Stream of conscious writing is fun

Stream of conscious (SoC) writing: Basically, you just babble on paper. Try typing (writing) as quickly as possible with little editing. I say little because spell correct features in Word sometimes upset the flow.

If you really want the full experience, try morning pages as taught by Julia Cameron. (Check it out on her website: http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/ ) This is a tool everyone should use to get and keep creativity.

When you write morning pages you must use pen and paper. Sounds old school, but the tactile, hand on paper action is a key. For morning pages to be effective, you write them as quickly as you can for a set amount of time. Then, when you are done, destroy them.

One benefit of morning pages is getting the anger out on paper first thing, then releasing it. Sometimes you may not have anything to say, or so you think. In cases like this you simply start writing that you don’t know what to write about. Usually during the fixed amount of writing you’ve set for yourself, be it ten pages or thirty minutes, you will find something to write about.

Instead of the tactile, pen on paper method, I have chosen to use my computer. This way it is easier for me to glean the wheat from the chaff. I save my morning pages, allow them to age a bit, then I re-read them and extract anything interesting. I often find kernels of interesting things to write about.

It is my effort to allow all of what I’ve learned to start flowing out of me. At this point in my life, it is akin to one of those episodes of Hoarder’s where the stuff is piled up to the ceilings of the whole house.

Here is a good place to point out the difference between stuff and junk. Stuff is the junk you keep and junk is the stuff you throw away.

The problem with hoarding for so long is the cesspools of stink created by years of stagnation. This can be exasperated by the information stagnating. Never forget the axiom; garbage in/garbage out. But even an input of pure information can stagnate into corruption.

My hope is the stink is not too bad and my writing is at least palatable. Perhaps like a good, stinky cheese. (Pun intended.) This is usually the source for my blog posts… aged and regurgitated SoC writings. They are completed without research or fact checks.

I am not sure how long it will take, but my intention is to allow the flow. I admit I still hold a lot in. There are things deep in the quagmire of my mind which may remain. We will see. Perhaps there is a cleansing of the mind I could do. Or, simply an adjustment in mental diet… what kind of mental junk food can be eliminated?