Imagine a writer, pen poised above the page. As words pour forth at breakneck speed, the writer seems master of the moment. Ideas, feelings, images, and scenes tumble out in a breathtaking, inspired flow which seems effortless but requires years of patient toil to achieve. The writer finishes the work with a flourish, beaming. What a ride!

    What is it that lures them, surfer and writer?

    Whatever it is, it has lured you, too.

    Perhaps you've never written at all, but would love to try. Or your friends say you write great letters and to "do something" with that talent. Or you've been keeping a journal and now it's time to take the next step (whatever that is). Or you wrote when you were a kid and loved it, but then had to go out and make a living.

    Do you go through your day with sixty million ideas flaming away inside your head? How come every time you try to pin them down to the page, they turn to smoke? Do you feel like you've been dating writing and now it's time to go steady? Maybe you've been going steady: you're ready for the altar. Have you been married to your pen forever? (Journalist? Copywriter? Published pro?) But now you've got the seven-year itch: you're trapped, confined, stuck, blocked. You need something new. Whoever you are, whatever your writing background, if you're holding this book in your hands, the sea is beckoning you, because creative writing is very much like an ocean. For one thing, the sea's vastness can evoke feelings of fear in the beholder. The writer is often fearful in the face of the mysterious, unknowable workings of the creative process. That's why this book uses timed, step-by-step exercises. Precise time limits and exact instructions will help you feel safe, dissolving your fear of the unknown. The instant gratification you get as you successfully complete each small task will build up your confidence, and pretty soon, you'll be writing every wave you can catch!

    The ocean is deep. You are deep, too. You have within yourself a fecund, inexhaustible wealth of ideas, images, scenes. All you need are a few simple tools to help you unearth treasures of insight and wisdom you don't even know you possess. The exercises in Writing the Wave will give you those tools. In the deep blue sea of the creative process, you'll feel right at home.

    The ocean can be lots of fun, once you master certain basic skills. Surfing is terrific, but there are many other ways to enjoy the water: swimming, boating, diving . . . even just splashing around. In this book, you'll start from scratch and build your skills gradually. Doesn't a little kid need her meat cut up? These exercises will cut the writing process up into manageable pieces, then spoonfeed them back to you in a specific order which will grow you from an intimidated fledgling into a confident writer. You don't have to believe you're creative or imaginative.You don't have to have any experience. All you have to do is follow the easy, step-by-step instructions and you're guaranteed an inspired product that expresses your deepest thoughts and helps you understand the writing process. It's a dynamic, pleasurable journey of creative self-discovery. The book does all the work. You just sit back and enjoy the ride.

    Because the ocean is awesome, you have got to approach it with an "It's bigger than me" attitude. Without ever being didactic or overbearing, the exercises in this book will help you connect your own creative impulse with a larger, divine Source. This non-intrusive spirituality will make you bold enough to reach for the stars with your writing. Trust in a transcendent Source of power and inspiration, will replace any fears that may be holding you back from expressing your creative potential. After the first few exercises, you'll be diving deeper and riding higher with words than you ever dreamed possible.

    You've never read anything like Writing the Wave. For starters, it has a one-of- a-kind format. You'll get your instructions piecemeal, one step at a time, and you'll be asked not to go on to the next step until you finish the current one. This is very important. You'll get one timed writing instruction, followed by a second, a third, and so on. It's important to do the exercises in sequence, because the steps have beencarefully planned to lead you somewhere, but if you know beforehand where you're going, you'll never arrive.

    So, whenever you see a footstep followed by a numbered bullet, for example: [graphic deleted]

that's a new step. Please don't read it unless you've completed the previous instructions. You'll be reminded not to read ahead by this sign: [graphic deleted]

    Please, please, please, I can't say it enough, it's very important that you follow the steps without reading ahead. I'm not big on rules and instructions myself. I cut off the tabs from the clothes in my first paper-doll book because I thought they were ugly. I wondered about the idiot grownup who had designed them: until I tried to put the clothes on the doll, and realized what those tabs had been for. You would think that experience would have done the trick, but no, I had to learn another lesson about rules when I was in fifth grade. We were all set to learn fractions. My class was chosen to be guinea pig in a "programmed learning" experiment. Half the class was taught fractions the conventional way. My half got a book equipped with a piece of cardboard engineered to fit over each page, covering up the answers to the problem posed and solved there. Of course, we were supposed to work through the problem before we looked at the answer, but me, I saw it as a fantastic opportunity to get through my math homework at record speed and devote the rest of the evening to reading. I never covered my answers, I just copied them.

