Psst. I have a neat little trick for you to try. You ready? It’s called Morning Pages.
What are Morning Pages? They are sitting down every morning and filling three notebook pages or 750 word document of a steady stream of thought. Your mind will wonder, just let your pen or keys follow. You may be upset about something someone said to you, or a critique you felt was a little too harsh, or you may just remember you need to buy cat food. Your mind might wonder over to a certain part of you novel that was giving you grief. Just let it all flow out. You can write “I don’t know what to write,” until you finally start pouring out all these things you have been holding back.
Morning Pages are a way to get the juices flowing. They are a place to pour out your thoughts, your ideas, your junk, and your treasures. It’s a great jump start to your day. We carry a lot of clutter in our heads, and as writers that can be quite a burden. It can be hard for us to sit down and get creative when we are bogged down by all the daily crud. Morning Pages helps tidy that crud.
I notice I’m normally in a much more pleasant mood when I am doing morning pages on a daily basis. It’s to the point that my family and friends know when I have done them, and when I have skipped them. I tend to whine a paragraph or two before I move on to what I want to do that day, and from there I get into what I would like to happen in my WIP. Morning Pages often have a way of telling you how you can solve your own problems.
Although MP’s are meant to be three pages long hand in a journal or notebook of your choosing, I find it easier to type. I keep a Scrivener Project called Journal where I keep a folder for MP’s and a folder for my writing journal. At the end of the week I print out my MP’s and put them in a binder that holds every MP I’ve ever done.
You could also go to 750words.com and unload yourself there. Not only do you get a nice email reminder, but when you are done you can review what your mood was, what words you used most, how long it took you to write, and words per minute. I recommend then copy and pasting into a word doc.
I owe a lot of breakthroughs to MP’s. Most of my best ideas comes from dreams, and it’s nice to get up in the morning and get them written out before they slip away from me.
Morning Pages are a very useful tool to add to your writer’s toolbox.
Amy McBay is a proud military wife, a devoted mother of a beautiful daughter and adorable son, pack Alpha to two loving dog companions, and servant to an amorous cat. Her world is full of werewolves, pixies, dragons, angels, demons, ghosts, and vampires.
Journaling is a great technique. If I can't seem to get into my characters head, I switch gears and journal about anything. I like the morning pages idea.
ReplyDeleteI did morning pages when I was doing The Artist's Way. I don't do them daily, like you do, but I do them when I'm stuck. But after reading this I'm thinking I might like to try again! Thanks Amy!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try this out, at least when I'm stuck. It's hard for me to find time in the morning... The Mr. wakes up whenever I do, and he likes attention in the morning. haha But I've been wanting to get back to journaling anyhow, so maybe I should try it in the morning!
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