness without attachment to what comes from heartfelt effort. It benefits me to recognize that my artistic expression is an extension of something already sufficient — perhaps already complete. Even when I am clear and wholly intentional, factors unknown to me are at work. Thoughts affect language, and language affects the movement of mind and body. There is a rhythm to language that is akin to the rhythm of thinking and the rhythm of breath. The linguistic landscape sometimes affects us more powerfully than the physical environment — when reading the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
, I'm apt to forget where I am.

Good writing is good medicine. When circumstances lead a writer through uncertainty into greater understanding, the phrases turn — and they turn the reader, enlivening the reader's perspective. Sometimes, depending on what comes before and after, a phrase can reveal or enact a compelling image, up-end our expectations, and continue to resonate with us. There can be a truth in turning phrases that exceeds my wildest expectations.

It is a gift that language itself, as a structured thing, is rather loose. There is more than one way to express a thing. When someone tells you to
inhale
and, in response, you breathe in, the body feels a certain way. Compare this action to how the body responds to the suggestion that you
let nature breathe into you
. Outwardly, the action is the same — you're still inhaling — but inwardly, the focus is different. This practice is language yoga — lucidly stretching, the mind and body experience freedom. Rather than trying to
make the mind calm
, rather than willfully trying to
stop thinking
, do this:
Watch the mind think
. Then:
Embody the witness
.