I have been considering the ways in which daily writing – and drawing - work on mind and body to shape us as writers: the value of morning pages, the discipline of a daily 1000 word target, the practice of writing freely for a set amount of time, or for a defined number of pages, the poem a day challenge, the commitment to recording one moment from each day. Peter Stillman suggests we think of a journal as ‘a net for catching the shining particles of the day’, dust motes in sunshine, maybe. I have ditched the shining bit, and just kept the particles. I can often surprise myself with what I choose to write. And I have enjoyed drawing alongside the writing.
I just like the idea of noticing something every day and noting it down. I like the way it makes me look more carefully and how that carries into the next day, making me look out for things, changing my perspective.
Writing daily somehow, changes the way we write and think; the repetition, the regular commitment both consolidates and surprises, it can shove you into having to find a different way round things, and it can allow you to fail and go back and keep on going back until you have found something that works for you. I find that when I commit to morning pages, my writing is strengthened. I feel it comes more fluently, that I am more willing to experiment, that I am more agile. Freewriting has a similar effect. Writing for its own sake, writing without any audience but oneself in mind, makes way for playfulness, honesty, experimentation. Writing every day allows us to see what it is that we can do when we write. As we write without pressure, we may open up new possibilities for ourselves. We can try out stuff. We can lay down new writing tracks. We can strengthen hand and mind and imagination.
There is much to be said for the steadiness of a daily routine. August is a month when, for teachers, a different daily rhythm may emerge. Even if each day is filled with adventures, duties, catching up, letting go, there can also be time to create a small space for regular activity. Musicians and athletes know the necessary pains and consequent pleasures of regular exercise. A daily practice is fundamental for artists and thinkers of all kinds. It is an undertaking that shapes and strengthens.
It can set us free.