The Aritst’s Way by Julia CameronFor the last month and a half (I’m on Week 5 going on Week 6), I’ve been reading the Artist’s Way and working through the weekly exercises. My favorite central exercise/tool Cameron introduces/emphasises is the “Morning Pages”.
“The morning pages are three pages of stream-of-consciousness longhand morning writing. You should think of them not as "art" but as an active form of meditation for Westerners. In the morning pages we declare to the world—and ourselves—what we like, what we dislike, what we wish, what we hope, what we regret, and what we plan” -Julia Cameron FAQs
Or, in Cameron’s more simple explanation (and my favorite), Morning Pages are a “brain drain” where you can drain all the daily crap from your mind so you can concentrate on the more important and creative tasks/projects. Eventually, the daily dumping will expand into your creative endeavors, including prose, fiction, and poetry.
The Arist’s Way Official Website
Morning Pages Tips and Techniques
Writing Morning Pages
How can they aid you during NaNoWriMo?
- writing practice - stretching your writing muscles with daily exercise
- unblocking - working through any writer‘s block along the way
- working out problems & plot points
- interviewing characters
- character journals
- outlining scenes and plot
- writing really rough version of scenes & dialog
- or really anything you need them to be for 3 pages every morning
Even though it equals an extra half hour to hour of writing each day (unless you do choose to write your novel in the Morning Pages), its free time to productively work out the novel and organize your thoughts without the pressure of novel time. My favorite use for the time and page space is asking a lot of questions.
Later in Artist’s Way, Cameron suggests asking yourself questions the night before and allow all the possible answers to flow onto the Morning Pages the next morning.
I love the Morning Pages so much that I have become very protective of them to the point that I even resent any Artist’s Way exercise that requires you to use them. I highly recommend the Pages whether or not you’re doing NaNoWriMo but I believe they will add and enhance your NaNoWriMo experience.
1 comment:
I highly recommend The Artist's Way to my friends who are facing a "what do I do with my life?" existential crisis. I used AW to get me on my current path, and though I don't journal every morning, when things get sticky I turn to the pages. Helps every time.
Another resource I highly recommend is Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction by Laura Berman Fortgang. The book dovetails nicely with AW, providing concrete steps to figuring out what your "next" is. Big thumbs up.
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