Julia Cameron's 'Morning Pages'
One of the most challenging aspects of being a creative person is facing a blank page.
There is nothing more intimidating.
The truth is, getting started is always the hardest part.
Once that initial friction has been overcome, you quickly find that you get into a flow and begin to lose track of time and emerge on the other side with the fruits of your creative labour.
An exercise that helps to remove resistance at the start is one that was devised and practised daily by the artist Julia Cameron.
She wrote about it in her seminal book The Artist’s Way which is well-worth reading if you want to understand more about the creative process.
She calls it ‘morning pages’ and it consists of writing down three pages of whatever comes to mind every morning.
The idea is not to criticise or to think too deeply about what it is you’re writing but just to get words down on a page.
Think of it as an unfiltered stream of consciousness that helps to warm up the mind.
Many successful writers, including Brian Koppelman who wrote the TV show Billions, found this exercise helpful when they were struggling with writer’s block.
Why not consider incorporating this practice in your morning routine and see what happens?
Be aware that a seismic shift might not happen immediately, so be patient.
However, after a few weeks, you’ll notice things beginning to change.
The work will flow more easily and you’ll feel yourself moving more lightly through the world.
And, you will have begun to overcome your fear of the blank page.
As well as Julia’s ‘morning pages’, you might also find these other exercises helpful:
1. David Bowie’s ‘Cut-up’ Technique
3. Mind Mapping
