Garbage Writing
Beep boop blibbity boppity boo.
When you aren’t sure how to start a journal entry, then you’re probably overthinking it.
Remember, when you’re journaling, whether you keep your entries totally private (like I used to do) or make them fully public (like I now do), the goal is to flow freely and express yourself creatively.
The only way to not do that is to overthink it, judge it, worry what others will think, and censor yourself in any way.
Taking a creative practice too seriously interrupts flow.
Unblock your flow by not caring.
Keep it private if a part of you still feels ashamed or embarrassed.
Flow.
Don’t stop.
Keep it going.
If that sounded weird, it’s because I lost my train of thought and didn’t know what to write about, so I was literally commanding myself to keep writing WITHOUT PAUSE even though my mind was going blank.
Fun times, flow writing in this journal.
Yes, a part of me is aware that I will be posting my formerly private journal entries publicly, but another part of me remembers and recognizes why I am doing this and why it’s important.
It’s to make my practice more real, to raise the stakes, to be able to stand strong and be confident even when what I write is gibberish, garbage, incoherent trash.
Even when my grammar isn’t perfect or I’m rambling or going from one random thought to the next.
I trust my creative process and I am gradually, more and more each day, becoming less judgmental of myself and my creations the more I put this stuff out there.
So, in this early phase of my creative journey, I am shamelessly creating and sharing what I make and doing it for me, myself, and I.
The focus is to become a consistent creator, to be comfortable with putting myself out there, to know how to tap in and let ideas flow through me, to be able to silence my inner critic such that I may create without reservation.
If that means posting a garbage blog post every day, a direct transcription from my handwritten journal, where I now write these words, to my blog’s editor, then that’s fine.
It’s not about creating stuff that people will like.
It’s about becoming a person who is even remotely capable of creating stuff that people might like.
There is a steep cost to reaching that point, though.
A lot of time and energy must be spent making and sharing stuff that isn’t great.
For me, that looks like this handwritten journaling that I’ll post on my blog/Twitter, 500+ words written toward the fiction story I’m writing, and a 10-20 minute free-flowing/free-spoken/stream-of-consciousness unscripted YouTube video.
I make and share these things every day for me, so that I can become the creator that I came here to be.
Join me and let’s create a better world for ourselves and for others.
