You’ve heard of Morning Pages and wondering how to write them?
Hold on to your pens, writers. I’m about to set a bomb under the practices of thousands of writers the world over, stir things up, and potentially upset some creative souls……
Are you ready?
Let’s talk about NOT writing Morning Pages.
What Are Morning Pages?
Morning Pages is a practice prescribed in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The Artist’s Way is a wonderful book, and mandatory reading for anyone setting out on a creative path or anyone who has lost their way in their creative journey. It teaches reconnection with the Creative Spirit and reinvigoration of creative practice and intention.
Along with elements like the artist’s date, Julia Cameron states writing morning pages are a fundamental practice if you want to live a creative and connected life.
It’s a simple task. As soon as you wake up in the morning, freewrite three pages by hand, stream of consciousness. It should take about twenty minutes. Write about anything and everything as it occurs to you. The purpose is that, before your day begins, you’ve cleared out any mental clutter, addressed any niggles that could distract your focus throughout the day, and given your creative soul a shot of caffeine.
Sounds great, right?
Those who practice Morning Pages do so with reverence and ritual, swearing by their benefit as a key to the successes that writers strive for. Entrepreneurial creative lifestyle guru, Tim Ferris swears by morning pages as one of his key tools for success, a part of his iron clad morning routine.
I’ve been working on Morning Pages on and off for about ten years. I understand their benefit and I want those rewards in my creative practice. Focus, intention, habitual writing, clear headspace, I strive for all of the above – all writers do. But it’s only recently I came to a truth I believe I’ve known intuitively for a long time…
Here comes my explosive cat amongst the pigeons (no pigeons were harmed in the writing of this blog post)……..
I don’t enjoy doing Morning Pages.
I don’t want to do Morning Pages.
You don’t need to do Morning Pages.
At this stage of my creative life and I’m feeling comfortable and confident in my processes and self, I’m ready to say that Morning Pages aren’t for me, and then move on.
Why I Don’t Like Morning Pages
I don’t like Morning Pages because, at this phase of my life, they feel unnatural for me. I swear, I’ve tried.
Sure, sometimes these things can take some time for us to get used to, to see any benefits, and the benefits are actualized in the continued practice. Not this time for me. The first time I read The Artist’s Way, I dedicated myself to the practice and worked at my Morning Pages for months, every single day, just as the program prescribes.
After that, I’ve tried it on and off again, always thinking that perhaps I was doing it wrong, or that I just needed to give it more chance, or that perhaps being in a different stage of life might help.
Nope.
Morning pages feel like a chore.
I am a morning writer. I LOVE writing in the morning and do my best work as soon as I wake up. But that best work isn’t freewriting journaling. It’s writing fiction or non-fiction and I’ve written about it here.
In that chore state, I feel blocked. There is no creative flow, and doing something I don’t really enjoy doing first thing in the morning is not a great way to start the day.
I find it inhibits my creative flow for the day.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy journaling. I swear by the practice of freewriting and journaling and prescribe it as a compulsory exercise for most writers. I am not myself without journaling, it’s a part of my creative process and a part of my whole life.
It’s the morning part of Morning Pages I have the issue with.
If I had a more flexible morning, I think I might like Morning Pages.
So, while I wait for my kids to grow into teens who never get out of bed before 11am….
I write Night Pages.
What are Night Pages?
Night Pages are Morning Pages but you write them at night (obvs!)
The idea is the same, but in reverse. For a set time in the evening, preferably just before you go to bed, freewrite by hand for about twenty minutes, or three-ish pages.
I have a set nightly routine, that sees me turning everything off, making my bed, having a hot shower, and getting into my crisp clean bed, settling in with my journal, freewriting for a bit on whatever, reading fiction, then sleeping.
Sometimes I write about work, other times I wrote about my kids or relationships, health, beliefs, world affairs, anything as it comes. Just like Morning Pages prescribe.
I rarely journal at any other time of the day.
Cameron states that Morning Pages shouldn’t be done at night, as writing at night tends to promote more of a reflection on the day’s events. Personally, I don’t see why Morning Pages could not be the same if that’s the way a person’s freewriting goes. It’s free, after all.
It’s curious that Night Pages work so well for me, given I cannot do any other type of writing at night. There are times when I have tried to be a “Night Writer”, seasons in my life where early morning writing doesn’t fit around everything else. Night for writing formal fiction or non-fiction for my process is a chore and blocks me, taking all the joy out of writing. What’s the point of living the author life if there’s no joy?! Freewriting at night, on the other hand, is a joy. It works and; I believe has distinct advantages that Morning Pages don’t have.
Benefits of Night Pages
Clear The Mind For Better Sleep
Just like with Morning Pages, Night Pages are a way of emptying the mind. Since I’m not dwelling on things after a journaling session, the mental gears can slow to a pause, promoting restful sleep.
Engage the Subconscious
I’m not lazy as such, but I do like things to happen with little effort on my part. This is why I love systems and routines so much. Thinking and mental processing is no different, and I rely on the work of my subconscious to do a lot of the heavy lifting for me. It’s like thinking things through without actually working! By writing at night, I feel like I’m giving my subconscious a chance to work on whatever problems I have, to work out how I feel and what I think about different things. This doesn’t happen with Morning Pages.
Frees Up the Morning Time For Work Writing
I’m a morning writer, but with young children, my writing time is limited. When I come to the page in the morning, I’m clear and ready to use that rejuvenated morning hour for my actual writing work, not my personal journal.
You don’t HAVE to do Morning Pages in the morning, if it doesn’t work for you. Nor do you have to journal in the night. Or…. While it pains me to say, you don’t have to journal at all, if it’s not part of your process. What works for your process is so much of what The Creative Writing Life is all about.
How do you know if it’ll work for your process? You try it and see if it’s a good fit.
