There’s a class of people being formed today who make their living from the internet, giving them freedom to travel around the world, sometimes with their whole family. What would their life be like? What would be the specific challenges of their lifestyle?
Write about Internet Nomads.
Write for fifteen minutes, and when you’re finished, post your practice in the comments section.
Today is the last day to enter July’s Show Off Writing Contest. We’re looking forward to reading your work!
When John Hopkins’ researchers examined jazz pianists’ brains while they improvised, they found something surprising. The jazz musicians were able to turn off the part of their brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which scientists believe powers self-control and keeps us from doing things that would appear strange or dangerous. The musicians also activated the medial prefrontal cortex, which is associated with individuality.
As Jonah Lehrer says, they were able to “inhibit their inhibitions” and “channel their artistic identity.”
In 2009, I was sitting Kenya in my friend’s yard, watching the chickens chase each other and drinking Kenyan chai, a strange, delicious tea that contains nicotine instead of caffeine, when I made a decision:
It was time to write the novel I’d long been avoiding.
I only had a tiny netbook computer, whose screen was about the size of my hand, but fueled by about ten cups of tea a day, I started writing my novel. One-thousand words turned into five, five-thousand words turned into ten.
Then, 15,000 words into the novel I got stuck, and everything fell apart. The novel had major structural flaws, the tea was giving me… digestive problems, and soon, I had to leave Kenya for Uganda, effectively ending my writing. Dozens of hours of work were wasted.
Or were they?
To write fiction, you must develop your capacity be empathetic. In fact, you could argue that empathy is synonymous with story.
Don’t believe me? Plug the word story for empathy into this list of definitions for empathy that I found on Wikipedia:
[Empathy] is what happens to us when we leave our own bodies…and find ourselves either momentarily or for a longer period of time in the mind of the other. We observe reality through her eyes, feel her emotions, share in her pain. –Khen Lampert
Once a month, we stop practicing and invite you to show off your best work.
Are you interested in being published (in print)? Would you like to get better at the writing craft by working with an editor? Do you enjoy a little friendly competition? And are you a fan of The Write Practice?
Then this writing contest might be for you.
