Just wanted to write a shout-out for a writing tool that I find extremely useful, and that is 750words.com. For anyone who has tried Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way, then you’ll be aware of the concept of Morning Pages. Essentially it is writing three pages first thing in the morning, before you speak if possible, to get the fresh thoughts, musings or blockages out of your head and onto the page. Personally Cameron’s course didn’t do it for me, but the Morning Pages did. What can I say, I am a pick-and-choose kind of girl...
750words.com is a space where you can do this, where your words get counted, saved and password protected. And because we are all kids at heart and like an incentive, you get Badges for the number of days you have written, the amount of words you have crafted, and a shed-load of other stats for those who have geeky tendencies, or like to procrastinate a little after their words. They even give you a cinema rating. Seriously. I like to aim for a certification above a PG.
Now' I am not the person who gets up early to write my words, and most days I will already have done plenty of shouting before I even get near the computer, but I do my words every day. The site lets me clear thoughts that are clogging up my head, it gives me a private venue to rant, and it allows me space to trial ideas I am juggling about. It’s now a frame for my writing habit. And often the entries will start with being mundane dross, and by the end I can be in a state of free-flow writing; words that I’ll then copy over to my Work In Progress file and extend for the rest of my writing time. Give it a go, if you don’t already and if you don’t have a writing routine. See if the badges don’t get to you too.
(A word of warning; Make sure you write the title properly. I missed out the “words” part of 750words.com once, and boy- that is a whole different website. Not one you’d want to access in an open office or with the kids about....)
Today’s Distraction Tool; the supermarket
Being an Aquarian I'm not fond of other people's rules! I do however write a letter to a friend in America every day & almost always, post something on my Live Journal.
ReplyDeleteThe letter to America is something I take great care with - I treat it like an exercise which means my friend gets a decently written, well thought out letter. And both of these disciplines act as a form of daily writing practice.
I'm a morning writer & this early flexing of the writing muscles sets me up for a few hours graft. At present I'm in the planning stages of my new story - character profiling - but I still find writing that letter helps.
The letter to America is a fantastic discipline. Do you get one in return?
DeleteI'm too wedded to my warm duvet to make it out of bed early. The kids and the school run will get to me early enough... Good luck with the profiling.
Oh yes! I met Ivy via a community on Live Journal. After several months spent getting to know one another we began an email correspondence. Three years on we have - illness & holidays excepted - written every day.
ReplyDeleteSorry it's taken me a while to answer - I'll bookmark you for updates.