wait for inspiration to come?

The topic of my blog yesterday was about not knowing what to write about in my blog. Part of me thinks (and I'm guessing a lot of people would agree) that if I don't have something interesting to talk about, then maybe I should just wait to share until I do. This sounds good in theory, but it means that I would probably only end up posting once a month! 

Instead I use the advice that my journal writing teacher gave me- just pick up the pen and start writing. (On a side note, my journal writing teacher just passed away a few weeks ago. She was easily one of the best teachers I ever had and will be missed. R.I.P., Mrs. G.) In my journal writing class we got graded on quantity, not quality. While this may seem like a stupid way to do it at first, you have to think, who are you to be able to judge someone's journal? So we were graded by the number of pages written. 

When I first found out about this grading system I was stoked. Easy A! Here I come! Then I despaired. How was I going to come up with five pages worth of blabber every day? Luckily, I have big, sloppy handwriting, but still, five pages a day is a lot. Her advice was to just start writing. Tell what happened in your day. What did you have for lunch? Who did you eat with? Those things in and of themselves aren't necessarily interesting but as you write you discover things that you had a reaction to. Perhaps someone at lunch said something that ticked you off. Why did it make you upset? Suddenly the words are flying onto the page. 

Not everything that I write in this vein is fascinating. Sometimes it really is just a boring description of my lunch. But more often than not, when I look back on my journals I will be surprised by the little gems sprinkled throughout. Little gems that I never would have come up with if I had waited to write until I had something "interesting" to say.