Morning Pages

Disclaimer:  I write this not to impugn "Morning Pages," but to entertain and to follow the premise of morning pages which is stream of consciousness writing.

I heard of the Concept of Morning Pages, conceived of by Julia Cameron, awhile back, say more than a year.  No matter.  "Morning Pages" is one of the tools in a book/course, "The Artist's Way", developed by Cameron to help unblock stymied writers  and unleashed our creative juices/abilities.

Recently, (last week) I came across a reference to this technique in which the author, not Cameron, stated that to be of maximal benefit one should do their "Morning Pages" immediately upon awaking, before any of the day's activities. BTW, "Morning Pages" consists of three (3) handwritten pages of free form stream of consciousness writing.  Think about that for a minute.

Yesterday morning I started.  The following is the 1/2 page I was able to complete:

The premise, no, dictum, of "morning Pages" is to hand write 3 pages of stream of consciousness writing first thing upon awakening.  Come on folks, let's get real here.  First of all the stimulus that wakes me in the morning is my bladder.  It's essential that the first thing I do in the morning is get out of bed, followed immediately by padding to the toilet; thank God we put in that upstairs toilet!  Then to sit upon said throne and empty my bladder.  I used to stand to accomplish that task, but these days my bladder empties so slowly that my legs start trembling if I stand still for that long.


The next chore is to feed the cat.  Who, by the way, was in the bed with me and the first thing I am conscious of when awakening is the cat's nose, less than an inch from mine, as he awaits the opening my eyes.   He barely tolerates my toilet ablutions, weaving in and out between my legs, all the while meowing reminders that I haven't fed him yet.


Therefore, if I were to write my 3 pages immediately upon awakening, I would be sitting in a sopping wet bed with a soon to be irate and yowling feline; at the least.  Doesn't seem to be the most conducive milieu for creative writing, now does it?

Magpie # 63

KALEIDASCOPE

I had one,or access, perhaps, to another's as a child.  Have seen a few through the years, on coffee tables, as an adult.  There may even be a miniature one hidden away in the flotsam of household collections.

A fascinating trinket with the  attraction of the stars in the galaxy, to attract and hold our attention for short periods of time and mesmerize us; to tranquil thoughts much longer.

David Hume, whose writings would help shape the .S. Constitution, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on this day in 1711.  Hume, who died in August 1776 just as the American Revolution was beginning, wrote an essay titled "Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth."  James Madison, considered the "Father of the Constitution," studied Hume's writings and wanted to avoid a system of government where the majority would ignore the opposition.  Hume believed the only way to control such special interests was to create small republics where the common interests of all would be protected.  Madison rejected Hume's logic and advocated the formation of a large republic where no one special interest could motivate the majority to subjugate the minority.

This Day / In History calender

Verbosity

Have you ever come to the page with nothing to say, but said it anyway? 

Of course lately my visits to the page have been as scarce as hens teeth.  The reason is not that I have nothing to say, shucks I have plenty to say.  I've got tons and tons of answers to most of the worlds problems.  Just ask me I can go on for pages expounding on my views.

Actually, of late, I feel like I'm in a museless state; not thinking anything I might say is really worth saying, or more than likely, I've already written about it some where in this blog over the past 5 years or so, and am loath to repeat myself: why should art imitate truth.

I have no pearls of wisdom or whispers of gossip to impart to my adoring fans.  When you refrain from posting regularly and simultaneously stop visiting and commenting on other blogs the cadre of adoring fans dwindles to a few hangers ons, family and lurkers. 

A few days ago I mentioned that there was an increase in the visits to my blog from folks interested in a picture of a pileated woodpecker I had posted for a wordless Wednesday.  Well, that interest has not dissipated.  When I was an active participating blogger my site meter hits averaged out to around 40 hits a day.  For close to a month now my average daily hits have been in the high seventies.  That's a doubling of hits at a time when my participation in the blog world has been at it's lowest level.  I searched the blog sphere for some clue to the avid interest in pileated woodpeckers and can find none.  I continue to get the seasonal hits form Korea looking for Thomas Hardy writings and a regular searching for Erma Bombeck's "I loved you most" essay.  Both of which I wrote about in the past.  But if this wood pecker search persists it will out pace any previous posting under the microscope.

I'm not always verbose:  I can be concise an when I have something to say.   No unnecessary adjectives, just the facts mam just the facts.  When I have nothing to say I can say it on and on.

??????????

What is the difference between a Social Butterfly and a Thunder-Moth?

And why are so many, from all corners, searching : Piliated woodpecker?

Yesterday must have been piliated woodpecker day!
I had dozens of hits on my sitemeter for this  Wordless Wednesday post:
http://pciyrtpy.blogspot.com/2010/09/wordless-wednesday.html