In a new post, Mary Carroll Moore examines what she calls “download writing” – also referred to as morning pages – stream of consciousness writing that lets you get words on paper and clear your thoughts. “It’s often blather,” Moore says. “It doesn’t matter. Just the act of letting myself release the images piled up in the past 24 hours clears the way for scenes I’ll write later.”
But some of us aren’t suited for this exercise. We’re too attached to our words or too worried about always choosing precise language. We don’t like to let go. Sometimes, we might find life simply too boring to put to paper. “But what if you weren’t concerned AT ALL about the word, just the practice?” Moore asks.
She shares three techniques for warming up to this exercise:
- Linkage. Stop every writing session in the middle of a sentence. If you need closure, you’ll be more excited to get writing tomorrow.
- Two-inch photo frame. Write small. If you become stuck, imagine a two-inch photo frame, and describe only what you can see through that lens. Repeat.
- Pomodoro. Set a timer and write til you hear the bell.
