I thought I read somewhere that to create a habit, you have to do the thing every day for 30 days. Or 21 days. Or some number of days. It’s probably bullshit, but there’s likely some truth to it, that if you do the thing enough. But how much is “enough”?
At the beginning of September, I told myself I would do “morning pages” 30 days in a row. “Morning pages” is a term coined by writer Julia Cameron, who determined that if you take a pen and paper and write three pages, longhand, first thing in the morning, just to dump all the shit out of your head (that’s my phrasing, not hers), you’ll benefit creatively. I’ve done it on and off for a couple of years, sometimes forgetting about the “morning” part and really just dumping the shit at all hours of the day. As you can see, there’s a lot of shit in there. My head is always full of bees.
Anyway, I did it for 23 days in a row, and then a bad thing happened and my life went a little topsy-turvy so I missed a few days. So I decided I’d try again in October, because the bees in my head really would prefer to be evicted on a neat timeline, i.e., Day 1 is the first day of the month. Unfortunately, the bees both won and lost, because I forgot until yesterday, which was the third. So I had to tell the bees what’s up. “Bees,” I said (I remember it verbatim). “Bees, it doesn’t have to be on the first of the month. I can start today, October 4, and just do it for 30 days. Why does it have to be October 1?”
The bees didn’t like that, but what choice did they have?
So another habit I’m trying to start is writing every single day. Rain or shine (not that I ever write outside), at least 1,000 words, even if they’re terrible, and even if there are typos. So far, I’ve made it. Of course, I only started yesterday, but whatever.
Perhaps my next goal will be to reduce my reliance on parentheses (and semi-colons; love a good semi-colon). But maybe not. A writing style is a writing style, for better or for worse. I write long sentences. I use parentheses. I use semi-colons like it’s my job. I beat similes to death like they owe me money.
Regardless, I did it today, and I’ll try to do it again tomorrow before work, and so on. Thinking about doing it won’t get it done. Those semi-colons aren’t going to write themselves. If you find yourself stuck or bogged down by your Big Kid Job, I’m right there with you. But hey, it’s never too late to try again.
DM
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