A comment from a fellow blog reader/writer:
“I
was interested in how you center yourself and clear your head prior to writing.
I have had trouble clearing my mind in getting my ideas out. I truly do enjoy
writing but it seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to
figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or hints?”
Okay, here goes. This is one of my favorite writing
techniques. For those who have heard me speak of it, sorry to repeat myself, for those who haven’t, come, get on
board.
This technique was coined by Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist Way. It is writing your “Morning
Pages.”
Writing Morning Pages is a mind dump.
Morning Pages are an exercise is to write out what’s on your mind, that junk that likes to cycle and
recycle.
Morning Pages are those first pages writers used to
crumple up and vigorously heave into the wastepaper
basket. Now, with the keyboard, we are missing that satisfying crumbling and
throwing, and I suppose ripping the paper
out of the typewriter has a satisfying ring to it. Using the keyboard is the same sort of writing though, without the
throwing or ripping.
Writing
your thoughts instead of allowing them to
circle allows you to put a period at the end of a sentence. Our fingers get
tired of writing the same old thing over and over. That’s punishment, like
sending a kid to the blackboard to write out the error of their ways.
So, write for those 15 minutes, all the junk you don’t
want anyone to see. Keep them or delete them.
You’ll find that after writing those few minutes, that
you have exhausted your mind’s ramble, and something of importance begins to worm its way in.
I look at those pages as a sort of meditation/cleansing. And it tells your muse you mean
business.
After I heard that the simple act of writing longhand (cursive)
brings forth creativity, I now think we ought to write our morning pages
longhand, Probably compose that way as
well. But, we probably won’t. It’s easier
to type, as I am now doing.
Apparently,
there is a mind/brain connection with the act of writing with a pencil or pen. The
movement of the arm connects the brain somehow,
it is a feedback system.
I believe so strongly in Morning Pages, that I think
non-writers ought to use them.
I’m thinking specifically of those individuals who
will tell a story, then retell it, then tell it again.
They have a mind loop.
I know they have a need to tell particular stories,
for they have some latent emotional
impact, often trauma. It’s a sort of Post
Traumatic Syndrome. One psychologist commented, “Tell your stories as often as
you want, but I think 10 times is enough.”
Put
a period at the end of the sentence.
Stop.
