More about morning pages

(also by Wendi...)

I also meant to say that Cameron treats the pages as a by-product of cleansing (i.e. waste), but I have found that some good writing can come out of them, as well, even when you're just attempting to clear your head and have no thought of writing anything grand. Sometimes you find the best gems by accident. The similar exercise of stream-of-consciousness writing can be fun in the same way, in that there might be a lot of ridiculousness, but you'll probably feel better afterward, and you may even end up unintentionally writing something really great. If you can eliminate self-consciousness, it can free up a lot of creative urges. Basically, sometimes you can do better if you stop trying so hard. :-)

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All in different places

We "gather" in this spot because of our common interest in writing. It is very possible that we will have little else in common - and that's okay. But even within the realm of writing, we are likely to be quite different from each other. One of the obvious differences will be that of genre - starting with fiction or non-fiction. I hope and believe that we can learn from each other across that divide. Personally, I can't envision being able to write fiction and I certainly admire you who can. We probably also have varying levels of intensity and desire about this writing thing. Some are dabbling while others may be quite serious. For that matter, maybe some of us haven't even thought about whether to dabble or to be serious about it. Then there's the matter of how far we are on this writing journey. Have you established some kind of writing habit yet? Have I set any writing goals? Do we want to? So, since we are all in different places and headed in various dir...

What counts?

Okay; I am building a writing habit. I’m working toward the goal of writing every day. So here I am; now what do I write? What counts as writing? I wonder what qualifies as legitimate literary work. But then, you know… Who really cares? If this is my writing habit, then I guess I get to set the rules. Yes, I know there may come a time when I may want or need to set specific parameters for my daily writing – to discipline myself to move toward a certain project goal. But for now my main intent is to build the habit. So methinks it can be pretty open-ended. Writing projects I do have some ideas of things I want to write about someday and have even started some of them. I can be working on any one of them in my regular writing time. Blogging That blog that I started years ago and has received sparse attention from me is calling my name. I’ve even been toying with starting a new one, but how faithful would I be? Hmmm… Here’s another chance. Journaling I have written journals for m...

Morning Pages

I had been lamenting the fact that I haven't been able to focus on writing regularly in the past weeks and probably won't be able to for another several weeks. I have expressed sadness about that, but want to be patient with myself during this intense transition time. However, just as I was accepting that reality, I came across (yet again!) the concept of keeping morning pages. Once again, I was inspired and wanted to do it - but this time there was a different twist. Whereas before I had tended to think of morning pages as an exercise, a discipline, something that I should do, this time I caught a glimpse of the benefits - immediate benefits, in fact. I had been saying that I didn't have the focus necessary to write. Interestingly, this blogger told how morning pages gave her focus for her day. Hmmm... Is it possible that this could actually HELP me during these weeks - rather than being one more chore on my list? Worth considering. And worth trying again. This...

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