Lessons from Jan Morris
I have always wanted to write more and more regularly. I believe I have found a low-pressure writing habit while reading Jan Morris’ In My Mind’s Eye: A Thought Diary. The book is a compilation of daily thoughts by the late travel writer and historian for over half a year. She undertook the project in her nineties, writing consecutively for 188 days.
It’s a diary recording her impressions, her reminiscences and reflections on anything that came to mind. These thoughts range from an amusing one-page contemplation of the drab life of a sheep to a slightly longer reflection on the sadness she felt upon stumbling across a memorial in a graveyard.
[the sheep] stands there among its identical fellows, silent, almost motionless, colourless, just munching, munching, munching, nibbling time away…
Starting with Two Entries a Week
I don’t need to wait for an extraordinary event to happen before making an entry. I don’t need to embark on another bikepacking trip or another holiday in the south of France to get material to write about. These entries can be just a page or even half a page. Minimal stress. To ensure that I stick to a routine, I will not be so ambitious as to commit to writing daily. Let’s start with a minimum of two entries a week.