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How Morning Pages Transformed My Writing
And how you can get started with morning pages this afternoon
In the first creative writing class I took (Washtenaw Community College, 1986), the instructor told us to journal every morning when we wake up. Don’t worry about what we write about; just write.
I didn’t adopt this specific habit, but I did try to write in the morning, working on short stories and novels. None of that work amounted to much.
About thirty years later, I attended an online workshop (Corey Mandel’s Screenwriting) and he said roughly the same thing: journal every morning morning, free-writing on whatever. He further explained how important it was to tap into your subconscious. The best creativity is there beyond the curtain of consciousness, and we have to find a way to tap into it.
At last, I adopted the morning pages habit. It improved the quality of my writing, and the depth of my storytelling. Now I write morning pages every day, and turn to free-writing and journaling for my most reliable way to solve problems in my creative projects.
Morning pages have become my most consistent writing practice. They set my mood, build my writing skills, and give me hope. It’s a quiet, kind of secret thing I do for myself that makes each day better, and has helped me…
