Ashbee
member
Reged: 13/06/2008
Posts: 556
Loc: North Buckinghamshire
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Can we take a straw poll? How many of us take Julia Cameron's advice and write daily pages? If you do, do you find the effort worthwhile?
For those who aren't familiar, the idea, roughly, is to write for a fixed period/set number of pages (can't remember which) non-stop. You write anything and everything that comes to your mind with a view to off-loading stuff that's bothering you or just to see what comes to the surface. If you off-load something troubling you it will clear the way for a more productive day...get the idea?
The discipline of facing the paper or screen every day is a good one but do we do it or do we wait for the muse?
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issi
member
Reged: 30/09/2007
Posts: 2707
Loc: Surrey
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Never done it Ashbee. Sounds a bit like therapy, but then again, writing is therapy. I'm short of time (sister visiting for a few days) but think I will try it.
I have read a marvellous book about Daphne du Maurier. She used to write for a couple of hours every morning. Then she had a light lunch and a walk, and then wrote for a few hours every afternoon. Then the evening was all about socialising. Sounds like a good life.
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Barney
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Reged: 01/04/2008
Posts: 802
Loc: Northumberland
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Ashbee this idea originated with Dorothea Brande in the 1930's. I think you have to write for 20 minutes on first waking so that your mind is fresh and not polluted by the days happenings. I've tried it but I'm not a morning person!
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Ashbee
member
Reged: 13/06/2008
Posts: 556
Loc: North Buckinghamshire
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I didn't know that - I've tried it but mornings became evenings and then it all turned into a journal...but the discipline of writing something is a good one I think ... bit like a pianist practising...
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Chatelaine
member
Reged: 23/08/2007
Posts: 2565
Loc: A village somewhere on the Con...
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Ashbee, oddly enough I did something of a sort last night.... well, early evening..... and in an email to a good friend, I "off loaded" what at present is mulling around my brain most. Such as, writing is one of my greatest loves, but has been shelved for too long, and needs to be "re-animated". Have I perchance made a wrong decision in starting a shop with 2 colleagues..... It is taking up too much of my time..... for there are other things which are very important to me which are being neglected - a.o. my writing. This email was more like a brain storm on "paper", and did benefit me. For this morning, as one of my cats was pawing my face "mommy we are hungry for breakfast! wake up!!!!", one of the first thoughts that hit me was one of the fiction stories/books lying growing, yet unproductively, in my mind. So this "off loading" is indeed a very good exercise..... be it for yourself alone, or shared with an understanding friend.
Issi, I think that Daphne Du Maurier more than likely had plenty of staff to take care of her home, etc., so that she could devote her life to writing, and socialising. Sounds ideal though! LOL! Nice for a while, but in hte long run would bore me terrribly, as I actually like being a "housewife".....
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Ashbee
member
Reged: 13/06/2008
Posts: 556
Loc: North Buckinghamshire
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Chatelaine: Most of us 'would be' writers can find the odd half hour here and there in which to write so I don't think you have to weigh up your business with writing and decide it's one or the other. The shop must give you lots of interesting ideas for your writing I would imagine...
Sounds like the 'off-loading' element would be useful so ten minutes furiously writing everything down at the end of the day would be 10 minutes well spent.
Do you think its a common misconception that we need lots of spare time to write? I know it stops me - but those who are most successful say they had to carve out bits of day here and there (someone said they got up early, someone else wrote on the train home, someone else while the dinner was cooking etc.)and piece it altogether. Personally, my excuse is that I hate to be stopped mid-flow but that excuse means I don't get so much done as I don't have those big chunks of time that I think I need...what do you think?
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issi
member
Reged: 30/09/2007
Posts: 2707
Loc: Surrey
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Ashbee. You are absolutely right. We all make excuses not to write. My sister is visiting so I can't write.
What am I doing here then? I have been tapping on the computer for the last half hour. I am going to try to write for 20 minutes every morning (starting, guess when? - tomorrow) and I will make myself write whether I want to or not. It must be like brushing your teeth in the end, something you do. I feel all fired up to write again - thank you for that.
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Ashbee
member
Reged: 13/06/2008
Posts: 556
Loc: North Buckinghamshire
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Glad to hear it...but don't just plonk yourself down in front of a bit of paper ... be prepared with a couple of images in your head so that if when you do sit down and don't know what to write, you do have something to play with for ten minutes...if you sit blank for 10 minutes you won't bother the next day...
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aggipanthus
member
Reged: 05/04/2006
Posts: 179
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I hate routine, so this doesn't appeal to me. I do keep a daily journal though, but when I wake up I want my early morning cuppa and to grab the latest book I am reading, not to start writing. I do it when I am in the mood, otherwise it just doesn't work for me and if forced to write when I am not wanting to, when I am thinking of other things, I produce scribblings worthy of nothing other than the shredder.
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Ashbee
member
Reged: 13/06/2008
Posts: 556
Loc: North Buckinghamshire
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I agree about being forced - it just doesn't work. But some people say you need to be focused and dedicated while others think (and I'm one of them) that writing is a creative act that can't be forced...but then why should we all be the same?
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issi
member
Reged: 30/09/2007
Posts: 2707
Loc: Surrey
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Should have started this morning but there just wasn't time. My sister is a shopaholic and we have spent all day at the sales and lunch. Tomorrow one more trip, then I am free.
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