Morning Pages: A New (to me) Writing Exercise
What are morning pages?
Before joining Writer Twitter I had never heard the term “morning pages.” Being the new kid on the block, it felt like everyone was invited to the cool kids club as I watched from the sidelines. I kept wondering, “What are morning pages? Am I missing something? Are people gonna laugh at me for not knowing?”
Of course, that was all in my head.
Morning pages, from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist Way, are simply a daily writing exercise. They are three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing you do in the morning. (watch a short video here.) According to Cameron, morning pages are a way to let out any negative thinking that is blocking your creative flow. In her video, she mentions how she often wakes up grumpy so she’ll write that into her pages which helps quiet that negative voice and frees up her mind to focus on writing.
I was instantly on board.
I had been looking for writing exercises to work into my routine and help me build a better writing habit. I wanted to work on my creative hang-ups like thinking I’m not good enough or that no one will ever want to read what I write. I often have trouble focusing on my writing and can get easily distracted. Who doesn’t, especially when we have things like Twitter, TikTok, or Netflix constantly calling our names? Morning pages are supposed to help get all of that noise out of your head and help you zero in on what’s important.
As of writing this post, I’ve only written two days’ worth but if they’re as beneficial as they seem, I can’t wait to see how those benefits pay off especially when it comes to my writing goals.
If you want to learn more about morning pages I recommend the video linked above or this post by Shelby Abrahamsen of Little Coffee Fox. She breaks down what she likes about morning pages and has a great video with tips for getting started.
I’d love to hear how morning pages have benefited you or if you’ve never done them, feel free to follow along on my journey! I plan on posting updates monthly here on my blog or you can follow me on twitter.
Until next time!
Keep writing,
Ilona
