Use Creative Morning Pages: One Way to Develop a Writing Habit

In 1994, author Julia Cameron wrote an amazing book called The Artist’s Way, and changed the lives of creatives, with the marvelous strategy she created: Morning Pages.

I read the book a year after it came out, and have been doing Morning Pages off an on, ever since — that’s almost two decades.

If you’re not au fait with Morning Pages, this article describes them, and the effect they had on the article writer’s life:

DOING "Morning Pages" FROM "THE ARTIST’S WAY" LED ME TO GET DIVORCED, LOSE 40 POUNDS AND REVITALIZE MY CAREER:

The main takeaway I got from the book was doing the damned Morning Pages. I started doing it in 2004. I was divorced, 40 pounds lighter, and in a dream job a year later.

What are Morning Pages? It is three pages of continuous stream-of-consciousness writing, unedited, without stopping, the very first thing in the morning. Not on a computer. Longhand. Three pages. Not four. Not two. Three.

It's fascinating to look back at the stressy, uncertain writing that went into my early pages. I AGONIZED over the smallest things. I could hardly concentrate. My mind flitted from anxiety to anxiety and concern to concern. But it was like starting to get in shape to do a marathon. I felt myself forcing my brain and my heart to look at what was inside me. Was I actually happy? What the hell was I? Just between me and the pages. No one else had to know.

Can Morning Pages change YOUR life? Since they're so easy to do, why not try? It takes me around 20 minutes to finish my Morning Pages each morning. They're the first thing I do, once I've made a cup of coffee, and have settled down at my computer. Once you get into the habit, you'll enjoy doing them.

Morning Pages are therapeutic; they're therapy for your writer's soul.

I do Morning Pages when my life isn’t going well
Although I can go for months, and sometimes years, without doing Morning Pages, the moment my life or my creativity starts to go down the drain I do them again. I do them because they work. They pull me out of whatever misery I'm in, and help me to get back to where I want to be.

I rarely go back and read Morning Pages. They're not meant to be "useful".

Here's a YouTube video of Julia Cameron talking about Morning Pages: http://youtu.be/EpDcrAVqIco

Exercise 16. Do Morning Pages for seven days.

Seven days is sufficient to give you the flavor of Morning Pages. If you can commit to them for 30 days however, you'll see enormous changes for the better in your writing and in your life.