Julie Tallard Johnson
  • Home
  • Explore with Me
    • BOOKS!!
    • LIVE Retreats & Circles >
      • ​Come As You Are, Meditation & Writing Retreat
      • A Year of Transformation, Initiation & Manifestation: World into Word & Action
    • Online Courses >
      • Be The Cause of Your Life
    • Spiritual Mentoring
    • Writing >
      • Writer's Sherpa
      • The Initiated Writer™
    • Counseling & Spiritual Mentoring
  • About & Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Payments
  • Home
  • Explore with Me
    • BOOKS!!
    • LIVE Retreats & Circles >
      • ​Come As You Are, Meditation & Writing Retreat
      • A Year of Transformation, Initiation & Manifestation: World into Word & Action
    • Online Courses >
      • Be The Cause of Your Life
    • Spiritual Mentoring
    • Writing >
      • Writer's Sherpa
      • The Initiated Writer™
    • Counseling & Spiritual Mentoring
  • About & Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Payments

Julie's Blog
​
 World into Word & Action

Transformation of Clichés in Life and Writing

6/26/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Cliché’s are dead metaphors. They are overused and therefor don't offer up anything authentic or original. They are everywhere of course, in life and in our writing. 

Cliché’s may be keeping you in a trap – the starving artist; no one will believe you; writing is a waste of time; I’m too old and it’s too late; family secrets should remain so.  – all these can hinder your creative flow. Identify  one from your life. One of my clichés was 
accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. For me this meant: don’t speak up about the dark truth, don’t be so sensitive, and, let the shadow aspects stay in the dark.  This cliché alone gave me a lot of writing material!
 
Search and destroy clichés in your perceptions and writing. Beyond cliché lines, what perceptions, beliefs and story lines do you hold that are also cliché? Facts can be cliché, rules and formulas – but our truth, and our experiences, which are the narratives of our truths bloom with authenticity and originality.  So, take the meaning of a cliché (which is also cliché) and challenge it – question it.  Write about at least two clichéd beliefs, assumptions or formulas that have shown up in your life and/or writing -- especially around your chosen subject and theme. 

Clichés  deprive us of genuine details. And our stories are often in the detail.

Can we have our cake and eat it too?
What does it mean “to not look back?”
Do we really marry our mothers?
What does it mean to be ugly?
Why shouldn’t we bite off more than we can chew?
What does it mean to be the center of attention? (Is this a good thing?) 
What does it mean to be told to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative? 
 
What clichés both structurally (in sentences) and in theme show up in your writing project? How can you liven these up? Which ones seem to come up a lot for you? What’s a live metaphor or detail that could tell us more? Be willing to search and destroy all clichés. To write metaphors we can start with finding our clichés and transforming them into something alive. 

Want to buy this Writing Sherpa a cup of coffee? Here's how: Click here: A Cuppa Java for Julie.

OPENINGS IN MY FALL CIRCLES

Mount Horeb Morning Writing Circle (Next one begins 
SEPTEMBER, 2019)
Meets monthly on the 3rd Tuesday 10am - 1:00pm through Sept., 2019. This circle will be a
​smaller circle of 6.   join us.

Madison Evening Writing Circle (Next one begins SEPTEMBER, 2019)
Meets monthly on the 1st Tuesday 6-9pm.  join us.

Prairie du Sac Evening Writing Circle (Next one begins OCTOBER, 2019)
595 Water Street, Prairie du Sac Meets monthly on the 1st Wednesday 6 till 9pm. 
 I invite you to join.  
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    ​


      Welcome to
    Julie's Blog

    World into Word & Action (my new blog)
    ​

    Read the past posts. 

    Author and counselor Julie Tallard Johnson
    I live in Mount Horeb WI where I walk (snow shoe in the winter) my dogs through Stewart Park or Military Trail, garden my corner lot, wear a mask in public (and a cape at night). I love to write & connect to writers and spiritual seekers. My book The Clue of the Red Thread is my latest of eleven, written in collaboration with Parker J Palmer and poet Rebecca Cecchini  The Clue of the Red Thread: Discovering Fearlessness & Compassion in uncertain times  came out in January, 2021 through Shanti Arts, Nine Rivers Imprint. 

    RSS Feed

    Picture
Picture
Home | Writing | Books | Counseling | Blog | About | Contact  -  ​Subscribe to receive my blog by email
Disclaimer
©2022 Julie Tallard Johnson, MSW, LCSW
The Writer's Sherpa
Transformational & Embodied Counselor & Mentor
Engaged in the world, one conversation at a time
​Most rights reserved. Admin