Daily Pages
Aug 27th, 2007 by lisa
Years ago I used a book called The Artist’s Way to help me got over a serious creative block. It’s a great book and I recommend it to anyone who needs a bit of helping coaxing their creative energies out of hiding.
One of the exercises that is in the book is something called Morning Pages. First thing in the morning you write three pages of whatever pops into your mind, longhand, every morning without fail. The idea is to clear your mind of all that junk that you carry around without even realizing it. The worries, the chores, the deadlines, essentially all the stuff that keeps the creative impulses from getting through. It works. Although I don’t do Morning Pages anymore, I have started doing something similar that has been very helpful.
I have so many things to do every day, so many projects that need my attention, that I can find myself sitting and staring at the computer screen, out the window, or just ‘into space’ and not getting anything done. Or I start one project and get completely distracted by another one and lose focus and momentum.
So what I do now is grab a small notebook and keep it close throughout the day. When something pops into my head I write it down. If I get an idea for a project, or for starting a new project I write that down. I make quick schedules for the day or the week of things that need to be done. I plan the week’s menu, or my projects for the day. I write down things that need to be done before other things can be done. I write down information that’s needed and where it might be found. You get the idea? It’s sort of a ‘brain-drain’ just like the Morning Pages are meant to be. But it’s ongoing and there’s no set time frame or limit. At first it seemed a bit overwhelming, because I simply had a mass of notes that needed sorting through, but as I’ve continued it’s more or less organizing itself into some semblance of a system.
Needless to say I never go anywhere without my notebook now.
I’m certainly still not the most organized person in the world, but at least I’m not trying to carry nine-million different thought-bits in my head anymore, which gave me a headache and made me unproductive. I still resist schedules and structure (my signature personality flaw), but I can hang on to my little notebook like an anchor in my own personal storm and not get completely blown off course.
What a wonderful idea! I did morning pages for a while too and agree, they worked beautifully. These days I feel as if I’m spinning my wheels most of the time. I use index cards here at my desk as I’m working on things, but had never thought about keeping a notebook. I think I have one laying around somewhere.
I just started reading “Creating a Life Worth Living” by Carol Lloyd. She helps people who are creative and driven to live a life that revolves around their creative pursuits and passions to make a living. It’s a 12 week program. I’m still in the introduction, but she said something that made me realize… she gets it::
“… This book draws from such writings but attempts a very different task: to apply the artistic process to building a career. It doesn’t assume much about you or your beliefs. It doesn’t assume you need a dose of rah-rah, go-get-’em positive thinking or, on the other hand, a rigid authoritative diet of tasks and laws. I also doesn’t assume you buy into therapeutic definitions or religious doctrines. It is with the utmost respect for my readers that I embark on this book with a solemn vow to avoid psychobabble, prescriptive bromides, and sacrosanct euphemisms.”
I’m very excited to get started! Reading your post today has me excited too. I found some very good advice here! Thank you.