Abstract
Morning pages are three handwritten pages of whatever comes into your head, written first thing in the morning. Julia Cameron introduced them in The Artist's Way to help people get past their inner critic. You write down whatever is there, including complaints and half-finished thoughts, and there's no wrong way to do it.
The pages aren't meant to be good, and nobody is meant to read them. The point is to get the noise out of your head and onto paper before the day starts. A lot of people find the first page is mostly clutter and something useful shows up by the third.
Method
- 01
Write first thing
Before you check your phone, while your mind is still slow.
- 02
Fill three pages
That's about 750 words. Keep the pen moving, and if nothing comes, write that nothing is coming.
- 03
Don't edit
Spelling and grammar don't matter, and it doesn't need to make sense. Nobody's going to read it.
- 04
Leave them alone for a while
Don't reread the pages for a few weeks. Rereading early tends to bring the critic back.
- 05
Do it every day
The benefit builds up over weeks. One morning won't tell you much.
When to use it
- Your head feels crowded and you can't settle into focused work.
- You're stuck on creative work and keep judging ideas before they've formed.
- The same worries keep going round and you want to see them on paper.
Common pitfalls
- Writing for an imagined reader. Once the pages have to be good, they stop helping.
- Rereading and analysing them every day.
- Skipping the days when you have nothing to say. Those often turn out to be the useful ones.
- Treating it as a diary of what happened. The aim is to clear your head, so write whatever's in it.
Origin and references
Attributed to Julia Cameron (1992).
- Cameron, J. (1992). The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Tarcher/Putnam.