Here in my truth about creative recovery –
What is It?
The Artist’s Way is a book by Julia Cameron which came from a creative recovery class she was teaching. It is a 12 week program divided into weeks with tasks and two main tools with the purpose to find and fuel your creativity. It is not just for writers, it is for anyone. There are two main tools in addition to the weekly exercises.
Tool 1: Morning Pages
This is the heart of the program and is likely a word you have heard or read around writers and other creative people. Morning pages are simply three pages of longhand writing done in the morning that are a brain drain. You write whatever comes to mind. They are not supposed to be smart but they can be. Many times it is complaining or what you need to remember for the day.
Julia Cameron says: There is no wrong way to do the morning pages.
Yet, there is much conversation around what is the “right” way to do them. Our inner critic makes us perfectionists and many of us are hard wired to want to do things right.
Why do we do morning pages when they aren’t considered real writing? To get to the other side — of the censor, of our own obstacles — they help us get out of our own way.
For me, the morning pages lift the fog and I reach clarity. My relationship with them are different because this is the fourth long term relationship I have engaged in with the tool. It is more about what happens after the morning pages for me. All my other writing is more clear and focused when I use this tool. My MP’s tend to be list like and weird streams of thoughts. There are reflections and random memories as well.
Tool 2: Artist Dates
The artist date is a weekly date you take solo.
Tammy L. Breitweiser 
I’m on my second attempt with Morning pages at the moment. The first time I tried to write them, it was a very negative experience for me. However now, I find them very beneficial and they have unlocked some writing ideas, I never knew existed. I haven’t tried the Artist’s dates yet, but they do sound interesting. Since I started doing a writing challenge at the beginning of the month, I’ve really how important it is to schedule writing time in each day. Great post and sorry for the long comment!
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Don’t be sorry at all! I love comments. Was it negative because of what it brought up or just the physical writing of them?
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I think it might have been a combination of both things. It did bring up a lot of negative things and I think I wasn’t used to writing first thing in the morning. Now, I much prefer writing at that time of the day.
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