My writing group swore by 'morning pages' and I thought it was just busywork

For six months, my group in Austin kept pushing this daily three-page longhand exercise. I finally tried it last week, and on the third day, a random line about a rusty mailbox spiraled into a full short story idea. I was shocked something so simple actually unlocked a block. Has a writing habit you doubted ever surprised you like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

hernandez.ben15d ago

My group in Portland was obsessed with timed writing sprints. I thought it was just a way to make us type faster, which I already do. Then one day the prompt was "last call" and I ended up with this whole scene about a bartender and a retired astronaut. It came out of nowhere. I guess my brain just needed a hard deadline to stop overthinking every single word.

foster.wade15d ago

Totally get that. My old writing partner used to set a kitchen timer for ten minutes and we'd just go. Once we got a prompt about a lost key and I somehow wrote a whole monologue from the perspective of a haunted house. The pressure just flips a different switch in your head.

claire_ramirez2215d ago

Did you read that study on how deadlines can boost creativity?