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A Title, The Date

February 25, 2018 By Nancy Casey

When you have finished writing a page, always give the page a title, and make sure the date is on it somewhere.  You will be glad that you did.

Write the date on your page anywhere and anytime.  Some people like to include a signature or their initials with it.  The date is important.  Time will go by.  You will forget about writing many of your pages.  You will ask yourself, “When did I write that?”  You will be glad you put the date on it.

Put the title at the top and always write it last.

Even when you have a good idea for a title from the very beginning, don’t write it down at the top of the page until the writing is finished.  Somewhere along the way, you might think of a way to make your idea even better.

A lot of times when people write a page, they find that the writing falls into a pleasant flow after 5 or 10 lines.  Or 20.  Maybe an idea has come to mind, and along with it lots of explaining words.  Sometimes there is a rhythm, especially if the prompt has a part that repeats itself.

Somewhere in that flow, a crystal clear idea can pop up.  It might connect everything on the whole page. Or strike you as being really important.  Something might make you chuckle.  Or think that you are pretty smart.  That’s where the really fun titles come from.

I looked through some of my pages and found these two titles: Written on the Shadows of Leaves and After the Headache, Rocks. I couldn’t have thought up those titles before I wrote the pages.

Sometimes a title can hold a secret that only the writer understands. Let’s Take a Walk.

You can make up a title by thinking about what you wrote when you started, what you were writing by the end and ignoring everything in between. The Gift of Lint.

When you take an idea from the end of the page and use it for the title, the whole page can turn out to be more fun. What is Dog Nature?

Titles are easy.

Don’t agonize over you title! There’s no pressure to make sure your titles are amusing or insightful.  A title is a title.  You can’t write a bad one.  When you come up with an extra good one, enjoy it.

You’ll be glad.

After you’ve written a lot of pages, you won’t be able to remember all the surprises you planted among your pages with your titles.  Even if nobody but you ever reads this writing, you will like the surprises you left there for yourself.  You will ask yourself, “When did I write that?”  That’s why you make sure the date is on your page somewhere as well.

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Nancy blogs weekly for the Latah Recovery Community Center, sharing writing ideas that support self-awareness and self-esteem.


Looking for an art project that is secretly full of math? Or a math project that results in interesting art? Equilateral Triangle is an Inquiry Pack full of project ideas that will keep you thinking for a long time.


Writing classes and workshops

In-person Write-For-You workshops at the Latah Recovery Center have been suspended for a bit, but you can still do the writing prompts on your own. For more information, about the Write for You program, or if you are in recovery and interested in writing coaching, contact Nancy.


 

Let’s Talk About It

This is a program that supports reading and discussion in libraries throughout the state of Idaho.

Working with the Program Committee, I updated the theme The Humanity of Science and Technology.


Schedule of 2023-24 Let’s Talk About It sessions coming soon!


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