Monday Morning Pages
It’s Day Two of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month.
Those of us who are participating feverishly scribble or tippet-tap all day, in between our other tasks: at lunch, on breaks, while the kids are asleep, anywhere we can. That’s how NaNo works: accumulate words. Like Julia Cameron says, “Accumulate pages, not judgments.”
Why Morning Pages?
The Artist’s Way teaches us that forward motion creates its own momentum. In order to sustain that momentum, we need to know, and practice, that which feeds our inner artist.
Why, then, do Morning Pages during NaNo?
Morning pages are three pages, longhand, done in the morning. As Cameron points out, they’re not meant to be Writing with a capital W. They’re more like brain drain, she says. Natalie Goldberg likens this type of writing to meditation.
Whatever you call them, Morning Pages work.
Try it today: take out three letter-sized pieces of blank paper and a pen or pencil. Write three pages, and then put them away. Don’t read them, and don’t share them. Then tomorrow, try it again. Try it every day in NaNo and see what effect it has on your month.