If you’ve started the intro to The Artist’s Way, you’ve been introduced to the concept of morning pages: three handwritten, stream-of-consciousness pages.
One of our ongoing debates is “Do morning pages have to be done in the morning?”
No.
Over and over, Julia writes that there is no wrong way to do morning pages. Three pages, longhand, every day. Those are the rules.
How is writing morning pages different from journaling?
Morning pages are stream-of-consciousness. You’re not worrying about spelling, grammar, or punctuation. You’re just getting your thoughts on paper as quickly as possible. And morning pages aren’t written for posterity. Write them and toss them–or at least avoid looking at them.
So, what do you write about?
Start with whatever’s on your mind: your to-do list, the laundry you forgot in the dryer, a worry, memories from last night’s dream, how you feel, the weather, what you’re having for breakfast, things that are driving you crazy, something fun you want to do, your cat, your dog, a cool website you just found, TV, kids, travel, politics, sports, an idea for an Etsy store, crafts, gardening, holiday plans, how much you really need to go to the dentist but you don’t have time but wouldn’t it be great if there were traveling dentists with great painkillers? Or traveling vets? Yeah, vets who could come to your house to give the cat his vaccinations so you wouldn’t have to find him, wrestle him into the car, get clawed all the way there …
See? You show up with pen and paper, write all the random things on your mind, and soon all that mental noise fades away, and you start to have some pretty interesting ideas.
Just keep in mind that each day’s morning pages are like dates. Sometimes you’re just grateful they’re done! But sometimes you wind up with something that shows you possibilities you never dreamed of.
P.S. Don’t obsess about doing your morning pages the “right” way. Just grab a notebook, and start ASAP!
Yes, many times I am just grateful that they are done. But, I’ve gotten many great things from them too and I become more and more thankful for them each time I do them.
The part in the book about morning pages being like meditation really resonated with me. I’ve long wanted to meditation but sitting zazen has really always worked against me, it seems. I just can’t do it, can’t get any good from it. But, in just a short time, I’ve gotten a lot of good – a lot of meditative benefits – from morning pages.
Can’t wait to keep it up and get even more!
http://blissfullthinking.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/the-artists-way/
i blogged about the morning pages, too…
*michelle (blissfullthinking)!
[...] two main tools for The Artist’s Way are Morning Pages, which Rebecca has already gone into, and Artist’s [...]