Tuning In: The Fine Art of Paying Attention

Additional Information

Creating art depends on our ability to slow down and really sense and feel our world and our place in it.  Everyday life, particularly but not uniquely American everyday life, asks us to do everything other than engage in the kind of introspection and attentiveness that is essential not only to creative pursuits but also to living an examined life. In our profoundly siloed world —where we are urged to look at, read, believe, consume only those things that don’t offend us or those things that confirm what we already think is true—writers have to struggle not only to pay attention but also to not look away from the harder truths.

We will focus on how to focus—how to pay attention to small, beautiful, or not-so-beautiful things that draw us in. We will use writing techniques, as well as techniques drawn from healing arts (meditation and mindfulness, in particular), to help us “be here now”—be present, be attentive, and be engaged on a sensory level—and to use that energy to propel our writing forward.

In this webinar, you will:

• RECOGNIZE the problem and source of omnipresent distractions, as well as the unique dangers siloing poses to writers 
• PAY attention, slow down, and fight the distractions of the world while refusing to look away from the luminous details we may find challenging
• USE our new-found focus to sort details from distractions, then apply those details to our writing
• CONSIDER what details to leave in—and what to take out—to make our work stronger

There will be time for a Q & A at the end of the presentation.

This webinar is ideal for writers of all levels who want to understand how to sort luminous details that drive our stories forward from duds and distractions.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.