seshat's blog post - Home work

For my creative writing class, I have to write 'morning pages':

"Morning pages are three pages of writing (long hand) anything that comes to your head.

The point to Morning Pages isn't to write incredible, novel-quality prose. The writing you do in your Morning Pages may not even be suitable for a letter to a friend! It's the little bits and pieces that run around in your head out of control. The words may not even piece together into full sentences. What you write doesn't have to make sense to any person on the face of the planet -- or even to yourself a few days later.

I compare Morning Pages to my morning shower. While I'm not visually dirty in the morning, I feel refreshed and ready for my day after taking a shower. Your shower takes care of your body. Morning Pages is a shower for your heart, mind, and soul. There's no visible "dirt," but there might be something under the surface that needs attention. Or maybe a dream or two looking for a place to land. Or maybe a list of things you want to get done during the day. Or just random thoughts that plague you like a song you can't get out of your head.

When you start doing Morning Pages, you'll be surprised at the things you find lurking within. And, just as you feel refreshed when you step out of the shower, your mind, heart, and soul will feel refreshed after writing Morning Pages. You will walk a little lighter. Your mind will be more focused on the task(s) at hand. Your thinking will be more clear. Your heart will be open -- so you may find yourself more patient or less irritated with the day's events."

At first I thought: "Oh dear, that's a lot of pages, every day. What will I write about?" But I've found that once I get going, it just flows, all my doubts, frustrations, etc. It's like a stream of consciousness that I pour onto a page. It's definitely not something meant to be shared (my bf shouldn't ever get a hold of it) but I'm curious to see whether it will prove beneficial. From the sound of it, it could even be a good idea for non-writers.