How Morning Pages Saved My Life

Posted by Justine Tal Goldberg in Dear WBN      6 comments

Aug
19

I was curious about Justine’s statement that morning pages changed her life. I would like to hear more.

Jeff Q.

Austin

 

Morning pages are the invention of one Julia Cameron, author of the well-known creative recovery program explicated in The Artist’s Way. They are “the primary tool of creative recovery” in a program that seeks to unblock blocked artists. In short and in Cameron’s own words, morning pages are:

“Three pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness: “Oh, god, another morning. I have NOTHING to say. I need to wash the curtains. Did I get my laundry yesterday? Blah, blah, blah . . .” They might also, more ingloriously, be called brain drain, since that is one of their main functions.

There is no wrong way to do morning pages. These daily morning meanderings are not meant to be art. Or even writing. … Pages are meant to be, simply, the act of moving the hand across the page and writing down whatever comes to mind. Nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be included. … Just write three pages . . . and write three more pages the next day.”

Sound pointless and self-indulgent? That’s what I thought, too, until a marvelous thing happened: I got desperate enough to try.

Since my disaster of a thesis defense—a hideous story for another time—I had developed some nasty creative habits. It’s a complicated business, writer’s block, but suffice to say that I was a.) not writing, and b.) excusing myself with the self-destructive conviction that I was simply too busy—running a business, loving my boyfriend (hi, honey), chasing my sanity, washing my hair, relacing my tennis shoes—and my artist self was starving. I was feeling bad 99.9% of the time, disappointed in myself for ignoring the powerful instinct to write that has gripped me since childhood (oy, and oy again).

I’ve been committed to morning pages for several months now, and am happy to report that I have successfully overcome my creative funk. After weeks of prescribed brain drain, I’m now comfortable enough with the process to make the morning pages my own. Sometimes I brain drain; sometimes I brainstorm; sometimes I write fiction; sometimes I do all of the above. I’m writing for an hour every morning and—wouldn’t you know it—the world hasn’t crumbled. So I start my work at 9 instead of 8. Big deal. It’s a small price to pay for the incredibly rewarding feeling that comes with making good on the promises I’ve made to myself.

 

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6 Comments to “How Morning Pages Saved My Life”

• August 19, 2011 at 9:47 pm
  Dan Hays says:

  I agree Justine, in the value of morning pages. I’m not doing them currently, but after working The Artist’s Way process, I did them faithfully for a long time. I’d find that the first couple of pages were “what’s on top” but by the third page I’d get down to what was really going on for me. The morning pages helped me stay tuned in to my creative self. I found the whole Artist’s Way experience just what you described – a “creative recovery program.”

  I’m now writing a memoir about overcoming a writer’s block with a deep origin, and I credit morning pages with helping free me from that “lockup.”
  Dan

  Reply
  • August 20, 2011 at 11:22 am
    Justine says:

    I have the same experience: by the third page, things really start to heat up. I believe Cameron makes that prediction. She really knows her stuff.

    Your memoir sounds interesting, Dan. I hope WriteByNight will have the opportunity to read your work sometime soon.

    Reply
• August 19, 2011 at 10:39 pm
  Dewey D says:

  Justine,
  What a great idea, especially for a beginner like me. I will pass this information on too some friends of mine. They are working on doing some simple writing too.
  I will see you sometime next month.

  Dewey D

  Reply
  • August 20, 2011 at 11:24 am
    Justine says:

    Yes, please do. Spread the Artist’s Way gospel! The power of morning pages is quite astounding. We’d love to hear from you and your friends once you’ve given it a shot.

    Reply
• November 21, 2011 at 8:02 am
  The (First Draft) Hangover « « WriteByNight │ write better, right now │ writing center and writers service in Austin, Texas WriteByNight │ write better, right now │ writing center and writers service in Austin, Texas says:

  [...] kind you got while school supply shopping back in grade school. It’s a lot like Morning Pages, except I turn to it when I’m in the middle of reworking a manuscript. I use my black book to [...]

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• December 15, 2011 at 8:04 am
  Exploring the Artist’s Way « « WriteByNight │ write better, right now │ writing center and writers service in Austin, Texas WriteByNight │ write better, right now │ writing center and writers service in Austin, Texas says:

  [...] conversations with people interested in creativity.  I shared how working through that book–morning pages, artist’s dates, and the exercises throughout, had greatly expanded my concept of myself as a [...]

  Reply