Vomit Writing

Okay, I know it's kind of a gross title, but I'll explain in a minute. I love writing. Clearly, or I probably wouldn't have a blog. I love creating stories. I love to journal about my own real stories. I love exaggerating real stories. When I was about 8 years old, I asked Santa for a type writer because I wanted to type my stories so badly and I knew that a computer would be too expensive...for Santa to bring me.... (I was a smart girl haha). I got something in the middle...a word processor with a handle that I would carry around everywhere in case I was inspired to write a story or a play. I loved hitting the print button and hearing the sound of the typebars hitting the paper. As I got older, the less and less I wrote. When I was younger I wasn't exhausted after an 8 hour work day and didn't get lost on facebook or pinterest for hours at a time. When I was studying abroad, I told myself  "I'm going to write a book or a play about this experience." And I told myself the same exact thing when I lived in Prague and again in Korea. I have a bunch of random paragraphs or sentences written...ideas that just hit me or interesting things that I saw. But I've never done anything with those chicken scratch pieces of paper. 

The other day when I was at work, I was catching up on some blogs (oops) and came across this post, by Rachel at Elephantine, that really hit home for me. Every time I get inspired and start feeling like it's "different this time," it ends up going nowhere. I also liked the fact that she hand writes on legal pads. When I write, I really like using the computer. I'm a fast typist and I love having the Internet handy to do research and use the thesaurus (my best friend when writing!) But after staring at a computer for 8 or 9 hours a day at work, sometimes the last thing I want to do is come home and sit at a computer again. And when I do, I admittedly get lost on facebook, pinterest, hulu and beautiful blogs and before I know it, it's bed time, but my mind is wired. Then, I read her update on her novel here. It got me thinking that maybe hand writing is just what I need to do. It doesn't have to make sense right away, facts don't have to be correct just yet, and simple words can do for now. But the point is to actually write and get those ideas down on paper. Vomit Writing. No filter. Just write...and don't stop. Then, if...when I finish, the editing process can be done on the computer. But at least by that time I will already be able to hold my legal pads filled with my writing.

After work that day, I bought two legal pads, poured a glass of wine after dinner, and started writing. I did do some computer stuff, but then wrote a bit before bed again. It felt very therapeutic and helped me settle down for bed. I do think my next goal will be to give myself a deadline, but for now, I love sitting down, writing, and seeing what comes out of me.

But if anyone wants to buy me this amazing USB Typewriter, I will definitely NOT object! :)