According to the homepage of JuliaCameronLive, author of The Artist’s Way, “The bedrock tool of a creative recovery is a daily practice called Morning Pages.”
“Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages. They are not high art. They are not even writing. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind—and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand. Do not overthink Morning Pages. Just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.”
When my mother ended her chemo treatments during the height of Covid in 2020, at a time when New York State had closed my real estate practice by state order, I needed a place to release feelings/frustration/anxiety. I bought a fountain pen as a talisman, and a blank journal filled with high-quality paper.
Thus equipped, I began Morning Pages. I continued the practice for two years. I enjoyed writing with my fountain pen. The nib moving across the coated paper, the shading of the ink as it dried, gave me a simple controllable, detail to admire. I strove to slow down, concentrate on my curves, and actually cross every t. Many days it had to be squeezed in between shower and errands but I never missed: not when my mother died in 2021, not on the days we were vacinated, not when we packed up our NY life and moved south. The one constant, was my daily morning pages.
I was not seeking creativity. In fact, I didn’t even hope for it. When I began, I was in one of the least creative moments of my life and didn’t foresee a return to creative pursuits for several years to come. And when I stopped my practice, it was only because I had become such a creative writer—a full-time writer—that I was no longer willing to sacrifice the 30 minutes I spent on it.
As I’m prone to do, I was overzealous and added a Bullet Journal to my practice. This later blossomed into six separate journals (each with a different purpose.) This was too much. In Feb 2022, I dropped all my journals except my Morning pages until later in the year, when I shelved that daily practice because it cut into my novel-writing time. When I discovered I prefer writing early in the day, I wanted to replace the time I spent on Morning Pages, writing fiction.
Two and half years after completing my novel manuscript, I’m finding I miss my Morning Pages practice. It’s not the writing I miss, for I’m doing more of that than ever. I miss the way it helped clarify my days, reflect on the day before, process feelings, and generally, meditate on life. As I reflect on it, the practice seems like an idea generator—if not for fresh fiction, certainly for Substack content.
I am considering a return to a Morning Pages practice. I do attest that the three pages Julia Cameron suggests extract the mind’s distracting clutter successfully. I worry that fewer pages will not achieve the same result. This time, my plan is to commit to something less-demanding yet longer than just a daily blurb: three-quarters of a page of stream-of-consciousness writing and some tracking of activities I want to do with more intention. Things like date nights, pieces submitted for publication, completed creative writing pieces, calls to far-away friends, etc.
Since I experience, working the practice properly, for years at a time, I’m hoping I’ll be able to shorten the time commitment in this way and still have it work for me. We’ll see?
Do you currently practice Morning Pages? Have you kept the practice in the past? What worked for you? If you have never tried it, visit Julia Cameron’s website and see if it doesn’t intrigue you. My only added tip, beyond what Julia says, is to choose a pen and notebook you really like and to leave them where they cannot be avoided. I left them beside my breakfast spot.
PS If you are curious, that fountain pen in the stock photo above, I believe its a Lamy Safari. My talisman? A Pilot Prera.
I've never heard of morning pages, so I love how you've described something new to me and it sounds like such a beautiful practise. When I taught university students, I used to write journal prompts and we'd all write for 5-10 minutes in a journal and when I worked in marketing, I'd spend time writing in my journal before work, but I haven't journaled in a while now. However, I work a full-time corporate publishing/data analytics editorial job and I spend my mornings writing my novel, writing a 'chapter' of my Substack, and editing my Grandfather's memoir. I do love this idea, though, and maybe I can adopt it one day when I don't spend my spare time reading (other people's Substacks, novels), editing, or writing (my own stuff and for freelance clients).
Dear Marjorie
I had never heard of it until, once again, you taught me something new. Grateful as ever. Aliza