Establishing the Writing Habit

One of the most challenging things for me as a writer is maintaining a writing habit.  NAPOWRIMO is a great time to kick-start, but it is so easy to fall away once May 1 hits.  For me, this results in  procrastination, carelessness about journaling, and after only a few weeks, self doubt about my abilities. We all have those serendipitous moments of genius in the shower or while brushing our teeth, but that's a pretty meagre diet for the creative process.

During NAPOWRIMO, I mentioned discovering a number of twitter handles that provided daily prompts.  I suppose I thought this was only for the month of April, but it wasn't!  Just the few minutes of looking up the prompts and writing them down can be enough to start words flowing.

Today, I saw the prompt 'where memories dwell,' and that triggered memories of driving across Nevada with storms looming.  That brought on the poem below, in the form of 5 cinquains:

Newe Sogobia

Sagebrush

is everywhere

roots clinging to basalt

though scant cover of rocky soil

sustains.

Raptors

fly wide circles

scan the terrain for prey.

Upon finding the lone rodent

they stoop.

Wildfires

scorch high desert.

Rough limbs that have endured

countless cycles of blackening

still green.

Storms are

foreseen for miles

dappled on the landscape

cool clouds with ozone on their breath

approach.

After,

sun is revealed

spiders and lean lizards

emerge beside sweet rabbit brush

and bask.

I'm committing to myself to post every Wednesday.  I also found this graphic on Twitter to help motivate me.  As the tweeter suggested, it's posted above by desk.