i walked to the library in a light rain this afternoon and picked up the book. i will not write until the morning, but i do have a composition book at the ready to receive my words.
(i am hoping this will not upset the apple cart. if it does i can be a casual observer from the sidelines… so please let me know.)
three pages will not be difficult - at least i can declare that now, and, like amy, i doubt any page will be legible enough for anyone else to read. (that is actually perfect!). my hands are a little creaky and arthritic and it definitely would be easier to type, but i won’t stray from the rules. (perhaps my hand yoga exercises will help with pain and stiffness resulting from longhand recording. fingers crossed…)
i was not aware the author had written so many books. friends had always raved about ‘the artists way’ but it never held my attention enough to finish it.
rambling, my apologies. looking forward to these exercises.
Of course you should not stand on the sidelines! I am glad your book came in. The walk to the library in the rain feels somehow tied up now with your reading :) -- I hope you enjoy getting started. And, yes, Cameron has written many, many things - and a whole series of books on this topic (most hinging upon The Artist's Way, I think, as this one does, too).
Week 1 I am out of the country. No 1 challenge walks and writing my morning pages. Skipped the quota.
Implementing walks done. Making time for me in the morning after I have showered and dressed was better than writing it after wake up in bed. Was w say too late the first day! If not doing eg ..“finding time later on..“ does not work for me.
Walks are fine as these I can easily do after lunch break or skip hot lunch and grab something while walking. I eat healthy so had more fruits and raw veggies this week.
I am convinced whatever it needs that makes your ink flow do it. No matter how it has been suggested but keep an eye words are flowing and you practice daily.
I am a fountain pen writer. Anyway, the morning pages I use ink for but my quotas, my projects, I am a typewriter.
I realized now a huge difference in my writing journey. I am more successful in writing with my fountain pen . My words are flowing nicely. Writing by hand does not make me feel the need of correcting over and over again.
Anyway, I have lunchtime where I am and will keep my eyes open on street arts. That is my artist date.
Thank you for sharing your experience Amy. Best, Marion
Thank you, Marion. I'm so happy to read the account of your first week. I really appreciate your words on how writing by hand is more successful for you. I think many have a similar feeling. Recognizing our patterns is a good thing! Enjoy the walk (and your travels). I hope you see much street art to inspire you.
When I do write by hand, I always use fountain pens. Cartridges are nice, but I also use bottled ink. JetPens has a good selection of journals with paper that it is a joy to write on. I like Clairfontaine and Rhodia. I think I would like Tomoe River. Moleskine is overrated.
Week 1 went pretty well- it felt like a good start. I’ve read The Artist’s Way before so the concept of writing 3 pages of whatever comes to mind (“Morning Pages”) was familiar but a habit I needed to revisit.
Morning pages: 7/7 days
Daily quota: 6/7 days
Solo walks: 6/7 days - I walked every day as part of a separate fitness challenge already in my routine, but one of the days I walked with my spouse and couldn’t fit in a separate, solo walk.
Artist date: 3 instances counted as a “sort-of” Artist’s date.
My struggle is classifying the date as “something festive and out of the ordinary” as the author describes ... whereas I tried to fit something creative/inspiring into my ordinary day. I have trouble thinking of what to do that’s festive and out of the ordinary that isn’t super expensive/time consuming and can easily be done solo. So I need to consider more about what an artist date could be for the upcoming weeks.
As for the daily quota, I decided to write by hand to give myself a break from screen time during this creative effort, and choosing to write by hand has helped with some... but not all... of my resistance. I started reading Chapter 2 last night and can see the the pain points of rough drafts are explored, which will be helpful reminders/insights for me.
I’m hoping to gain creative momentum from this book/6-week endeavor. The process of writing morning pages does help clear out stagnant thoughts and keep ideas flowing. Movement in the form of daily walks helps too... in recent weeks I usually listened to podcasts while walking but reserving some solo focus time during walks has been more centering and has sparked ideas. The importance of movement is underscored in another book I recently read by Twyla Tharp, so I definitely am trying to prioritize that in my habit-building and creative journey.
With writing versus visual arts I always wrestle with how much time I prefer to spend on each, since I’m equally interested in writing and art... sometimes I don’t have much creative writing energy left “in the margins because I do a lot of marketing writing for my day job.
I’m enjoying this exercise; thanks for creating a community forum around it.
Hi Rachel, I've had the same struggle with writing vs visual arts. I draw a comic every day, so trying to write quota pages as well has left me with a pretty empty creative cup! I decided this morning that the quota pages are not going to be an everyday thing for me. I just can't keep up with both. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I'll be interested to see how things shake out re: editing. I read just enough to, I think, already have a much different opinion. I do enjoy how all of this strikes us each differently. That's all good. As for those artist dates..... I wouldn't have a shot if I was really looking for something "festive" or "out of the ordinary." So, that doesn't play into it for me. What I do (already - and what fulfills this goal/objective) isn't festive or out of the ordinary, but I have a different mindset when I do it..... a deliberate openness. So.... maybe you just need to reframe how you are thinking about it? I do not believe that this needs to be something that has any cost associated with it or requires a lot of time or planning.
