Just Write...Something!

The other day I stumbled across one of the blogs on my blogroll, Write On Edge, and read an inspiring post about writing with intention. Then I meandered around to facebook and saw a post by Brian Clark of CopyBlogger, about writing with intention. Then I saw that one of my Southern Oregon University colleagues, Zeke Hudson, published a short book of poems with Thrush Press and his book, Blue Lake, is for sale at the campus bookstore! The Universe was clearly trying to get my attention. So, I decided to go get some intention  and purpose of my own, and bought three composition notebooks so that I can fill my three morning pages, no matter what.



from copyblogger


"Morning Pages" are author Julie Cameron's way of filtering out the milieu of the previous day, week, month, etc., to make room for creativity. Her book, The Artist's Way, is a popular tool for writers of all walks of life, and "Morning Pages" is one of the exercises she offers in it's pages. Here's her description:

"Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages– they are not high art. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Occasionally colorful, more often than not Morning Pages are negative, fragmented, repetitive or bland. Good! Worrying about your job, the laundry, the weird look your friend gave you – all that stuff distracts you from your creativity. It eddies through your subconsciousness and muddies your day. Get it on the page first thing in the morning and move on with your day with a freer spirit"

I appreciate the "no pressure" approach to this exercise. The words put down on the pages in the morning are not meant to be groundbreaking or profound. They're just words. Just the "riff raff." I would like to eventually add this book to my collection of writer's resources. But I am really enjoying her blog, for now. (See link, above). And I'm excited to see how the morning pages exercise works out over the next few weeks and see what other exercises Cameron--and others--have to offer me. Here's to beginning anew with writing! I'll definitely keep you posted!