Jazz Notes

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I came across an idea a while back called Morning Pages.  The idea is aimed at creative writers and is rather prescriptive. You have to write three pages of free form prose first thing every morning.  I liked the idea but for me it wasn't free form enough.  So I have adapted it.  I try and do it fairly early in the morning but I already have other things I want to do first.  So I might leave it to lunchtime. I also don't have a set time allocated to it or a set amount I need to write.  So I have taken the free form but and really run with it.  In light of this I call them my Jazz Notes.  Basically, once a day I just sit down with a reporters pad and pencil and jam.

Virtue of the Day - Patience

Some Projects Just Need Patience

I have just finished a rather pleasant breakfast of fried up leftovers from last night's dinner.  It is 8.15am.  Ideally I should have booked in a solid hour's writing/blogging and a further hour on solid billable work.  In fact I have done 15 minutes and 30 minutes respectively despite having got out of bed at 6.00am as planned.

Early Rising Update II

The Bank Holiday and a trip damaged the development of my early rising habit development programme rather more than I had hoped, intended or expected.  But I am climbing back on the wagon now.  It is rather a glorious feeling to tapping away at a blog post this early in the morning - it is just gone half past six -knowing that this is the second bit of writing of the day and that I have already had a run.

Early Rising Update

Easing myself into the early rising habit is working well.  I have been generally getting up at 7 and getting an hour's work done before the day has started.  I have managed a couple of 6's, but still only got an hour done.  The earl;y hours of the morning are not as full of distractions as the rest of the day, but you still have the same work to do to keep focused.

I haven't yet succeeded in actually getting up early and doing my full planned 2 hours work before breakfast.  But I can see that it is practical and is a highly desirable thing to do.   For example, the last six posts on this blog wouldn't exist without it.  I am not sure whether I want to keep up this blog at its current rate of production.  It is a handy resource, and writing it is a good daily reminder of what I am trying to achieve and how I am going to get there.  But perhaps the law of diminishing returns will set in soon and I will transfer my efforts elsewhere.

But for now I will make sure that whatever else I do I'll at least jot a few notes on my thinking here.

 Photo credit: James Jordan via photopin cc