Badassery Magazine April 2018 Issue 23 | Page 58

4. Free Writing or Morning Pages “Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of conscious- ness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*– they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page...and then do three more pages tomorrow.” - Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way Another absolute life changer for me was Julia Cameron’s The Art- ist’s Way. She talks about the im- portance of writing three pages every single day. Julia Cameron is adamant that these are written long hand, but I prefer to type. 750words.com is an electron- ic version of such, complete with metadata, stats, and badges. I’m not perfect about writing daily morning pages, but I think they’re incredibly important. The purpose is to just write. It doesn’t matter what you’re saying, and it’s ill ad- vised to write a piece for publica- tion this way because the point of it is for you to ramble. My earli- est morning pages twelve years ago began along the lines of “this is stupid, I don’t want to do this, I don’t know what to write about, etc.” These days, most of my pub- lished writing was birthed in my morning pages. 5. Looping Sometimes, I get into a total writ- er’s block. I have difficulty writing, thinking of topics, and creating a cohesive piece. Looping is a skill I learned in High School, and have continuously used it since then. The long and short of it involves paper and pen or a computer, and a timer. First, set a time for five minutes and just WRITE. After five minutes, go back and read what you wrote. Pick one sentence or section you want to expand on. Copy and paste that as a header for your next writing section. Set a timer for five minutes again, and write focusing on the idea you took from your last section. You can keep doing this until you dig deep enough to get enough content for a cohesive piece after some editing and stitching together. I created a looping worksheet for free, with no opt-ins necessary HERE. Writing isn’t easy. It takes cour- age, dedication, and sometimes removal from self. When I write, I feel connected to the rest of the world and it can be devastating when I’m blocked from writing, whether it’s fear based or a lack of ideas. The key to being a writ- er, though, really is the dedication to sitting down and just doing the damn thing, whether it’s good or not.  Victoria Crossman is a magic and mindset mentor who teaches women how to heal and cope using crystals, tarot, essential oils, herbs, meditation, journaling, and more. She primarily works with business owning women who have mental illness. She lives with her wife and son, and a slew of animals in Cincinnati, OH. Victoria is also passionate about LGBTQ+ activism, intersectionality, and i s a public speaker. Victoria Crossman victoriacrossman.com    