Sunday, January 9, 2011

Morning Pages

I was scheduled to present the education session at our local RWA meeting today on: Empowering the Writer - Motivation, Inspiration, Perspiration. However, we're snowed in as you can see by the photo of my front porch, so it will be postponed to some later date. The topic is ideally suited to the beginning of January when we make fresh starts, and big goals. I'm glad I prepared the presentation because it was a thoughtful exercise that made me think about different attitudes and habits and - oh yes, excuses. I got a lot out of the session myself.

A technique I planned to talk about in the "inspiration" section was Morning Pages, one of the tools Julia Cameron advocates in her books on creativity. Morning pages are three hand written stream of consciousness pages written every morning upon waking. These pages say exactly who you are in the here and now and according to Cameron, the bedrock of creative recovery. I've read about morning pages before but never seriously considered doing them myself. I've never even kept a journal and this felt very  much like the same thing. Then I wondered what I was afraid of? So, starting tomorrow morning I plan to  write Morning Pages.

Now I need to go and shovel the driveway for the second time today.

9 comments:

Rachael Johns said...

Ooh Morning pages! sounds interesting. PLEASE update us on your progress :)

Unknown said...

Kate Walker's 12 Pt. Guide you won....pls resend your address bevcause they/we can't find it so that you can receive your prize. Thanks. seattlesnoops at aol dot com Pls put in the subject line 12 Pt. Guide

Unknown said...

I'm a huge Julia Cameron fan. 15 or so years ago I picked up her Artist's Way and worked the whole book. It's awesome.

Recently I picked up a couple others. One a sequel about persistence. The other is The Sound Of Paper about "the soul work artists must do to find inspiration."

And if you want inspiration read her The Right to Write. It's my bathtub book.

I haven't done Morning Pages for years, but it's an excellent tool.

Right now (in addition to all the other stuff I get into) I'm working (slowly) Laura Day's The Circle, how the power of a single wish can change your life.

Yeah, I'm a self-help junkie.

Good luck with the MP's. Keep us informed.

Unknown said...

I've read that book - I think I bought it years ago, and tried the morning pages. I think it's a neat exercise, although I admit as to not doing it long enough to tell. When my kids are older and I get that time back in the morning, I might try it again.

I hope we get to have that presentation next month! I was looking forward to it!

Unknown said...

Rachael, I'm a little concerned about the amount of time they take since I'm always rushing in the morning. Hope I can make it work.

Unknown said...

Marilyn, can't wait to get Kate Walker's book. Thank-you.

Unknown said...

Cat, thanks for the recommendations. Laura Day has a book called How to Rule the World from your Couch LOL Sounds like my kind of self-help.

Unknown said...

Michelle, I don't know when I'll be doing the session but it won't be within the next couple of months since the speakers are already booked for those meetings.

Jennie Marsland said...

Sounds like a good idea, Anne. Let us know how it works!