Morning Pages Treasures

Morning Pages are a source of inspiration.

I've been writing them for almost six years, but not once have I taken the time and effort to cull out ideas worth cultivating.

I've binged on my Julia Cameron books for the past few days, and her latest book has inspired me to do the cull out.

I wrote my pages today, and immediately highlighted some concepts that interested me, or prompted me to take action:

1. I always liked to draw. 

2. I might as well teach them a thing or two about conceptualization. About appreciating and beating the time limit. Teach them that there is not bad way to create art, but personal preferences exist. Teach that it's all about telling stories. Theme. Concept. Objects. Relationships. The Magic of 3. 

3. Looking at Shilin Huang and Loika's art inspires me to draw again... to create concept art. 

4. One thing I never did was study what I wanted to improve on (visual arts)

5. I instilled discipline when I wanted to watch Scooby Doo at 5AM. I was desperate to watch it. 

6. But if I can find my scooby doo....

7. Why not watch youtube vids after I wake up?

8. One factor that hinders me from writing is... "logical order. The belief to write in an orderly manner and in logical sequences." That belief is a dream killer, I tell you! 

9. Here's the antidote: when an idea grips you, strongly grips you, write it. If it's a dialogue between two people, plot it down. Never mind if you don't know who they are, or what their backstories are. But write! Just write!

10. Masters don't sit down and immediately produce a masterpiece. It doesn't work that way. I guess. They sit down, play the notes, play the keys, hoping and looking for the perfect, if not, appropriate tune. When they find it, they preserve the melody. 

11. Ultimately, the characters or the music must reflect whatever they're supposed to reflect. 

12. I want to study music writing. I want to compose songs. 

13. But I want to give myself a chance it music making. I must try. 

14. But you can't easily discard food. Wait. What's the difference? Money and the idea that someone could benefit from the food. To lessen the costs, go for smaller portions and use cheaper ingredients first. (On why I do not like to Cook)

15. Make use of everything. Make beautiful art. Create beautiful flavors. 

The ideas are somewhat broken, but I guess it doesn't matter.

What matters is that I culled out these little treasures, and I'm seeing for the first time the nuggets of hope, learnings and wishes buried in my soul.

I should do this often!

Writing is easy

I used to fear the blank canvas. I still do. 

Flashback to my elementary days, I dreaded writing for my Formal Theme Book. 

I had no idea how to write. 

"Get the core. write in 5 paragraphs." my teachers would instruct me. 

Perhaps it was the rigidity that frightened me. Ha, the irony! (because I can be rather rigid with rules)

I had no idea how to write. But I wrote. I was pressured to write. I had to write. 

or else, I would fail. 

I had bad experiences with writing. I would get lazy and ask my mom to write it... only to realize my mom, too, wasn't good with her grammar. I asked my friend to read it and she told her how awful the grammar and syntax was (sorry mom!). 

But that didn't stop me from writing. I liked to write stories. Even if people couldn't relate to them or the characters I created. 

Then in 2010, in the midst of a heartbreak, I discovered Julia Cameron's Morning Pages. 

I followed what she preached. I found myself writing 3 pages everyday. It was a grueling routine. I would wake up at 5 AM and write for 3 pages. 

2010-2012 were years dedicated to heartbreak, Acne, Board Exam, and my webcomic dreams. 

I was never consistent in this practice. I'd forget about it. Really. 

A few days later, I would find myself really cranky and I would turn to my notebook and pen to write. The effect was therapeutic, and I have not looked back since then. 

Last year, I discovered James Altucher and I tried his "10 ideas a day". I experimented and was consistent in doing to for 7 months. By the 8-10 month, I became inconsistent. The experience taught me something valuable. 

It's easy to generate ideas. The only question is, Is it Good or Bad?

The practice also taught me how to be comfortable with bad ideas.

Now, wow did this practice affect my writing ability?

I ignored the proper punctuation marks I learned in my formal school years. 

I chose to write in my voice. If my writing actually had a voice. 

After 6 months of writing, I discovered that writing was easy. You can write anything. As long as you don't judge it. 

The moment you have judged yourself, you have rendered your writing ability a death sentence. 

I'm speaking from my personal perspective though. 

Blogging daily helps me. Even if I don't actually blog everyday. 

Two reasons I started to blog daily were to instill discipline and to be proud that I had produced a body of work. I would have never created 30 plus blogposts in 2 months if I followed my usual routine of "I'll just write and post when I feel like it."

It didn't work for me. 

But "I'll write 2 or 3 posts today and schedule them. Then maybe tomorrow I can write another 2 or 3 more entries and schedule them again." worked. 

It works for me, and that's why I'm hammering my keyboard, churning out for ideas. 

The contents of the blog are a different matter. Looking over my published posts, it's a salad of ideas. I envy bloggers who have found their niche, and who can monetize their niche.

Me? I'm still wondering how I can do it. 

Everyone has their own pace. 

My Love Letters to God: Journal Writing

My love letters to God from 2009-June 2014. 

Journal Writing, or the act of recording one's thoughts in tangible form , is one of my assortment of therapy.
It also happens to be my simple way of conversing with God.


HOW IT BEGAN

My earliest record of starting a diary was in 2000. My penmanship was horrible and my entries had no sense. I wrote intermittently, mostly to document my achievements in Legend of Mana. But I didn't pick up the habit of writing until late 2009.

I had troubles with creativity, and that problem led to me to try Julia Cameron's Morning Pages.
Morning Pages are 3 pages of stream of consciousness longhand writing. Morning Pages claimed to recapture your creativity and provide the solutions for your problems. Since I also had problems about my love life, I immediately found a notebook and jumped right in.

Honestly speaking, writing morning pages in the morning wasn't easy. So I changed my schedule to write in the evenings, and it became a breeze.

Every evening, I would sit down and dump my thoughts. Some were useful, some had no sense, but I persevered.

My initial morning pages had no addressee, and it felt awkward to immediately pour my thoughts into the poor defenseless notebook. So I decided to add "Dear Diary".

True enough, that "Dear Diary" morphed into "Dear God" and "Dear Jesus".

And a series of love letters was born.

WHY I WRITE

Initially, I wrote for the purpose of improving my creativity. My head is rich with ideas, stories, concepts that it's a must for me to write them


Next, I wrote for self-expression. I have difficulty in expressing my thoughts to people, so I turned to journal writing. At least the notebook wouldn't judge me. It would only listen. My notebooks are privy to my frustrations, my happiness, my heartaches etc. I also prefer writing my concerns rather than sharing it with other people, though there are times that I will seek counsel from selected people.

I also wanted to grow in faith as a catholic. I wanted to share my thoughts with God. To have a personal relationship, as my born-again friend mentioned to me. So I addressed my entries as "Dear God and Jesus", hoping that they will share my burdens and help me in finding solutions. And yes, I can say that in writing, I discovered the answers I was seeking.

Problem?
Write it. Write all the details. Write to God for a solution . Write the solution.

Something good happened today?
Write it. Write it all. Express gratefulness.

New projects in mind?
Write it. Write all the details. Write how to bring it to life.

WHY I ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO WRITE

It's life changing.

Seriously, if you have never tried it before, or you tried but you didn't sustain the habit, I highly encourage you to give it a try.

You won't lose anything, except for a few pages and the ink from your pen. I might even say you will gain a lot.

Self-discovery. Hope. Happiness. Gratitude. Love. Acceptance. 

Look for a notebook and grab a pen. Sit down and let your hand move across the pages.
Something marvelous awaits to be discovered.