Yes it is I. I know I have been missing in action for a good long time but I am still alive and kicking(along with a little baby inside that kicks more than I would like).
I have been writing a few new poems. But most of what I have been writing these days has been marketing ads for my business.
It seems over time your creative juices change flow to what the rest of you seems to be absorbed with.
It has worked in one good way. I find I am rhyming my ads which is cute and adds a little humour although I am not sure how professional it may be. Hence, they are still in draft mode.
I have come across this article and I found the mixture of self help and writing tidbits are a definite working blend. I hope you can gather some useful information from it yourself.
Writing Help And Morning Pages
Copyright 2006 Mary Desaulniers
Reading Julia Cameron’s "The Sound of Paper" is like
revisiting an old friend. For more than fifteen years, her
morning pages have been my daily writing help, the friend
that coaxed me out of fear and inertia about putting words
on paper and like the Nike slogan, urged me to “Just Do It!”
Why is it so difficult to write? Writing is an activity
removed from direct experience. Writers have often mourned
the loss of words to describe an event and this is probably
because rendering what happened in words involves a
completely different set of neural motor skills. Freud in
"Civilization and Its Discontent" sees writing as
technology; both he claims act as “prosthetics” to the
body, functioning as an appendage or addition. Even the
word “prosthetics” is ambivalent, carrying both the
negative connotation of loss or compensation and the
positive sense of extension. After all, writing is a later
development of the human brain and signals not only the
beginning of recorded history but also the evolution of the
highly specialized and compartmentalized intelligence in
the prefrontal cortex.
In "The Sound of Paper", Julia Cameron reiterates what she
has so poignantly elaborated in her previous books—the
creative self is buried so deep in our psyche, we have to
develop ways to let it out. And morning pages, like
solitary walks or runs, done consistently on a daily basis,
form the “pivotal tool of a successful creative life (2).”
The difficulty we experience in writing comes from the
specialized voice in our head: “We write grudgingly and
under half steam, resentfully and uphill. ‘Who cares ’and
‘This is stupid’ are our companion thoughts (25).” It is
usual, when the inner voice is struggling to find a place
in the outer world, that the censor places it under a
scalpel. Without the writing help of morning pages, most
voices remain unheard.
The easiest form of writing is the trade school type that
disseminates information. The writing that engages our
authentic being, our fears and passions is the most
difficult to execute. It demands a different kind of
writing help-- rigorous and open self-acceptance, a
visceral catharsis of our “self” on paper and unless we
have built a conduit of safe passage for this inner voice,
the water can be treacherous indeed. Many writers have been
drowned by voiceless inundation.
The morning pages , like the daily walk or run, is a means
to engage this voice. Writing first thing in the morning
allows you to evade the censor. “Spilling out of bed onto
the page” (as Julia Cameron puts it) helps the writing self
side-track the critic. The repetitive nature of the morning
pages assures your psyche safe passage on your journey.
Securely ensconced in a routine, it will spill its guts
out—and that’s what you want.
Without this spillage, the daytime writing that you do will
never quite have that ring of authenticity that is the mark
of a writer who has made the plunge into her instinctual
being. Because these morning pages are not meant for public
scrutiny, they are your means of internal housekeeping,
letting the little woman (or man) have her say about things
in the house. And the more she is allowed her say, the
stronger your trust in your gut instinct and the more
resilient you are to the opinion of others.
It’s like building a set of muscles with running. On most
days, I do not feel like running. But what I have found is
that the simple act of lacing my running shoes, getting out
into the pavement or treadmill, beginning the motion of
running will trigger a visceral engagement that changes the
entire experience. More often than not, my best runs have
been on days when I least wanted to run. Had I listened to
my head, I would have missed a fabulous engagement with my
legs. The head seems always at odds with the body and
writing help that works with the body somehow straightens
out the head.
Both morning pages and running take time, but as with
everything else, an investment of time and effort is in
order for the miraculous to take place. We expect miracles
to fall from the skies, part of our belief that we should
be getting something for nothing. This sense of entitlement
is the one of the most debilitating myths of the self help
industry. Ask and it will be given--yes—but we must also do
our share of moving in the right direction.
Writing help like morning pages takes no more than twenty
minutes; you are spilling your guts onto the page, not
deliberately crafting words. Running or walking can take up
forty minutes or more. Is it too much to ask for an hour a
day to invest in physical and psychical musculature?
----------------------------------------------------
A runner for 27 years, retired schoolteacher and writer,
Mary is helping people reclaim their bodies. Nutrition,
exercise, positive vision and purposeful engagement are the
tools used to turn their bodies into creative selves. You
can visit her at http://www.GreatBodyat50.com or learn how
she lost her weight at http://www.greatbodyproteinpower.com
I have been writing a few new poems. But most of what I have been writing these days has been marketing ads for my business.
