Should You Be Writing Morning Pages?

What They Are (excerpts from The Artist’s Way)

• “Three pages of long hand writing, strictly stream of consciousness”
• “writing down what ever comes to mind”
• “nobody is allowed to read your morning pages, except you”
• “not supposed to sound smart”
• and they should be done shortly after awakening

What’s The Point?

To me, what we are trying to do is to practice writing and thinking without our ideas being censored by anyone, including ourselves. For most people, this is not natural. Through free writing, with no time to edit or even really think, we are hoping to evade our Creative Censor.

Others have pointed out that Morning Pages give them a chance to empty their mind of all of the clutter and other thoughts in their head so that they can focus on what is important for the upcoming day.

Still others have pointed out that the act of writing provides benefits similar to meditation, making them less anxious about whatever challenges lie ahead.

FAQ’s

• Why do they have to be 3 pages?
  • The idea is similar to brainstorming activities. The first ideas, or words, are the easy or the obvious ones. By continue to write, or think, you might uncover thoughts, emotions, or ideas that were deeply hidden, even to you.
  • Full disclosure. My most recently completed Morning Pages notebook used B5 paper and had a 5 mm grid pattern. I reduced my daily goal to 2 pages (shhh–don’t tell anyone‼)
• What size paper should I use?
  • There is no prescription here. Some people see the 3 page limit as rigid, and thus a smaller page size might make this easier to do.
• Can I type them into my computer?
  • Sure. There are already some apps and websites that claim to be formatted for Morning Pages. However, as mentioned elsewhere in this blog, there can be psychological benefits to handwriting.
• My handwriting is terrible. Sometimes I misspell words, or I don’t make coherent sentences.
  • Doesn’t matter. These are for your eyes only.
• Can I write, or doodle, or sketch?
  • Sure.
• What if I miss a day?
  • No problem
• What if I don’t know what to write about?
  • Just keep writing something like “I don’t know what to write about”, over and over. Something different will probably pop into mind.

Is This a New Idea?

No, Julia Cameron’s book was published in 1992

Prior to this, in 1973, Peter Elbow wrote a book called “Writing Without Teachers” where he discussed some of the benefits of regular 10 minute free writing sessions. Here’s a quote from his book.

The most effective way I know to improve your writing is to do freewriting exercises
regularly. At least three times a week. They are sometimes called “automatic writing,”
“babbling,” or “jabbering” exercises. The idea is simply to write for ten minutes (later on,
perhaps fifteen or twenty). Don’t stop for anything. Go quickly without rushing. Never
stop to look back, to cross something out, to wonder how to spell something, to wonder
what word or thought to use, or to think about what you are doing. If you can’t think of
a word or a spelling, just use a squiggle or else write “I can’t think what to say, I can’t
think what to say” as many times as you want; or repeat the last word you wrote over
and over again; or anything else. The only requirement is that you never stop.

Prior to Peter Elbow, when I was in the 5th or 6th grade our English teacher had us do periodic “free writing exercises” in class. The rules were the same-keep your hand moving, and if you can’t think of anything to write, just keep writing “I can’t think of anything to write.”

Some Personal Notes

I’ve been doing these off and on for at least the past 20 years. I find that I’m mindful and on a regular schedule for a few months at a time, and then I need to step away from them for a bit.

99 % of what I’ve written is not even worth revisiting. My favorite moment though is one morning I gave myself an assignment to brain storm 50 uses for water. I quickly thought of “to quench my thirst”, “extinguish a fire”, and “help my plants grow”. Towards the end of my Morning Pages session I wrote.

“To kill a witch”

I like that.