Process XLII

This week I celebrated my having written morning pages every day for an entire month. There is a school of thought, often expressed in the form of inspirational memes, that being a servant to practice can be harmful. Don’t be hard on yourself! It’s okay not to do morning pages!

Sure, of course. It’s okay not to do anything that’s good for you. You can skip your daily exercise, you can eat what you choose, once you have received confirmation you never need go to church again, this is well understood.

But then, what is a practice if you don’t keep it? Each morning, at 6:00 AM (later on weekends) I handwrite three steno pages, or for thirty minutes, whichever comes first. It’s usually the three pages. I once did this for over six hundred days.

I chose when to stop, that was intentional, but it was difficult to resume. But I had to resume, at least if I was going to think of myself as a writer. I say I am a runner because I run, when I can’t run anymore I will happily report that I was a runner. I never want to say that I was a writer.

This week I turned in the first draft of a new play on the subject of the "great resignation". The assignment was for at least half of the new work, but as far as I am concerned, getting to the end is half the work. I want to spend the rest of the semester improving upon it, not finishing the first, rough draft. And it is rough. But it’s whole.

And a ten-page paper on structure which is more like a fever dream, but hey. The man said it didn’t need to be scholarly and boy-howdy, it’s not.

This weekend the boy and I are in New York City, having an adventure! We may even see a play.

Five Hundred Days of Practice

What does it mean to write every morning? What is the significance of this daily ritual?

It means I begin the day thinking, in silence. Meditative. Thoughtful. I do not jump from sleep to the screen. I can process my thoughts, my dreams. I articulate. 

And because it is daily, my family, my children, respect that I have to do this.

It need not be creative, though it can be. It need not be productive, though it can be. It need not be anything, just three pages, thirty minutes.

And once I have set down my pen, then I can continue my day with the confidence that whatever else happens, I will have accomplished this one thing.

Three-Hundred and Sixty-Five Days of Practice

For one calendar year I have written my morning pages every single day, not missing a day. This morning, to celebrate, I share my exercise with you.