morning pages

I was reminded yesterday of The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I first posted about it over a year ago, and it's interesting looking back on the results.

I kept up the task of morning pages for a couple of months, which is longer than I expected, and I did feel better for it in all sorts of ways. The remembering of dreams didn't continue, but I've recently started doing that again anyway.

Occasionally I tried to write morning pages after driving up the M6 to college, but it never really worked. It was far better to do it as soon as I got up (after making a cup of tea, of course).

I was less successful with the weekly task of the artist's date, where you treat yourself to some form of creative experience, whether buying crayons or going to a gallery. It sounds silly, but I found it harder to treat myself than to get up half an hour earlier every day.

I also found the sessions hard where you have to ponder, not because the questions were difficult, but because they were designed to help people get out of whatever was trapping them. I had recently quit my job to retrain, so I'd already escaped, and the questions seemed unnecessary for my circumstances.

Despite these qualifications, I strongly recommend The Artist's Way (though I'm wary of the related books she's published - they smack of milking the cash cow). Now that I've been reminded of it, I intend to resume those morning pages.