Morning Pages

One of the first things I learned when I took the class "The Writers Way" is to do "morning pages". You write early in the morning or as soon as you get up, this would be the best time since you are the most fresh. However if you are not a morning person, then afternoon, evening or night is just as good. Keep a separate notebook for this type of writing and write 3 pages, of anything. I have done this and I kept two notebooks. One in which I wrote anything that came to my mind and the other I wrote things I wanted to get out of my system: something that was hurting me inside or that I was mad or upset about. I feel good when I write things like this down, it sort of "cleanses" me. You can throw this writing away(the "negative writing" if you will) if you want, but wait at least 8 weeks or keep it if you want. I must confess I have been a little lax in keeping up with this. But I think to start it is good practice to get you writing everyday. My morning papers today are the blogs I follow that have writing prompts. For the morning pages, it is important that you have a notebook that you like and will be inspired to write in and also as important a nice pen that you "connect" with. Pick a pen that feels nice on the paper, that flows, does not smudge. I have a collection of over 100 pens, but I only use the ballpoint pens to write with that have a good grip. I have a pen for each journal I keep. There is an interesting article on the writers notebook, on Juiced On Writing, www.juicedonwriting.com.