This morning, almost immediately after waking up, I grabbed my laptop, sat back down in bed and started typing away.
Why? you might ask.
Did I feel that inspired?
No. It wasn't that.
I decided to get back to a creative tactic that I was reminded of by a friend, in the Summer of '22. I believe it was called 'Morning Pages'.
Basically, the idea is to write ( or type ) for about 15 minutes, whatever comes to mind, as soon after waking up as possible. To get those first ( often unhelpful ) thoughts out of your system and start the day a lot more calmly, while also making space for actual creative thoughts.
Did it help me this morning?
Hard to say. I remember it did calm my mind down a bit. It usually starts racing before I even get up, as if it wants to beat me to the finish line.
Did I feel particularly creative today?
Not necessarily,
but that's okay.
I might not work a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday job, that doesn't mean that I don't deserve a day off, every now and then.
Not that I took a day off (from writing) or Hiving, but I definitely tried not to feel guilty about slowing down, today and I did slow down, a lot.
To get back to this morning's 'Morning Pages', I think I typed about 700 to 800 words in a minute or 10. Now I think of it, I believe I had to run to the bathroom - midway through - to get some actual shit out of my system ( #2 ) and then I returned to typing away, after having washed my hands of course.
I might have a dirty mind, that doesn't mean I don't take care of common hygiene ;<)
Let's see if I can keep up this 'Morning Pages' ritual and whether I can turn it into a habit, once again, without beating myself up over missing a day, every now and then.
Believe me, I've tried things like this before and the mind will do whatever it can to escape from this task, to make excuses.
It will probably start 'talking' me out of this, tomorrow morning.
What do you think? Is the Laziest Writer Ever (which is just a nickname but clearly not me ) strong enough to counter its inner voice/ resistance and write for another 10 to 15 minutes, immediately after waking up, tomorrow morning?
TIME WILL TELL
and you will probably read about it in a future post.
For now, enjoy this calming photo that I took on my morning walk, today.
Keep writing and feel free to share your writing rituals with me, if you've got any. If I'm not too lazy, I will reply ;<)
I think for me the worst type of burnout is the creative one. It feels very frustrating, but most of the time you can’t really do anything about it. So taking a break is at times a necessity, simply to recover and restore your creative resources.
Right now I’m on my longest break from drawing, sometimes I feel bad that I don’t draw anything and I “have to draw something”, but I just don’t feel it. And I can’t force it, otherwise I’ll end up hating the piece, if I manage to finish it, because it won’t have any soul in it.
I don't think I ever take a break from writing but I agree with you, in a way.
Also my drawing is not really flowing ( for your information, I have practically been writing and drawing since I learnt to do so ) and I'm not feeling painting at all, these days,
but, in my case, this can change from one day on another.
I forced myself to write 50 thousand words, in November, 2019 ( I partook in NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month ) for what was supposed to become a novel: The Life of Hypersensitivosaurus. I made my goal of 50k words, albeit barely. The novel never came into being but it eventually lead to a book with 22 short stories and another book finished April/ May last year.
I keep surprising myself. I just need to be patient and gentle with myself, as we all need to be and let it come in when it wants to ;<)
Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
That's awesome! To me it seems impossible, yet again, I took the longest break haha But I hope to get back into it again, life's been a bit hectic with holidays and stuff)
Happy New Year by the way!
That is true, creative process needs time and patience, you can't rush an emotion
Lol. Laziest writer indeed. I'm glad the dirty mind or humour, no matter how dark, hasn't faded.
I do think it's okay to take a break or a day off when you feel like it and I also think you'll be able to pull it off tomorrow.
It's been a minute, Vincent. Glad you're okay.🤗
Hi there :<)
Glad this made you smile.
I did pull it off and, again, today.
I am already feeling/ experiencing how it slowly starts to work its magic, it got me back into The Monster of Disco today.
Yeah, it has been a while.
I am well, hope the same goes for you.
Big hug and much love right back at ya 🤗
It's look like a very peaceful place where I can easily walk in nature, unbothered...
I hope you are doing fine.
Hey, look who's there!
Nice to hear from you :<)
I am doing pretty well.
Sending you a 🤗
Kind of yes but I also tend to not photograph people, if possible and if I walk through town, it's nearly impossible to avoid people I know. I almost feel famous, out here, at times ;<)
Great to hear! I miss looking at your nature photos / walks. :)
I might travel soon, and if I have time, I'll see if I can get to Portugal... But of course, I'll blog about everything so you'll know! :)
I may try this same tactic but I have heard countless times that it works for people
And the write up usually makes sense…
It seems to work. I am already seeing the result, after only 3 days. Will ( probably ) post about that later today ;<)
It's my first time hearing about the whole 'write in the morning ' thingy. I've written immediately after waking up but I usually write on topics I slept on, so they aren't always totally random.
I guess the morning writing is authentic when it's random.
It sure is authentic and ( as mentioned in yesterday's post, it's important to delete the writing afterwards, to not even read through it. It's meant to be therapeutic.
I have also written down my dreams in the past, which can be inspiring in itself but it has a different effect. The idea of this 'morning pages' technique is to make more space for your 'true' creativity.
I heard that first time to write after waking up but sounds interesting 😁 700-800 words in 10 minutes...this is so big :,-)
It's basically me typing fast and having a speedy brain. Nothing creative about it. I type out all my thoughts.
It frees up more space for the actual creativity though ;<)
Hmm, typing or handwriting: does the medium make a difference? 😍
It does but as I type way faster than I write, these days, typing feels better. Otherwise it's impossible to keep up with my thoughts and the idea is to 'write' down everything that comes to mind ( and delete or destroy it afterwards )
Sometimes I used to wonder if only what writer passed through to even write 1,000 words
There's only one way to find out, by doing ;<)
#hive #posh