Trying to Grasp The Artist's Way

A couple years ago, my mom told me about a book called "The Artist's Way". It was supposed to help artists discover or recover their creativity. Curious, I looked it up at the library, and read it. It was interesting, and had a couple basic premises, one of which was to write "Morning Pages" or at least three pages, handwritten, every morning. They could be about anything and everything, but the point, as I remember it, was to get out the stuff that is milling around in the subconscious. It could be used to get out frustrations, to explore new ideas, or whatever. No one else was ever supposed to read them, they were totally private and personal. At the time I was intrigued by the idea, and tried to it. Within a couple of weeks, I stopped. Writing first thing in the morning wasn't happening for me. I couldn't sit down and write anything until the kids were at school, the house was under control, and I felt I had time to write. Another problem was that I was trying to do them in long hand, and that wasn't working for me. I can't write out by hand as fast as I think! Not only was my speed bothering me, but my hand started cramping up on me and I'd have to stop and stretch my hand before I could continue writing, and by then, I didn't always remember what it was I had been about to say. I gave it up. Maybe someday I would go back to it.

Recently I came across a site called "750 Words". It was created as a fun way to do Morning Pages online. Unlike a blog, whatever is typed is totally private. As a fun bonus, it counts your words for you as you type and it also keeps track of information about your typing such as typing speed, moods, topics, how long it took you to reach 750 words (which is their estimate of about three pages handwritten) and how many days in a row you've written. They have challenges people can sign up for to see if they can write 750 words every day for an entire month, and they have badges that people receive when they accomplish certain tasks. Anyway, I'm trying it. I've written three days in a row, and I'm hoping to continue. I think I really function better when I have an outlet for all the stuff I have that I'm trying to keep track of. Maybe having that outlet will help this blog from becoming negative as I gripe about the challenges in life, and I can focus here about the good things that happen.