Disclaimer: I write this not to impugn "Morning Pages," but to entertain and to follow the premise of morning pages which is stream of consciousness writing.
I heard of the Concept of Morning Pages, conceived of by Julia Cameron, awhile back, say more than a year. No matter. "Morning Pages" is one of the tools in a book/course, "The Artist's Way", developed by Cameron to help unblock stymied writers and unleashed our creative juices/abilities.
Recently, (last week) I came across a reference to this technique in which the author, not Cameron, stated that to be of maximal benefit one should do their "Morning Pages" immediately upon awaking, before any of the day's activities. BTW, "Morning Pages" consists of three (3) handwritten pages of free form stream of consciousness writing. Think about that for a minute.
Yesterday morning I started. The following is the 1/2 page I was able to complete:
The premise, no, dictum, of "morning Pages" is to hand write 3 pages of stream of consciousness writing first thing upon awakening. Come on folks, let's get real here. First of all the stimulus that wakes me in the morning is my bladder. It's essential that the first thing I do in the morning is get out of bed, followed immediately by padding to the toilet; thank God we put in that upstairs toilet! Then to sit upon said throne and empty my bladder. I used to stand to accomplish that task, but these days my bladder empties so slowly that my legs start trembling if I stand still for that long.
The next chore is to feed the cat. Who, by the way, was in the bed with me and the first thing I am conscious of when awakening is the cat's nose, less than an inch from mine, as he awaits the opening my eyes. He barely tolerates my toilet ablutions, weaving in and out between my legs, all the while meowing reminders that I haven't fed him yet.
Therefore, if I were to write my 3 pages immediately upon awakening, I would be sitting in a sopping wet bed with a soon to be irate and yowling feline; at the least. Doesn't seem to be the most conducive milieu for creative writing, now does it?
Labels: "Morning Pages"
posted by rel at 4:55 AM
2 Comments:
I think I've written pages of what I termed 'verbal diarrhoea' in my time - usually when a new pen needed 'breaking in' until it 'felt right'. But the writing soon developed into advice from what I used to think of as my 'higher mind', and often gave me much to think about, although it was not exactly a direct help with writing poetry. But who's to say it hasn't made a lasting impression in my thinking, nevertheless..
Ha! That's great. What a fun idea. Your cat sounds like as big of a pain in the ass as mine.
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