Look ma, no brain!

From April 23 to November 19 I filled 360 morning pages, 12 pages per week or four days' writing (I always fill exactly three pages). The most difficult part is maintaining attention. Frequently I'll unintentionally stop writing, my mind engaging in thoughts that never translate onto paper. The whole point of this exercise is to record what's on my mind, so I endeavour to keep the pen moving.

Today I noticed that while my hand writes, my thoughts still manage to escape elsewhere. Clearly, two parts of my brain were engaged at once. The writing was emotive, expressive, frequently incoherent, occasionally vivid and surprising. Meanwhile my brain would digress on matters of immediate concern, like baking cookies, money, going to the gym, or a man walking under my office window. I tried to catch those threads and transfer them to the page, but the writing would inevitably devolve into rambling nonsense, while my attention escaped once more like a migrant bird.

Surely others have observed this, but I seem to have developed the dubious skill of writing while thinking about something else. I'm intrigued by the interaction between these two separate theatres of consciousness, and intend to continue my study.