A couple of weeks ago I was at a party and a friend of mine recommended the site 750words.com, a site with a concept based on Julia Cameron's "Morning Pages".
For those of you not familiar, Morning Pages are three pages written upon first waking. Ideally you still have one foot in dream land, and your subconcience is bubbling up to the surface as you quickly pour out all your unedited thoughts and fears, resentments and dreams to release all of your angst and "to do's" before going on to the business of living with a clean slate.
This site takes that concept and bends it a bit for the computer addict. 750 words. Approximately three pages. Written whenever you want, as long as it's before midnight of the same day. And when I heard about the site, and the awards you can get for certain achievements, I was intrigued. And once I started I couldn't stop. Soon I had a ten day streak of writing and had a sticker with a cheetah on it, one with a hamster, and I was being labeled "FLAMINGO"! I couldn't allow myself to go back to day-1. Didn't want to lose my status as a 'flamingo" and go back to being an egg. And yet...
There's a lot to say about writing in long hand. There's a mind-body connection. It takes just long enough for one to process there thoughts and it goes fast enough to be able to ignore the inner-critic for awhile. Another important aspect of these pages is that they are private. No one will see them. They are just for you. You aren't writing for an audience, or to be artful, but to practice ignoring the critic, and to practice the art of unvarnished truth telling.
And, it takes a surprisingly large amount of psychic energy to write this pages. Because it's painful. Even if I'm able to ignore the judgement that leaps out long enough to put finger to keys, it still whispers those little poisonous words. It still hurts. And once I'm done doing those pages, I, personally am not energized to write more. The process eases the itch to write, and drains the energy I have to "press on" creatively speaking. So I'm beginning to wonder, do I want to put energy on these pages? if that means I'm not motivated afterwards to work on other projects?
There are options of course...
1. Go back to the original way. Three pages, long hand, first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. That way they're done. Immediately. And you don't spend them going over the day behind you, but on deeper things that come out in dreams and that you still have a bit of a grasp on before they flit away.
2. Type them, but do them in the morning.
3. Type them, but only after I've achieved one creative goal. A goal that matters.
Today, I chose option 3. Tomorrow? We'll see. But right now it feels like it would be as painful to stop writing my 750 words as it is to write them.
Certainly if you are not a writer, I think this is kind of a moot point. There are certainly benefits to this process for anyone. You'll be surprised how therapeutic they are. Feel free to let me know what you think of the site, how your words are coming along, and other thoughts you may have...
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