200 Words

That is my plan - write two hundred words a day for the next year. Too bad that taking one picture doesn't count worth five days...

Long ago, I found or was introduced to, I can't recall which, a book called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. She has gone on to write lots of other books about the same subject, but the first was the most helpful, in my humble opinion. In it are two core concepts that I have tried to continue doing since I read about them - morning pages and artist's dates.

Morning pages are basically a way to get the juices flowing everyday. Writing down at least three pages - which I think is more like 600 words - of stuff - doesn't matter if it makes any sense, if it is just random words - if it is pithy, correct, exciting, fresh - none of that matters. Just write three pages. For me, writing my blog is that - even though I think that most of my posts are in the 200-400 range. Darn blogger for not having word count! :) What this does for me is it gives me a sense of accomplishment - that I have at least achieved something creative on any given day. And that is the least it does for me. Sometimes my posts are cathartic - for me or for others or both - or they are to help me laugh at life - or just plain silly.

True, I do need to work on my other writing projects, and I will. Knowing that I have already written something makes it a little easier, and less fear provoking, when it comes to the notion of working on something else...

Oh, I almost forgot to talk about Artist's Dates. Julia's notion is to take yourself on at least one soul refilling outing a week - at the least. More on Artist's Dates in another post.