    To this day, I can't do fractions.

    Don't be like me -- follow the steps in the exercises. Once you get into it, you'll love this "Stop 'n Go" format. It puts the book in the driver's seat, so you can relax and enjoy the scenery. You'll never have to struggle or work or worry to write, because the instructions are so easy. Plus, the format allows me to be me -- a teacher. I make all explanations about the writing process between the stops and starts of the exercise. I designed this book to imitate the ambiance of a classroom, where you can get my guidance at the precise moment you need it most. (And you don't even have to raise your hand!) It's a workshop in a book, everything you need all rolled into one, like those "bed in a bag" things.

    Plus, you get me! At the gym, it's great having a personal trainer, right? Well, in this book, I'm going to be your personal trainer. You'll have my hand to hold every step of the way, so you'll feel safe from the very first page. I promise. At each moment of your journey, I'll be there to comfort, cajole, encourage and guide you.

    What's more, this book is fun. The creative act -- bringing something forth from nothing -- should feel good. For most writers, especially beginners, it feels bad, because self-doubt, fear and self-criticism outweigh the delight of putting one word after another. Not here! Everything about this book is designed to free you from worry so you can relax and enjoy yourself. A few neat things you're going to do? Stick random thoughts in boxes, gather apples into baskets, make treasure maps, toss coins. You'll write in circles, on walls and upside down. You'll even write on butterflies' wings! Trust me. Every time you turn a page, something new will jump out and surprise you. Meanwhile, without even noticing it, you'll be learning. Gaining proficiency. Developing prowess. Becoming the writer you've always dreamed you could be.

    There's another thing. Please, please, please, do the chapters in sequence. I remember a T.V. show from when I was a kid, called The Outer Limits. It always started with a narrator intoning, "Do not attempt to control your television. We control the vertical. We control the horizontal." This book will control your writing experience, assuring maximum learning with minimum effort. Don't skip chapters, because each builds on the one before it, moving you through progressive stages corresponding to beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. Remember, growth takes time, and always occurs in certain predictable patterns. Buds never appear before shoots, blossoms can't come before buds. Writers, too, experience certain predictable stages in their growth process. The exercises in each chapter will activate an essential phase of your writerly development. You'll get the most benefit from them by doing the chapters consecutively.

    Which brings us to practical matters. There are a few items you'll want to take with you on your writing ride. First, you'll need a timer of some sort, because most of the steps have very specific time limits -- two minutes, four minutes. I like using the timer on my microwave oven, because the beeps stop by themselves. Just remember when shopping, a timer that ticks audibly may drive you nuts while you're writing. And a timer with a loud alarm may be startling when it goes off.

    Second, while many of the exercises in Writing the Wave have their own fill-in pages, some do not. You'll need a supply of paper, and you'll want to keep the writing you produce with this book together, which means a notebook, a looseleaf binder, or a folder of some sort. Make it special, a container that honors your creativity, but don't choose a journal that's so beautiful you're reluctant to write in it. For that matter, some of you may be reluctant to write in this book at all, so by all means, copy the exercise pages onto your own paper.

