Blackout poetry
Making a poem by blacking out most of a printed page with a marker
Take a page of newsprint, find the words worth keeping, black out everything else with a permanent marker. What survives reads as a poem. People who use it as a daily warm-up like that there is no blank page, only an editing problem, and that one page takes about fifteen minutes. Teachers run it in classrooms for the same reason.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Austin KleonDoes it
Writer and artist · Steal Like an Artist
Started making them in 2005, posted them to his blog, and turned them into a book in 2010. He points out that the method has a 250-year history he knew nothing about, and that blackout poetry now runs in classrooms and ad campaigns with no connection to him.
Source: AustinKleon.com: A brief history of my newspaper blackout poems
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under focus or productivity.
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Daily reading
A fixed daily reading block, usually books rather than feeds
On record from 25 of 62 tracked people: 23 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Early rising
A fixed, early wake time, often before anyone else is awake
On record from 11 of 62 tracked people: 10 do it, 1 has discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily writing
Write something every day, published or not
On record from 10 of 62 tracked people: 8 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Phone-free first hour
No email, news or social media until you have done something of your own
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Margin notes
Writing in the margins while reading, especially where you disagree with the author
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - HabitFREE, no cost
Thinking retreats
Blocks of time cleared of the schedule to sit with one hard problem
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 has discussed it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.