MY DAILY PAPERS
Hello world!
Last week I wrote a post titled When writing is hard. With hindsight, I should probably have called it When writing is harder than normal. That might have been closer to the truth. Because, let’s be honest here: writing is rarely easy.
As ole Ernest Hemingway so succinctly put it “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
Yup, that pretty much sums it up. (Minus the typewriter.)
But there are ways to make writing easier. And one of the most important things I do to this end is to write MY DAILY PAPERS. And, believe me, this has made writing so very much easier for me in oh-so-many ways. (Warning: I can get a little evangelical about my daily papers.)
MY DAILY PAPERS is basically my version of “writing practice” as described in Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and “morning pages” as per The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. All it involves is writing three pages in my notebook first thing every morning. Stream of consciousness stuff – about anything – but with my internal editor switched firmly off. And I am convinced that this is the single most important thing I do each day for the development of my craft. I rarely miss a day.
I get rid of all my negativity on these pages, ponder on problems, vent, worry, extol, experiment, play. Mostly what I write is a lot of tripe. Badly written tripe, at that. But it doesn’t matter – and that’s so liberating. Some days I am “empty” and seem to have nothing to say, but invariably it is on these days that I stumble on a gem of an idea or solve a longstanding problem. In the last few months alone, MY DAILY PAPERS have produced dozens of solid ideas for future books and have solved countless problems in my current work.
But best of all, I truly believe that writing daily without constraint or agenda and with absolute freedom has helped me develop a more confident voice. And when I come to work on my “real” writing later in the day, I am ready and rearing to go. (Except for when I’m not – see last week’s post!)
Happy writing!
Great advice Sue. Must admit that what started as my ‘Morning Pages’ when I wrote around 700 words when I first woke, has now decreased to about 250 words but I still find it a great way to start the day both from a writing perspective and as a tool for enjoying each and every day.
Thanks, Pat. Any words written are worthwhile, I reckon. I think it is a matter of working out what works for you. Thanks for reading and commenting.
I have avoided this Sue – mostly because I’m afraid of losing myself in a pool of negativity! Agh! Any advice on this?
That’s really interesting, Heather. I haven’t found that a problem. Sure, there are plenty of pages filled with gripes and doubts and fears and worries, but I have found that putting this all down on paper helps to get whatever is troubling me off my chest and move on. Often, I find solutions or find myself rallying the negative me with positive thoughts or achievable goal setting. Perhaps give it a whirl and see how it goes. Good luck!
Thanks Sue – good advice. I’m going to give it a go ?
Call me crazy, but hey that’s me. I guess my morning papers start from when I hit the shower in the morning; I’ve often spoken about how the sound of water helps clear my thought process and flexes my creative talents. I don’t always put pen to paper as such, although I do have a waterproof notepad and pencil stuck on my shower wall. My brain starts churning and I dictate letters or solve character issues on my WIP. As I said, not always pen to paper, but it works for me. And let’s face it Sue, you always knew I was a little on the crazy side 😉
That isn’t crazy – it’s ingenious. Love the waterproof notepad. I didn’t even know there was such a thing! I do lots of creative thinking in the shower too, Georgie. It is kind of infuriating though, because I go off in some sort of dreamy trance and I can never remember if I’ve shampooed once or twice! Have a greta day – and thanks for making me laugh.
I couldn’t reѕist commenting. Very well written!