OK, Everybody. Let's RUSH WRITE

This is going to be fun. I had no idea so many people would check in. SOOOO nice to see you all. I'm thrilled.

On with the show. The first problem writers face is a blank page. What do you do with a blank page? The second thing writers face is a voice in their heads that says over and over, "You're stupid. You flunked kindergarten. You never were good at anything. Why are you trying to do this? Why don't you just give up and do the dishes?" This is the little do-gooder voice, the creepy little thing that's lodged in our brains from some past trauma or embarrassment or whatever.

So what is rush writing, and how does it fix this little mess in your head? Rush writing is fast writing. It's non-stop writing. Stopping to think, to correct punctuation or spelling is AGAINST THE RULES  of rush writing. The purpose of rush writing is to give you permission to write badly. It insists that you write badly, because no one can write well at a high rate of speed. Rush writing doesn't take long swipes out of your day. It takes, for starters, five minutes. Maybe that's all the time you ever have. Five minutes.

So here's how it works. You get your oven timer or check the clock on the wall. Set the timer for five minutes. And start writing like crazy. Are you with me? Are you still there? You write like crazy for five minutes. If you can't think of what to write, you write, "I can't think of what to write." And you write "I can't think of what to write." "I can't think of what to write." "I can't think of what to write."  over and over and over until something comes into your head to write. Rush writing has this magical way of forcing ideas, thoughts, memories out of your head, through your pen or laptop, and onto your page. Rush writing is MAGIC. One minute you can't think of what to say and the next minute you're pouring your guts out.

One other rule. Before you rush write, you can't sit around thinking about what you'll write. You JUST START WRITING. Set that timer and write like crazy. You'll be amazed what gushes out.

OK. The topic for the day, just to get us all off together is "My first memory." And the first thing you write is, "My first memory...." And then you just let your brain take you wherever it's going to take you. Don't fight it. Don't censor it. Don't think about whatever good or bad memory pops into your head. Just write like crazy. Swear, curse, cry, whatever goes through you. Remember, no stopping. No pausing. When the bell on your timer rings, finish your sentence and STOP. DO NOT KEEP WRITING. THAT'S LIKE TRYING TO DO TOO MANY PUSHUPS ON THE FIRST DAY OF EXERCISE. FEELS GOOD NOW, BUT TOMORROW YOU WON'T WANT TO DO IT AGAIN. OK? 

DO YOU HAVE YOUR TIMER?  

TOPIC: MY FIRST MEMORY. I'm going to write too. I'm setting my timer. If I make mistakes or typos, I'll leave them and publish them. Whatever comes out stays. No shame no gain. READY GO.

I'm sitting on a chair facing doctor Cornwall. He i s wrapping my arm. he has white hiar, seems to be kind. we are sitting in the living room. my mom and dad are sitting there I think. I'm not sure about that, Some adult is there. And I have my arm out at right angles to dorctror cornwall. i don't feel any pain. My mother has told me since, probably many times, that this is the day I "saascared the life out of her. "  I was walking into the kitchem she said . and you were hanging romfrom one of the kitchen cabines. holding on with one arm. you just llcimed on everything. you were such a little stink. adn i walked into the kitch and saw you dangling there and screamed. and you let go and fell. oh my. docrot ornwall said you might have a shriveled arm. what a mess that would have been. you would not have played the piano.

i think aobut this. what would have ahpppened if i had a shriveled arm? i d be like all the rsst o ft ht epopel eiwht shrifveeled arms, i guess. one arm good, one arm not so goo. i could learn ot play the piano with the other hand. i don't know which arm it was i think i'm holding my right arm out to docror cornwall. later i saw that doctor cornwall was a very kind man, an kind of BELL country doctor.

OK. That's my rush write. My word counter says I wrote 249 words. A typed, double-spaced page is between 225 and 250 words. I just wrote a page! Every day for a year, that's 365 pages.

Now I can go back and clean it up if I want. If I were writing this by hand, it wouldn't be such a mess, but I'm trying to write this damn blog and can't spell or write. And this makes me nervous. What kind of an example am I?

NOW GET YOUR TIMER OUT AND RUSH WRITE. FIVE MINUTES A DAY. YOU CAN BE A WRITER. YES YOU CAN. YOU CAN'T MAKE ANY BIGGER MESS OF IT THAN I JUST DID.

OH WAIT. DO NOT THROW YOUR WRITING AWAY. YOU SHOULD NOW KEEP A WRITING FILE. EVERYTHING GOES INTO YOUR WRITING FILE. THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY. DO NOT THROW ANYTHING AWAY.

I can't wait to hear from you.