“Morning pages” is the term coined by Julia Cameron in her work The Artist’s Way used to describe the habit of sitting down to write three pages in longhand at the top of each day.
In this article, I’ll go over what you would fill those three morning pages with, the benefit to this practice, and I’ll give you a Story Weapon to see if this method would be right for you.
Morning pages are a daily practice of writing three handwritten, stream-of-consciousness pages each morning to clear mental clutter, reduce anxiety, and reconnect with your subconscious creativity. The habit builds discipline, quiets the inner critic, and helps you show up to write consistently, even without inspiration.
Filling three pages
Especially when you first start the practice, the three-page standard seems daunting. It’s rare to have any coherent thoughts first thing in the morning, much less three pages worth of material. That’s okay. This method is designed around that.
The three pages you jot down don’t need to be related to something you’re writing or some sort of profound truths that you’ll share with people later. Quite the opposite, actually.
Morning pages are meant to be stream-of-consciousness, to be written once and forgotten. Sure, you can revisit them if you like. The goal of writing faster than your inner critic can think is part of the point here.
Your handwriting might be sloppy or even illegible. You might ramble around about the lack of sleep you got or an annoying thing you have to deal with later in the day. You might write a bunch of gibberish. That’s totally fine. By building the habit of filling out three pages and not being so precious with what you write, you’ll find that there are surprising things buried in the rubble.
You might also be encouraged by the freedom of having no audience, no reader, no spectator to the things you write at all. You could end up spinning out poems and just seeing how it feels to rhyme words. Maybe there’s a sketch of that thing in your dream or a shopping list for later in the day.
“Nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be included.”
– Julia Cameron
Whatever you end up writing, the only rule Cameron suggests following is to stop the “mental dreck” at three pages. Rush through it like an assignment from school and don’t worry about the grade.
Why do morning pages?
Clear your head
It’s easy to get up on the wrong side of the bed. There’s an alarm going off, you’re dehydrated, and you already have an inbox full of assignments.
We usually end up turning to our phones or the internet too quickly. Morning pages are a great way to protect your silence and start the day with a more stable sort of energy. It’s just you and the page. By protecting the energy you have at the start of the day, you’ll bring a softer energy to the work you do.
Lower anxiety
That softer energy can be a balm for our universal human habit of existing in a state of anxiety. There’s always the next thing to do and worry about. Our habits tend to support that state of consciousness.
By starting with pen and paper, you’ll find a place to jot down the things that are bothering you without judging yourself.
There’s a frantic level of awareness at the surface of our minds; we tend to focus on the bubbles that rise up. By word-vomiting at the top of each day, you can get all those things out of your system and start to live in a deeper place.
“Morning Pages may hold insights and intuitions that startle you. Typically, they puncture denial.”
– Julia Cameron
Connect with your subconscious
If our conscious minds are the rulers of the day, the subconscious has a claim to the realm of night. As a writer, you’re deeply tied to the latter of the two. Part of writing is bringing to light the stuff of dreams, which are otherwise murky, mysterious, and without structure. To do that, you need to be pretty good friends with the shadow parts of yourself.
At the start of the day, you’re less influenced and distracted by the mundane (but important) aspects of existence. Morning pages are a great way to open the dialogue with the author in you that writes not books, but dreams.
When we have creative ideas, they marinate in the subconscious for a while before they pop up to the surface of our waking minds. By getting used to writing in that hazy half-asleep state, you get used to the rhythm of your subconscious. That rhythm is unique to you.
Learn to walk uphill
There’s a lot to be learned from the case of Brian Scalabrine, otherwise known as the White Mamba. During his tenure in the NBA, Scalabrine saw limited playing time and found himself the subject of a lot of online criticism. In response to the claims from fans that they could beat him in a game of basketball, he partnered with a charity and put on a clinic. He handily beat a host of street players and amateurs; it wasn’t even close. His quote at the end of the show: “I’m closer to Lebron than you are to me.”
What does this have to do with writing? Well, part of Scalabrine’s point is that even the most gifted amateurs lack a habit that any professional has mastered. That habit is to play even when you don’t want to.
Professional writers and basketball players show up when they’re sick, annoyed, distracted, and bereft of inspiration. The muscle that builds is indisputable. As you work to improve your own craft, morning pages are a great way to learn that there’s good writing to be had even when you don’t have inspiration. The fallacy is that great writers hear inspiration and dash to the page. The truth for most professional writers is that the work comes first and inspiration shows up at random.
Your story weapon: Taking out the garbage
As Julia Cameron says, “Morning pages are a way of taking out the garbage . . . a way of clearing the mind.”
Some people recommend writing a thousand words a day, others have different habits to get themselves to the page. The only way to know for sure if morning pages work for you is to try it. My advice: give it at least a week before you make any decisions. If we gave up on exercising after two workouts, we’d never get anywhere. It takes time to build a new habit and see the benefits.
Anthony Bourdain once said: “I understand there’s a guy inside me who wants to lay in bed, smoke weed all day, and watch cartoons and old movies. My whole life is a series of stratagems to avoid, and outwit, that guy.” Morning pages might be your stratagem to success.
Remember that as writers, we are not the author but the channel. Morning pages are one of the best and fastest ways that I know of to keep the channel clear.
Even if you’re only writing 100 words a day, that’s enough to take part in my Writing Challenge where you could win a writing retreat in Tuscany or other prizes! Join in and build a daily writing habit this year.
