35 Day Blog Challenge - Day 8: Make it a good morning, and a great day

Earlier in the year I started reading The Artist's Way with the intention to follow the program this year. To my shame, I have to admit that I have not progressed further than Chapter 4. The one thing I did start, and am still doing is what the author calls morning pages.
While I have been keeping a diary since I was very young, the idea of morning pages struck me as a better approach and I have since converted to the practice.
For those of you not familiar with the term, morning pages is written first thing in the morning for about half an hour. It is a brain dump basically. Anything and everything that pops into your brain can be written down, there is no structure nor any other rules. The idea with morning pages is to get your brain cleared of all kinds of stuff so that you can then focus on being creative for the rest of the day.
Since I start work at 6am, I have no time to do this "first thing" in the morning. So I do that as soon as I get to the office. While I wish that I would have 30 minutes available, ten is about as far as I get.
But, 10 minutes is better than nothing, and I find that even that small pinch of time makes a difference. Not only does it help me get clarity on the issues inside my head, I have upon occasion gotten an idea for a story. That alone makes the effort worthwhile. And I get to write every day.
The one other pleasure I gain from the experience is writing by hand. And in long hand too!
If I have a little time, usually over the weekend, I will use a fountain pen or even a nibbed pen to pen my thoughts.
Morning Pages is journal writing at the next level, and that alone makes me grateful that I found The Artist's Way.

See you tomorrow!

If you want to see what the other participants are blogging about, you can find their blogs here. Why not pop on over and leave a comment?

Morning Pages and Brain Dumps, a writer's musings

The creator of morning pages, Julia Cameron, states that you do this first thing in the morning. Dump everything in your head in a handwritten or electronic journal. Anything that comes to mind. The things that bother you, makes you cry, makes you laugh, makes you angry. The cat that didn’t want to eat dinner, the kids who are perpetually late for school. Anything and everything to clear your mind.

Lacking ideas? Feeling blocked? Do morning pages, and do it every day. Your life is full of issues, and morning pages will point you towards an idea for a story. Not sure if the idea is a good one? It doesn’t matter. You are writing. You are producing words on paper, the rest will follow.

If you are like me, there is no time to do my morning pages first thing. So I take a few minutes out of my day when I have a chance. While it might not be early morning pages, trust me, doing a brain dump does help to clear the mind. On Saturdays I usually visit my favourite coffee shop, park myself in a corner and do my morning pages. Also an excellent opportunity to observe people, and make a few notes or speculate on what ifs for story ideas.

Whatever time works for you, random thoughts, random words and ideas will flow if you don’t force it. Keep your notebook close to note a potential story idea to develop later. Morning pages are only to get the junk out of your head, not to develop or plan a story.

I can definitely recommend this exercise to keep my writing muscles fit!