    Third, about computers. If you enjoy writing at your computer, set up a special file and type away. You'll find there are some exercises that must be done by hand, however, and of course, you'll want to keep your printed pages together, so you'll still need a folder or binder. For the sake of convenience, wherever the instructions require you to use your own paper, I've said, "Write in your notebook." Just keep in mind that "notebook" refers to whatever container you are using, even a computer file. In case you're wondering how long it should take you to work through this book, the answer is, "It's up to you." But let me sketch out the advantages and disadvantages to a few different approaches. If you were actually taking a workshop, you'd probably come to class once a week. Writing the Wave is designed to imitate a workshop, so this might be a good structure for you. Especially in the beginning, the chapters actually involve little writing time, so an hour a week should do the trick, and you will have worked through the book in twelve weeks. If you would like to write more often, by all means, do. A word of caution here, however. If, in your enthusiasm (or motivated by some misguided work ethic), you tell yourself, "I'm going to write three times a week," or, "I'm going to write every day," you may be setting yourself up for failure. On the other hand, if you allow too much time to elapse between sessions, you may lose the continuity and gradual, progressive growth that Writing the Wave is intended to effect. Once a month, for instance, with the twelve chapters taking a year to complete, strikes me as too extended a time period. Similarly, picking up the book whenever the spirit moves you may sound liberating, but without some regularity to your creative sessions, you may wake up one day to find that the spirit has moved out.

    So here's what I suggest. Start with once a week. Try to stay faithful to that until you finish Chapter Three. Then reconnoiter. Are you chomping at the bit to do more? Increase to twice a week. Do you feel pressured? Try every other week. Stick with that decision until you finish Chapter Six, then take stock again, increasing or decreasing as feels right to you.

    What happens when you finish the book? Well, you'll never really finish it. Writing the Wave isn't a book you'll use once then stick on your shelf to gather dust. Each of the 12 writing experiences are like templates. They provide the structure, but you provide the creative content.   Exercises can be repeated over and over to achieve constantly changing results. What's more, each chapter ends with "Suggestions for Further Writing," and those can be repeated over and over. I promise. There's enough ideas between the covers of this book to keep you busy for years.

    Finally, Writing the Wave is for everyone. Everyone?  Absolutely. Beginners will love it because it assumes you know nothing about writing, and starts you off with first things first: how to write. That is, how to generate ideas. How to get them from your head onto the page. No matter how deep or how full, a well isn't much use unless you can get the water out. Most writing books assume you already have a bucket, that you know how to put your thoughts into words. This book doesn't. It starts you off exactly where you are: at the beginning. Before you know how to write.

    But what if you're not a beginner? What if you've been at it for years? Well, if you're holding this book in your hands, you're stuck, right? So these exercises will open some doors you couldn't budge on your own. Have you ever heard of "Imaginative Layering?" "Wall-Work?" "Mapping" instead of "outlining?" "Symphonic organization" instead of "plot?" I thought not. That's because I invented these concepts, so, no matter how much experience you have, you've never written this way before. I think you'll find that whatever blocks you have will disappear by Chapter Two? Chapter Five? Isn't it worth the risk to find out?

    And speaking of finding things out, what, exactly, do you want to write? Fiction? nonfiction? Poetry? Screenplays? It doesn't matter. This book will work for any kind of writing because it does something no other writing book can. The exercises you'll be doing here transform fundamental principles into concrete techniques. The creative writing process can be likened to a chemical compound, which is composed of basic elements. The exercises in this book break the writing process down into its most basic elements, which you'll learn to recombine for yourself. They're catalysts: they'll jumpstart whatever is in you.

    Frankly, I recommend you let go of categories. Stop worrying about genre and form. It's all writing. It's your ideas, thoughts, feelings, observations, memories, desires, all coming forth into words. If you were to stop trying to put labels on it, your writing could be an exhilarating process of creative self-discovery, instead of a stilted, goal-driven chore. Who knows? Maybe you'll surprise yourself. I've had students take my workshop convinced they were fiction writers, only to find out they really love writing poems. Or they'll come because they love to write poetry, then find out they love writing essays even more. This book will give you a chance to experiment, to explore. What's your true voice? What's your personal style? In which direction do you really want to move?

    Imagine a writer, pen poised above the page. As words pour forth at breakneck speed, the writer seems master of the moment. Ideas, feelings, images, scenes . . . it all tumbles out in a breathtaking, inspired flow. The writer finishes the work with a flourish, beaming.

    Now imagine that writer is you.