(To me, feeling it needs to be that way is problematic.... and also an indulgence some simply can't manage. I'd say just don't overthink it. Maybe you make a list of possible artist dates you could take, which includes some "extra" options as well as a few places you go to already that are easy but always offer room for inspiration - and then you choose something doable each week.)
I'm only part of the way through the week (I started on Monday) but I've kept up with morning pages and I've managed to write 2 short essays. And I'm not a writer, so I feel pretty good about that! Taking walks is something I already do so that was already part of my routine.
I've been doing morning pages on paper, but typing any other writings and that's been working fine. The only struggle so far is that I haven't found a writing app that I really like for my iPad yet. I don't really want to pay for one, but the free options haven't been great.
I have not done an artist date yet, but I'm planning to this weekend. There's a quilting shop near me that I'm going to go explore. I'm not a quilter but I appreciate the colors and patterns very much, so it should be interesting. I already spend a lot of time at my local art museum so as you said, Amy, I was sort of doing these types of excursions anyway.
Overall, I enjoy the morning pages and I like trying my hand at writing, but I have yet to have my telegrams answered by the universe. Maybe in week 2? 😀
I'm excited to hear how your week went and that you did branch off into some writing that is new for you. There's a lot of potential here simply because we are all really reframing our writing and "focusing" on it.... which I think will/can lead to good and new things.
I hear you about finding a good tool for iOS (or Windows). This is something I am constantly looking for/testing/evaluating. I went through another round of looking last week even. I'm an Evernote user, but I have been really wanting to shift things for some of the other writing I do.
For iOS only (if you don't need sync), I think there are a lot of options. Tools that play well between Windows and iOS is harder --- or maybe you are a Mac user, in which case there ARE lots of options (although some of them may not be free). I was going to list some basic suggestions.... but it does make a difference if you also use a Mac or if you really just plan to write on iOS/iPad and don't need to sync. What are you currently using on iPad and what have you tried? And what are you looking for in terms of features (are you looking for just a minimal entry writing system, or are you looking for formatting tools/options)?
I'm using iOS for writing but I am new to it and have no other Apple devices so sync to Google Drive is essential. I've tried the Notes app and one called Just Writing but neither feel exactly right. I keep hearing about Scrivener and I'm going to try that next but in general, it looks like the free versions of paid apps are pretty light on functionality.
And to be honest, I'm not even sure what I'm looking for exactly. Since this is all new (writing AND iOS) I'm trying to figure out what I need as I go. So I'm extra complicated! 😆
My guess is that Scrivener is overkill for what you want right now. (It's also not free.) I've used Scrivener twice now for NaNoWriMo (using a trial version each time) on computer. Ultimately, I want it, but I haven't bought it yet -- it does NOT have a connected iOS app. So it has the iOS version, but it's separate (a separate purchase and doesn't automatically sync). Still might work for you - but having used it, it wouldn't have been my first suggestion. Have you used Evernote? It's very good for writing (all places) and good for stashing (ahem) thousands and thousands of other things, too. For a different and slimmed down built-in approach, you might consider OneNote. (It won't sync to Drive. It syncs to itself. But it is cloud-based that way.)
I don't think you are extra complicated -- but if what you really want is an inviting place to write..... just find that. I'll pull up the article I looked at the other day when I get a chance. I know it had several compelling options, but none met my need since being able move between my phone and my computer with ease is a requirement. (I'm using Evernote and currently also experimenting with OneNote as a more lightweight, on the fly, input system.)
This is so helpful! I had a feeling Scrivener was more than I want or need. I'm going to try Evernote! I've honestly never used it. Since I mostly use Android devices, Google docs and drive have just always been easy. I'm going to try Evernote and then if that isn't what I want, OneNote. Thanks SO MUCH, I really appreciate it!!
You ARE a writer! As Gail Sher says in “One Continuous Mistake: Four Noble Truths for Writers,” “Writers write.” Simple as that.
Scrivener is too nonintuitive. I got a book to teach me how to use it and the book is nonintuitive.
Evernote makes me nuts because it doesn’t let me nest things. You have to find everything with keywords and searches. It’s not elegant.
When I was in the PC world, there was a marvelous app called InfoSelect that was very hard to give up. But I replaced it in Mac OS with a relational database called DevonThink. I use it on my MacBook, but I can also sync it to iOS. I literally have millions of words—all my writing exercises, bills and accounts, stabs at fiction, recipes, quilt patterns. It’s all easy to find. I can move easily from Substack to poetry to writing exercises.
