Writing about reading about writing

I think there’s one thing I like to do more than writing. It’s reading about writing. Is that strange? I know what it is. It’s a game I play called ‘Distraction’. Every time I want to write or think it’s a good time to write, such as writing my  memoirs, my mind starts looking for other things to do. Like reading. And then it tries to get smart by reassuring me that reading about writing will only make me a better writer. Rrrrrrright. It’s like someone reading cookbooks but never really pulling out the baking utensils and ingredients and actually baking or cooking. Or reading about the importance of exercise and never really lacing up the shoes. I know of what I’m talking about here.
Nevertheless, all of this reading on writing does introduce me to some useful tools.  A few weeks ago I was reading another blog and the site www.750words.com was mentioned. That intrigued me. It is the niftiest site for doing ‘morning pages’ or freewriting. Basically, you challenge yourself to write 750 words without stopping..just write off the top of your head and get those random thoughts on paper, or in this case on the computer page.  This site is unique in that, by analyzing what you write about, it keeps track of  all sorts of statistics. It provides stats such as how long it took you to write those 750 words, when you started,  words per minute, if you had any distractions, your longest streak of writing, what you were mostly concerned about, your moods, etc. And the fun part is you get to earn badges… badges for writing 3 days in a row, writing without being distracted, being speedy, 10 in a row, 100 days, etc.. If you were a kid motivated by stickers, you will LOVE the badges! The person who designed this site is definitely having fun with it.
I have actually been writing more since joining this site. So, it’s working. I’ve even earned a few badges and I feel mighty proud!
Now, back to my book… Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg.