I believe that Julia Cameron used the term archaeology in The Artist's Way about finding things in your past that hampered your creativity. I also remember the concept of mining your journals. A few weeks ago, I wrote that I found a box of things to go to Goodwill. I also found a small duffel bag of notebooks. I had previously found a matching bag (both giveaways from an Arizona Diamondbacks/Atlanta Braves game that Jeff and I attended back in 1998) with stories and pieces of novels that I had written. I had skimmed through those notebooks, tossed a few, but kept those with things that I thought I could use.
In the latest bag, I found some journals of morning pages, as well as notebooks from various retreats and courses. I found some old poems that I typed up (including Ode to a Nike Commercial or Why I Love Tom Glavine.) I also found some phrases in exercises that I used to write poems. One was: the arm around my waist became a chain.
I've gone through over half of the notebooks. Some, I tossed outright. Some, I threw away pages and now have smaller notebooks. I'll type up some poems or use found phrases to generate new poems.
A few things are consistent in my pages. There is never enough time. Which means I have to find, make the time. I also need other writers around me--retreats have inspired and supported me. I guess my class gives me some support. I need to find more.
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