Morning Pages
I actually started doing Morning Pages. If you don’t know, author Julia Cameron wrote this The Artist’s Way and in it, she says everyone can tap into their artistic potential by writing morning pages. Waking up and doing three pages of long-form, stream-of-conscious writing before you get your day going. It’s writing down every thought you think while you’re in the shower. I found a Moleskine in my notebook stash and went for it on August 22. It felt like it took forever and then I was done. I probably shouldn’t have picked an A5 notebook but here we are. Anyway I’m very much into it. Like a lot. I feel a sense of accomplishment before ever actually doing anything. AND THEN I get rid of that nagging “I should be writing” feeling I feel all the time. The problem is that I’m halfway through said Moleskine (I don’t write on the back of pages. That’s saved for doodles and song lyrics) and Moleskines are not cheap. So I went through my bucket of used notebooks and grabbed the ones that still have blank pages and will fill them up and then if I’m still really into this I’ll grab a bucket of notebooks from somewhere. I’m not getting fancy because I don’t need it to hold fountain pen ink but I’m also not about to get a 50 cent composition notebook.
Commonplace
In addition to that, I’ve combined a commonplace practice into my journal. I’m sure I’ve talked about it before but it’s just a collection of quotes and things you find interesting and research (read this for more actual information). I’m done with the minimalistic way of the One Book July way. I like to surround myself with notebooks in the evening and just see what’s going on and doodle and write and stuff. It’s grounding and grounding is what I say it is. I’m not sticking my feet in grass.
Planner Plans
My mom texted me very excited that our Hobonichi order came in. We are very excited. I’m also sticking to the bullet journal. And then all these other notebooks I just talked about. Walmart has a delightful little pocket notebook that costs 99 cents and manage fountain pen ink. I got batches of those and each little auxiliary idea get it’s own notebook now. And then I got an additional Hobinichi weeks as a tarot notebook. MORE!
Substack
LOL no not me. Liz Gilbert got a substack. I’m very excited about this. Not enough to pay $50 for the year but enough to get her free weekly love letter. Substack is like Medium and whatever other newsletter service (NOT BLOG) you sign up for. Liz took a long internet sabbatical and then she wrote a book about a fictional pre-war Russian family and then *some* people were like “Liz we don’t like Russia right now” so she took it off the publication schedule?! Like…NO? Anyway so yay for newsletters.
oh anyway yes I am working on a short story that might be available later.
Your paper posts crack me up, only because this is one of the places where our twinning diverges.
I’m at a healthy 2 notebooks + Evernote situation. An elegant steno pad that I tote around for performative fly girl executive assistant vibes. My composition book for freewriting/morning pages/whatever I’m calling my writing practice. And Evernote for journaling and check lists (I find an electronic option cuts down the social media word vomit and lets me include photos).
Substack doesn’t think it’s a blog. It’s def a blog. LOL. Except it’s a blog for Writerly Writers who want to participate in The Discourse. Where WordPress is like “here is my hobby and the reno we just did on our house.”
Happy writing in all the many notebooks, Twin!