I'm Having Trouble Writing

...So I Figured I'd Write About That

It’s been 2 weeks without a chapter. What’s going on?

One week of that was vacation. I should have queued up a chapter to go out regardless. Last week I just didn’t have a thing to say.

It’s not just Tidy First?. I have a handful of pieces outlined in my head that I haven’t made progress on. I wonder what’s up with that.

One thing I haven’t been doing is morning pages. For almost 20 years it’s been my fairly consistent habit to spend a half an hour each morning free associating on paper. The rule for the exercise is that the pen never stops moving. Even if I’m just making squiggles, I keep moving the pen. Eventually I think a thought in words & write, “This is so dumb. Why can’t I think of anything to write? If I was going to write I’d write about…” And away I go.

Thirty minutes of that & the connection between thought & word is firmly established. The critical editor is silent because he (mine’s a he) wasn’t needed. Now I can get words out.

I haven’t been writing morning pages since returning from vacation. I wonder why not? I also haven’t been taking my morning walk (90 minutes of San Francisco hills). Time to get the habits back, because those habits tend to result in writing.

No dramatic conclusion. I just haven’t been writing.

P.S. If you’ve found something helpful in the parts of Tidy First? you’ve seen so far, let me know in the comments. If you have a PR or commit that demonstrates one of the tidyings, please pass it along & I’ll add you to the Learner Board.