I have been writing most of my life but I didn't become a writer until very recently. It happened as I was working on my dissertation. For many months, I would go to Bucer's everyday, order a pot of tea, crank up my ancient laptop, read what I had written the day before and start putting new words on the page. I developed a writing practice.
Since then, my writing practice has changed. Reading Julie Cameron's book The Artist's Way encouraged me to develop a writing practice centered on the morning pages. I would get up each morning, eat my oatmeal and tea, pull out my college lined notebook with butterflies on the cover and being writing: whatever came to mind, that's what I would put on the page. I would usually write three pages, put the notebook aside and pull out the thick journal I was using to record pieces of a memoir I was working on. I would dictate at least three pages of the memoir before I went on with my day.
I have ignored the morning pages and the memoir for the last few weeks. Each time I try to return to the morning pages, I am overwhelmed, flooded with emotion. The memoir seems less relevant than it did a few weeks ago, trumped by new concerns. Still I recognize the importance of maintaining a practice. The practice is what separates a writer from those who simply write.
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