I wrote six pages: three pages for the morning pages written this morning and three pages in response to day 1's prompt--allegory. To be honest, I groaned when I read I had to write an allegory. I didn't want to do it. I found myself partly closing, but it was the prompt and I had to read it. So I did and I got three pages. I surprised myself by writing a story and being creative. Right now, I'm really heavily drawing from my life. That won't always be the case and I am really looking forward to that time.

I didn't want to have a day spent at home, as past Januarys have gone. Instead, I went out with my friend leadaisy. We hit the Waffle, in Hollywood, first and then went to Pasadena. I was so sure that Vroman's was going to be open, but alas they were not. What we did see was a bunch of trash lining Colorado Blvd on either side, outside closed stores. A few hours after the Rose Parade ended and it was already empty. I actually didn't see any of the parade today. That has to be a first for me. I'm not so inclined, either. I could take it or leave it. From Pasadena, we went to the mall. I made a Borders trip in Hollywood and at the mall and between those two bookstores, I came home with three books and three journals. One book I will start when I get up: The Writer's Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules For Mastering Your Craft. I liked the layout and I thought it had some handy points to be made. I look forward to breaking into that.

I surprised myself in my Morning Pages when I wrote down a few ideas for fiction stories I want to try; one story is a fanfic and the other is an original piece. I don't want to tackle those now, but at some point later. It doesn't seem to take a lot of effort to brainstorm for writing fiction. Did I really forget so easily? I also plan to go back to an original story idea I was playing with. I'll be brainstorming on that today, I think. The other two pieces are much shorter while this one is going to last a little while. But a piece is a piece. And if I complete one, more the better. It has been ages since I have ever completed any pieces. I don't make myself. And, sometimes, I don't even let myself start. But I know that you won't accomplish anything if you don't start. If you start something, finish it, then maybe it will work, or maybe it won't. But if you don't even start something, it won't work. It's that simple. I would like to give myself more of a chance. Heck, maybe I'll get something out of the very attempt of trying.

There was a book that I was looking at that I didn't pick up today that I might at a later point. I remember it is the companion book to Write. but other than that...I don't remember the author, even. I've checked Amazon.com. The writer is Karen E. Peterson and the companion book is The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan. There is one exercise Peterson had where you write the answer to a question with your non-dominant hand. I imagine it is to see if your brain hemispheres think differently. I have read that they do think independently of one another. And if there is a disconnect, then you would have two distinct personalities vying for control of one body. I think I might get something from my right hand that I hadn't even thought I would think about. Maybe something like that one style of writing, like...it isn't ghost writing. But the idea is that your tapping into a presence that isn't your own. I've always been scared about trying that. Scared about what would turn out, so I haven't even tried that. I've seen a book somewhere on that too, but I didn't give it a great deal of thought. Maybe in the future I'll check that out, but I have enough on my plate right now than to get into that too. One change at a time.

And another book I want to check out is Fear of Writing. This writer seems quite accessible to readers. She also holds monthly 10K days. Her next two will be the 14th and 23rd. I will definitely be signing up for both of those. I am not going to turn down a shot at 20k words in just two days. I want to get as much writing done as possible in the least amount of time possible. I know I don't have to work that hard, but I have gone so long not asking very much of myself that I want to change that.
( Thoughts on teachers and teaching )

I will start the Artist's Way tomorrow. I'm going to figure out my word count at the end of the week. I'd like to have about 7,000 words. I'm not going to worry about word count, though. I'm just going to write.

I think I may do a photograph a day, too. For today's photograph then, here is the aftermath of the 2010 Rose Parade: