Monthly Archives: November 2009

Scribble Your Way to Liberation: Clicktappity

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Chapter Six: Clicktappity
Use this technique for: when you’re in front of a computer and your brain is feeling fuzzy.
Starting point: when you pull up whatever file you want to type in.
Ending point: whenever you feel like stopping.
Why the resistance?  Why the revulsion?  What am I beating myself against that is making things so difficult?  Could just be the caffeine, admittedly.  (I am taught how to spell things correctly by the absence of little red lines.)
Free writing techniques do not always have to be confined to paper and pen.  The main point of free writing is to get thoughts out of your head and into words and if typing works, use it.  Clicktappity is simply my weird little term for typed free writing.
You can put all your Clicktappity into a single designated file for that purpose, using whatever word processing type program you find yourself comfortable with.  Alternately, you can open a new file for each session and either delete or save the results.  Whatever works for you.
If you have a workplace that permits short breaks on the Internet as long as work gets done, you can make use of online services and thus avoid having a file on your work computer for someone to come across.  At one point, I was using one of my gmail accounts to email my home email account and poured my random thoughts into the email.  These days, I’ve gotten quite fond of Google Docs for this purpose as well.  (If you do end up saving a file to your work computer, title it something dull, place it somewhere you can remember, password protect it if possible and delete it the moment you depart from that job permanently.)
It’s perfectly okay to hit the backspace key now and then to correct a word, but don’t cut out entire lines as if you’re editing something for publication.  That’s not the point of this.  Clicktappity is pouring your thoughts out via the keyboard for your eyes only.
You may find that this will help improve your typing.  This is not a bad thing.
Clicktappity can be short bursts or long rambles, depending on how much is on your mind.  I find it can be a useful way to take a break when I’m confined to a computer for long stretches and have a large and complicated project to work on.  Giving myself five minutes of Clicktappity for, say, every twenty minutes of adding stuff to spreadsheets makes the whole thing much more bearable.
Techniques like the Shit Book and the Sub-C Session can also be done by typing.  These are best done in separate files than from regular Clicktappity (especially the Shit Book—in fact, the best thing to do with a Shit Book file is to close it without saving it once you’re done.)  Three Daily Pages could conceivably be done by typing, but I’ve never done it that way because it’s a little hard to gauge how much a ‘page’ is and when to stop.  (Plus, one power outage can screw up everything—at least with a paper notebook you can keep writing by candlelight if it comes to that.)

Use this technique for: when you’re in front of a computer and your brain is feeling fuzzy.

Starting point: when you pull up whatever file you want to type in.

Ending point: whenever you feel like stopping.

Why the resistance?  Why the revulsion?  What am I beating myself against that is making things so difficult?  Could just be the caffeine, admittedly.  (I am taught how to spell things correctly by the absence of little red lines.)

Free writing techniques do not always have to be confined to paper and pen.  The main point of free writing is to get thoughts out of your head and into words and if typing works, use it.  Clicktappity is simply my weird little term for typed free writing.

You can put all your Clicktappity into a single designated file for that purpose, using whatever word processing program you find yourself comfortable with.  Alternately, you can open a new file for each session and either delete or save the results.

If you have a workplace that permits short breaks on the Internet as long as work gets done, you can make use of online services and thus avoid having a file on your work computer for someone to come across.  At one point, I was using a webmail account to send an email to my home email account and poured my random thoughts into the email.  These days, I’ve gotten quite fond of Google Docs for this purpose as well.  (If you do end up saving a file to your work computer, title it something dull, place it somewhere you can remember, password protect it if possible and delete it the moment you depart from that job permanently.)

It’s perfectly okay to hit the backspace key now and then to correct a word, but don’t cut out entire lines as if you’re editing something for publication.  That’s not the point of this.  Clicktappity is pouring your thoughts out via the keyboard for your eyes only.

You may find that this will help improve your typing.  This is not a bad thing.

Clicktappity can be short bursts or long rambles, depending on how much is on your mind.  I find it can be a useful way to take a break when I’m confined to a computer for long stretches and have a large and complicated project to work on.  Giving myself five minutes of Clicktappity for, say, every twenty minutes of adding stuff to spreadsheets makes the whole thing much more bearable.

Techniques like the Shit Book and the Sub-C Session can also be done by typing.  These are best done in separate files than from regular Clicktappity (especially the Shit Book—in fact, the best thing to do with a Shit Book file is to close it without saving it once you’re done.)  Three Daily Pages could conceivably be done by typing, but I’ve never done it that way because it’s a little hard to gauge how much a ‘page’ is and when to stop.  (Plus, one power outage can screw up everything—at least with a paper notebook you can keep writing by candlelight if it comes to that.)

A revised version of this entry can be found in the ebook Catbooks and Other Methods.

Scribble Your Way to Liberation: The Sub-C Session

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Chapter Five: The Sub-C Session
Use this technique for: when you’re feeling stuck about something.
Starting point: when you sit down to do it.
Ending point: when you feel ready to take action.
So I’ve got a Maker’s Mark and cola and I’m trying to figure out what to do next.  With any of it.  With all of it.
Most free writing involves starting with absolutely nothing in mind other than the determination to kill time, fill pages or clear your head.  The Sub-C Session is slightly different because it is writing that is about something in particular and intended to come up with some kind of solution.
Sub-C is an abbreviation for subconscious.  How the subconscious is precisely defined (and indeed whether or not it even exists) is still being debated.  For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll define it something like this—the part of your mind that rarely articulates its intentions in conscious thoughts but primarily communicates through emotional states.
(If you think this definition is a load of hooey, well, just pretend that it’s true while you try this out.  You’re not the center of the universe, either, and you were okay with acting as if you were during the Shit Book exercise, right?)
A Sub-C Session should be done in a relatively non-distracting environment.  You can set aside a specific notebook or just grab whatever’s handy.  I recommend that at the very least you have a reliable pen on hand, or use a computer, since it may take a lot of ramble to get to the conclusion.
Sub-C Sessions generally spring from a question.  It can almost be like consulting an oracle.  Why am I spending so much time on the Internet?  Why am I still upset about what was said at dinner last week?  Why have I still not returned that phone call?  What’s stopping me from doing this thing I really want to do?  Any kind of mental block that you have on something can be examined with a Sub-C Session.
You don’t necessarily have to write down the question, just sit down with the question in your mind and begin writing.  Brainstorm possible answers and write down your reactions to these answers.  You may find out that really stupid reasons will come up.  This is completely okay.  It’s by dragging these absurd notions into the light that we can deal with them properly.
A Sub-C Session can end whenever you feel like it.  Usually the signal that you’ve finished a Sub-C Session is that you’ve come up with some workable answers to your question.  If you do a Sub-C Session about something that you don’t want to do, you may find that once you’ve dug up and dissected the reasons for your reluctance you’ll be ready to get off your duff and do something about it.  At which point, put down the pen and get on with it.

Use this technique for: when you’re feeling stuck about something.

Starting point: when you sit down to do it.

Ending point: when you feel ready to take action.

So I’ve got a Maker’s Mark and cola and I’m trying to figure out what to do next.  With any of it.  With all of it.

Most free writing involves starting with absolutely nothing in mind other than the determination to kill time, fill pages or clear your head.  The Sub-C Session is slightly different because it is writing that is about something in particular and intended to come up with some kind of solution.

Sub-C is my odd little abbreviation for subconscious.  How the subconscious is precisely defined (and indeed whether or not it even exists) is still being debated.  For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll define it something like this—the part of your mind that rarely articulates its intentions in conscious thoughts but primarily communicates through emotional states.

(If you think this definition is a load of hooey, well, just pretend that it’s true while you try this out.  You’re not the center of the universe, either, and you were okay with acting as if you were during the Shit Book exercise, right?)

A Sub-C Session should be done in a relatively non-distracting environment.  You can set aside a specific notebook or just grab whatever’s handy.  I recommend that at the very least you have a reliable pen on hand, or use a computer, since it may take a lot of ramble to get to the conclusion.

Sub-C Sessions generally spring from a question.  It can almost be like consulting an oracle.  Why am I spending so much time on the Internet?  Why am I still upset about what was said at dinner last week?  Why have I still not returned that phone call?  What’s stopping me from doing this thing I really want to do?  Any kind of mental block that you have on something can be examined with a Sub-C Session.

You don’t necessarily have to write down the question, just sit down with the question in your mind and begin writing.  Brainstorm possible answers and write down your reactions to these answers.  You may find out that really stupid reasons will come up.  This is completely okay.  It’s by dragging these absurd notions into the light that we can deal with them properly.

A Sub-C Session can end whenever you feel like it.  Usually the signal that you’ve finished a Sub-C Session is that you’ve come up with some workable answers to your question.  If you do a Sub-C Session about something that you don’t want to do, you may find that once you’ve dug up and dissected the reasons for your reluctance you’ll be ready to get off your duff and do something about it.  At which point, put down the pen and get on with it.

A revised version of this entry can be found in the ebook Catbooks and Other Methods.