Monday, October 19, 2009

12 months of being 30: On writing

* This post is part of my 12 months of being 30 project, an attempt to record what happens during my year of being 30.

Stacey said it first and Julochka instantly embraced the concept of writing as the new praying. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, because writing is definitely helping me feeling better despite the stress, the depressing weather, and the lack of energy that I told you about in my last post.
I know I haven't been writing here much (Sorry!) but I've been playing with words quite a lot, on my own, and as part of a Creative Writing class that I decided to take on a whim (a creative writing class in English! Talking about leaving my comfort zone!)
Last week, we did an exercise that I found incredibly liberating. We had to write three short autobiographical texts (100 words each), and chopped them up word by word. Then, we have to play with the 300 words and create a completely different text with them. The idea was putting words together without thinking too much about their meaning, but perhaps not surprisingly, most of the people in the class found that the words were definitely trying to transmit something to them. I had so much fun doing this and liked my text so much, that I used it as part of one of my 12 months of being 30 collages.



For the record, my teacher thought that I needed to add some concrete concepts as it was too abstract, but I still like it as it is.

I'm now determined to go back to a routine of writing morning pages before going to work, and sitting down and writing on a stream of consciousness whenever I feel lost or overwhelmed. I'm not sure if writing is the new praying, but for me it's definitely the best form of therapy.

PS. It's my first day at my new job today. Wish me luck!

24 comments:

  1. Good Luck! Have a great first day. And, Yay for you, taking a creative writing class.

    I love the concept writing is the new praying, I've embraced it fully...because I agree with you...my blog has been a sort of therapy for me.


    S

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  2. Good luck with your new job. What a great idea to do such a class especially when you already are so extremly busy. Succes with writing your morning pages.

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  3. That would be challenging for anyone whose first language is English - indeed there are lots of English people who wouldn't have a clue where to begin !
    Hope your writing therapy works & best of luck with your new job.
    much love x

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  4. sounds like an interesting exercise, having to reuse your words in a different way :-) I really like your text!

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  5. the course sounds very exciting? did you find it challenging? I'm finding my course very challenging but I'm enjoying it nevertheless...

    good luck at your new job!

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  6. B - I am with you on the writing. I have missed it SO much in the last month. Besides the release, there is also a sense of accomplishment, which is always nice.

    I loved your writing exercise. Thanks for sharing. I like to take letters and posts and put them into Wordle to see what words float to the top. This summer, two of my friends and I shared summer reflection e-mails with each other. I wordled them and then sent the graphics back to everyone. It was cool to see what was truly on our minds and to see our summers summed up so nicely.

    Hope the new position works out great! Look forward to the stories...

    wv: tedamm. An expletive to use when you fail. The opposite of ta-da! Not wishing for any failures, but it is fun to say...

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  7. I hope you had a great first day! I like your idea of dedicating some time to writing first think in the morning. Do you write in Spanish?

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  8. Espero que el primer día fuera bien!
    Buena suerte con esta "etapa" nueva.

    Kisses

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  9. I really need to get back into the swing of writing. I have been so busy and overwhelmed with school, that my poor journal has been left to defend on itself.
    Good luck at the new job.

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  10. Te deseo toda la suerte del mundo!
    Yo descubrí eso de escribir como terapia el año pasado, estabamos dando los movimientos literarios en el colegio y nos hicieron hacer un texto de escritura mecánica y un poema dadaista.
    Todo el mundo acabó enseguida, pero yo me tiré tres horas con la escritura mecánica, me relaja muchísimo y me gusta mucho el resultado.Escribir lo que te viene a la mente.
    Muchas veces que estoy deprimida solo pienso en escribir (me gusta mucho dibujar en mis ratos libres, pero cuando estoy triste no me sale), aunque luego me pongo queriendo hacer algo bien construido y me infravaloro tanto a mí misma que lo dejo jajaja
    Yo también tengo mis dos primeros experimentos de escritura del subconsciente guardados, bueno, como adolescente problemática, colgados en la pared de mi habitación :)

    Muchísimos besos, sigue haciendo cosas tan constructivas, me encanta que nos las cuentes :)

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  11. I love this idea. what a great exercise!

    Hope the job is going well!

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  12. I think this collage is very fitting for your 12 months of 30.

    I really like routine, I always feel out of sorts when I don't follow some sort of routine.

    Good luck with your new job and enjoy your morning writing.

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  13. Writng can deifinitely make you feel good. I wish you luck.

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  14. i love so much about this. the blue door especially (surprise, surprise). but also this writing autobiographical texts and cutting them up and putting them together some other way. i'm going to do that when i get home. today. and i wish i could do it this very minute. but alas, as usual, i'm in an airport lounge. oh well, at least there's free wifi. :-)

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  15. Greetings, you have no idea who I am...but I breeze by your blog as often as I can. It always offers me entertainment along with thought provoking posts.
    While I can't agree that writiing is the new praying, I can agree that there is a theraputic something about writing. I created one blog and felt so great about it, I started another one. I have always kept a journal which usually got me in trouble. Therefore blogging comes natural. Thank you for sharing the brilliance. Ps. Loved the blue door!

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  16. I always do lots of re-writing, but I rarely write just for the "practice." I've always had a bit of an aversion to creative writing classes, but your post makes me think that I should open my mind. Thanks for sharing, B.

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  17. i love the idea of writing morning thoughts. hey, good luck! you will do a fab job, my dear friend.
    xo

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  18. Best of luck on the new job! Way to get out of your comfort zone with the class! I find that those assignments we do that are true to us, whether or not the teacher approves, are some of the best learning experiences :) Enjoy and thanks for sharing!

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  19. Last fall I attended a creative writing retreat and we did something very similar with our words. It was liberating to see words that I had been forcing into cohesive thoughts suddenly become poetry. I love the collage and am inspired to get out glue and magazines now! Thanks for sharing this.

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  20. Oh B! I love your collage! I'm wondering if I could try writing in the morning too....sounds like a good idea...if I can wake up early enough! LOL

    Good Luck at your new job too! I'm "enjoying" my second month at my new job. I know how hard it can get to write and get used to new things! Good luck to us both on more blogging, writing and fun filled work!

    Cheers!

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  21. this Creative Writing class seems to be something really really funny, I'll try surely!
    Good good and again good luck for your new job!!

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  22. suerte, amiga!

    LOVE the blue door, LOVE the words-put-together-abstractly.

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  23. What a lovely blog, and awesome pictures.

    SUPER FABULOSO!

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  24. Writing is definitely some form of therapy for me as well so your words in this post resonated strongly with me. Good luck at your new job!

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