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 ;<)