It seems over time your creative juices change flow to what the rest of you seems to be absorbed with.
It has worked in one good way. I find I am rhyming my ads which is cute and adds a little humour although I am not sure how professional it may be. Hence, they are still in draft mode.
I have come across this article and I found the mixture of self help and writing tidbits are a definite working blend. I hope you can gather some useful information from it yourself.
Writing Help And Morning Pages
Copyright 2006 Mary Desaulniers
Reading Julia Cameron’s "The Sound of Paper" is like
revisiting an old friend. For more than fifteen years, her
morning pages have been my daily writing help, the friend
that coaxed me out of fear and inertia about putting words
on paper and like the Nike slogan, urged me to “Just Do It!”
Why is it so difficult to write? Writing is an activity
removed from direct experience. Writers have often mourned
the loss of words to describe an event and this is probably
because rendering what happened in words involves a
completely different set of neural motor skills. Freud in
"Civilization and Its Discontent" sees writing as
technology; both he claims act as “prosthetics” to the
body, functioning as an appendage or addition. Even the
word “prosthetics” is ambivalent, carrying both the
negative connotation of loss or compensation and the
positive sense of extension. After all, writing is a later
development of the human brain and signals not only the
beginning of recorded history but also the evolution of the
highly specialized and compartmentalized intelligence in
the prefrontal cortex.
In "The Sound of Paper", Julia Cameron reiterates what she
has so poignantly elaborated in her previous books—the
creative self is buried so deep in our psyche, we have to
develop ways to let it out. And morning pages, like
solitary walks or runs, done consistently on a daily basis,
form the “pivotal tool of a successful creative life (2).”
The difficulty we experience in writing comes from the
specialized voice in our head: “We write grudgingly and
under half steam, resentfully and uphill. ‘Who cares ’and
‘This is stupid’ are our companion thoughts (25).” It is
usual, when the inner voice is struggling to find a place
in the outer world, that the censor places it under a
scalpel. Without the writing help of morning pages, most
voices remain unheard.
The easiest form of writing is the trade school type that
disseminates information. The writing that engages our
authentic being, our fears and passions is the most
difficult to execute. It demands a different kind of
writing help-- rigorous and open self-acceptance, a
visceral catharsis of our “self” on paper and unless we
have built a conduit of safe passage for this inner voice,
the water can be treacherous indeed. Many writers have been
drowned by voiceless inundation.
The morning pages , like the daily walk or run, is a means
to engage this voice. Writing first thing in the morning
allows you to evade the censor. “Spilling out of bed onto
the page” (as Julia Cameron puts it) helps the writing self
side-track the critic. The repetitive nature of the morning
pages assures your psyche safe passage on your journey.
Securely ensconced in a routine, it will spill its guts
out—and that’s what you want.
Without this spillage, the daytime writing that you do will
never quite have that ring of authenticity that is the mark
of a writer who has made the plunge into her instinctual
being. Because these morning pages are not meant for public
scrutiny, they are your means of internal housekeeping,
letting the little woman (or man) have her say about things
in the house. And the more she is allowed her say, the
stronger your trust in your gut instinct and the more
resilient you are to the opinion of others.
It’s like building a set of muscles with running. On most
days, I do not feel like running. But what I have found is
that the simple act of lacing my running shoes, getting out
into the pavement or treadmill, beginning the motion of
running will trigger a visceral engagement that changes the
entire experience. More often than not, my best runs have
been on days when I least wanted to run. Had I listened to
my head, I would have missed a fabulous engagement with my
legs. The head seems always at odds with the body and
writing help that works with the body somehow straightens
out the head.
Both morning pages and running take time, but as with
everything else, an investment of time and effort is in
order for the miraculous to take place. We expect miracles
to fall from the skies, part of our belief that we should
be getting something for nothing. This sense of entitlement
is the one of the most debilitating myths of the self help
industry. Ask and it will be given--yes—but we must also do
our share of moving in the right direction.
Writing help like morning pages takes no more than twenty
minutes; you are spilling your guts onto the page, not
deliberately crafting words. Running or walking can take up
forty minutes or more. Is it too much to ask for an hour a
day to invest in physical and psychical musculature?
----------------------------------------------------
A runner for 27 years, retired schoolteacher and writer,
Mary is helping people reclaim their bodies. Nutrition,
exercise, positive vision and purposeful engagement are the
tools used to turn their bodies into creative selves. You
can visit her at http://www.GreatBodyat50.com or learn how
she lost her weight at http://www.greatbodyproteinpower.com
posted by KDB Business Services | 12:14 PM
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