750 Words
During a therapy session recently, I realized I have not been journaling deeply. Meaning, using writing to tap into my deeper thoughts. Journaling or writing practice has been one of the building blocks of my wellbeing and I’ve always preferred to do it by typing. And I don’t see it as blogging, where my words are out in the world for anyone to read. I see this practice as an intimate form of brain dump, to get thoughts unstuck and get more clarity. But lately I’ve been only writing quick notes of more superficial things, and I was not going deeper.
I’ve used Evernote, the Journey app, 750 Words and Standard Notes before. For the past year or so I’ve been using Standard Notes: I have 478 entries so far. But most of those entries are quick logs of what I’ve done for the day, with 1 or 2 paragraphs. I want to get back to free writing and writing for longer periods of time. One service that I love is 750 Words because it gives me incentive to keep on writing. The service is online, it’s paid, it has cool badges and stats. All the entries can be exported to .txt. It has a simple and beautiful interface. It is maintained by 2 people, Buster Benson and his wife Kellianne. They create cute badges and there are also monthly challenges. It’s distraction free and it’s only text, no images.
So, I got back to 750 Words this week. The goal is to write at least 750 words a day, and I can see how many words I’m typing and then check some stats like: how long to write 750 words, total time, total number of words written, my badges, etc.
I was surprised that I can actually write 750 words in under 30 minutes if I just keep on typing whatever comes to mind with no filter, no editing. That’s the idea I’m going for here: throwing it all out, unfiltered. It’s basically what Julia Cameron calls “Morning Pages” or the writing practice Natalie Goldberg describes in her book “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”. Only after these brain dump sessions I’m able to open myself to write for my blog for example.
This practice nourishes my creativity, and I feel less afraid to publish words out in the open. If fits perfectly in my morning routine and it gives an extra boost of incentive to write every day.
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Post 36/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
#100DaysToOffload #100Days #Blaugust2024 #Blaugust #journal #journaling
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By Noisy Deadlines
Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.