20 Lines A Day

[Wjames]

I (like many others) suffer from extreme laziness in almost every aspect of my life, but especially in terms of writing.

For the longest time when I would start to write something, I found myself staring at a blank screen or paper, and if I couldn't think of something I liked within fifteen minutes or so, the writing session was over.

I heard David Berman mention something he did to help him write in an interview - I've started doing it, and it's helped me a lot.

Everyday, write 20 lines in a notepad on your phone (a line can be something as brief as a word or as long as a sentence) whenever you think of something that strikes you as beautiful or interesting in a single moment. The objective quality of what is written is irrelevant - just write down anything that strikes you for a single instant: objects around the room, two or three word phrases from songs or poems or movies or books or conversations you overhear, or bathroom stall scribbles you see.

At the end of a week, you should have 140 "lines" in the notepad in your phone. Pick one day of the week everyweek, I use Sunday, and scan through what is written there. In a second notepad (I use a physical notebook), write down anything from the 140 lines in the first notebook that makes you feel something a second time. I discard the vast majority of lines from the first notepad.

Everything that makes it into the second notebook has been through two filters - it has a quality that holds up to some level of scrutiny.

When I start to write now, I no longer start by looking at a blank screen or paper - I start by trying to use and connect the lines and phrases in the second notebook. 

This has made writing a lot less painful for me, thought I'd share it here in case it could help anyone.

[dukealien]

I (like many others) suffer from extreme laziness in almost every aspect of my life, but especially in terms of writing.

For the longest time when I would start to write something, I found myself staring at a blank screen or paper, and if I couldn't think of something I liked within fifteen minutes or so, the writing session was over.

I heard David Berman mention something he did to help him write in an interview - I've started doing it, and it's helped me a lot.

Everyday, write 20 lines in a notepad on your phone (a line can be something as brief as a word or as long as a sentence) whenever you think of something that strikes you as beautiful or interesting in a single moment. The objective quality of what is written is irrelevant - just write down anything that strikes you for a single instant: objects around the room, two or three word phrases from songs or poems or movies or books or conversations you overhear, or bathroom stall scribbles you see.

At the end of a week, you should have 140 "lines" in the notepad in your phone. Pick one day of the week everyweek, I use Sunday, and scan through what is written there. In a second notepad (I use a physical notebook), write down anything from the 140 lines in the first notebook that makes you feel something a second time. I discard the vast majority of lines from the first notepad.

Everything that makes it into the second notebook has been through two filters - it has a quality that holds up to some level of scrutiny.

When I start to write now, I no longer start by looking at a blank screen or paper - I start by trying to use and connect the lines and phrases in the second notebook. 

This has made writing a lot less painful for me, thought I'd share it here in case it could help anyone.

This sounds like a useful idea.  It might not work for me, personally - I force myself to write a 300-word political/philosophical essay each week, and store up ideas for them; I also belong to a writing group which has an assigned topic each week (again, usually prose).  As to poetry, I get an idea - usually with a first, sometimes a last line attached... since this usually happens when I'm out and about or lying in bed waiting for the alarm to sound, notes are helpful if I can remember/stay awake to write them down.

[PoetSteve134]

I think it is good to just write something rather than nothing - you can always re-write it but it's amazing what comes out when the pressure is off to make it meaningful

[busker]

May the force be with you
To write inspired stuff, however, you must wait for when the melancholy fit shall fall