Writing Morning Pages: A Beginner’s Guide

In his acclaimed book The artist’s pathJulia Cameron recommends filling three pages with mindful handwriting every morning as a tool to unleash your innate creativity. She has decided to incorporate morning page writing into her busy life. Good for you! Here are some suggestions to help you turn her good intentions into consistent practice.

First, choose your writing materials carefully. You can write in a bound notebook or journal, perhaps one you’ve chosen especially for this purpose, or you can choose to write on loose sheets and collect your pages in a binder. You can choose unlined or lined paper. If you go with stripes, you can choose between narrow or wide stripes. Wherever you put your pen down each morning, it should greet you and make you feel comfortable. Speaking of your pen, take the time to find one that feels comfortable in your grip and flows across the page. Again, pay attention to your personal ink color preferences, whether it’s fine or medium point, and other unique features. When you sit down to write your morning pages, you want to have your chosen materials close at hand without having to think about them at the time.

Where you write is another important consideration. You need to find or create a space in your home where you can spend a period of time writing each morning, without interruption. It has to be a place where you feel comfortable and where you can focus, free from distractions. Your thoughts won’t flow freely if you have a cluttered inbox, a pile of laundry, a long to-do list, or the like at your fingertips. Ideally, you can designate a quiet spot in your home that you will go to each day to write your morning pages. Make sure it is equipped with a place to sit, a surface to write on, good lighting (natural or not), and your chosen writing materials.

Now that you have your tools and a place to use them, it’s time to create a little ritual around your morning writing practice. The idea is to start writing first thing in the morning. If you get up and go straight to the computer to check your email or start doing things around the house, it’s very easy to run out of time and never sit down to read your pages. Prioritize your writing by doing it first. If you do something before you get into writing, make sure it’s only what you need to do to take care of your physical needs or enhance your experience. I tend to wake up hungry and thirsty, so I use the bathroom and then head to the kitchen for a banana and a glass of water before I go to my special place to write. Once these basic needs are met, my mind is free to go where it wants. You can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee while you write your pages. You may need to take the dog out before you can start. Have a routine, whatever it is. That way, on mornings when you didn’t sleep well and have to drag yourself through your routine, it will be automatic.

You’ve taken the first step in adopting a new habit by deciding that it’s something you want to do. By following the suggestions above, you can establish a daily practice around your morning pages. I invite you to read more of my Ezine articles on how to write Morning Pages.

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