Yeah, it costs $99 for the basic model, $199 for the version I use, but you get what you pay for. Free isn’t really the most viable option.
I think Pages comes free with any Apple product. It has preformed templates, which I can’t work with. If you’re using DevonThink, you need Word or Pages to print your writing. It doesn’t have a built-in word processor, although you can format text.
Finally, if you are using a tablet, I strongly suggest you get an external keyboard. You can hold it in your lap. You don’t have to switch layouts to access numbers and punctuation. It really speeds things up.
1 and 2: I am not new to Morning Pages...I tried it a bundle of years ago and was successful for what seemed like forever, but in reality was probably six months. I was in a creative group that met and discussed the book. There was a heavy emphasis on the spiritual nature of the exercises which weighed heavy on me. I remember when we moved from the big house to a smaller house on the water, I came across these pages and in a blink of an eye decision tossed them out. So coming home to the pages feels comfortable...although at that time I wrote these pages as a 'brain drain' of whatever was on my mind...the purpose was to clear one's head of the debris that keeps creative thoughts at bay. So, all last week I wrote the 'brain drain', dredging up some bothersome memories long buried. But Amy is right. There are no guidelines (or very few dubious ones) and what I knew is what I did. This morning, after reading Amy's response to Week 1, I wrote of yesterday...all that I remembered in the ins and outs of the day. It felt good and the words flowed easily even with added adjectives and descriptors to the nouns, rounding out my three pages. As for the other elements of the exercises, I did them all (and have been doing them in some fashion for some while) except for the Daily Quota. I do not have a writing project in mind.
3. The elements of the exercises were in place already. The difference is that now I pay more attention to details and my responses. The days flow one into the other seamlessly.....with the Morning Pages as an anchor. I love the easy flow of the days.
4. Since I live on a small island with limited venues...my artist's dates were all with my access to the ocean and beach, and wooded areas. We have a small (very small) island library which I frequent and it gives me grounds for a sense of awe and curiosity each time I am there.
5. I am not working on an additional project.
6. I thought hard and long about different writing stations in my house. My options are limited. I use my basement studio which is all mine....and write at my art table facing a window looking out at the bay and the Olympic Mountain Range beyond. There are no interruptions and it is quiet.
7. I hope to continue with my schedule and let it become a standard of my days. I love to write...I love to use anything to write...even pencil which gives a unique look to my words! I love my composition books paper. I hope I will be writing for years and years to come. Who knows, maybe a writing project will present itself some day.
I am glad you had a good week. I gasped a bit to hear about the moment of throwing out old journals, but I know it happens all the time -- and in time, most of us probably do it as we cull and reduce and minimize our things. We can’t keep everything! I am glad you were happy to start keeping your morning writing practice again.... I do think it can be a brain dump.... you can cover a lot of ground in three pages! What happened yesterday or what you see out the window is totally valid fodder though.... whatever comes to mind can be written down. It can help clear the mind, yes. Or it can help lock things in place. Or it can be a way to realize there are new ideas or questions lurking.... which probably approaches what Cameron sees as the logical outcome. I think you have so many options available to you for the artist date -- and I think you are already fairly good at making that happen. I do think even the most basic of outing can work as she describes.... with the right mindset. Into week 2!
I am starting the process today, April 6, which happens to be the first full day of Passover. I'm not Jewish but I live in a Jewish community and it seems like a good time for new beginnings. So I haven't done the artist dates or the walks yet.
I have two delicious writing areas in my new apartment here, looking out onto large stands of Douglas fir mixed with cedar, spruce, maples.
I have been writing morning, pages, or what I call “today” exercises, since at least 1992. So now I am going to do something different. I am going to type them all using the Dvorak keyboard. (I have to type because of MS pain in my dominate arm.)
I have been working on learning Dvorak for a couple of years now. It is much more efficient than qwerty when you get some speed up. I am up to maybe 30 words a minute, so it forces me to go more slowly. But I am liking the process.
I’m already writing for Substack, so as a new project I’m going to work on poetry. I’ve found that with a little meditation the Universe dictates to me. I’m just the amanuensis for what Spirit writes. I can’t wait to get started; hoping for a poem a day.
I think it sounds like you have a wonderful pair of writing stations at that window! I’m surprised and delighted to hear you are using the quota to push into poetry, which I know you often include in your substack writing. That’s exciting, and I wish you well as your first week gets underway. (I have never tried a Dvorak keyboard.... it seems like it would be so very hard to re-train for that switch!)
It IS hard. I just had to persist. And a number of letter combinations, like ght, tion, ing, fit neatly without having to move off the home keys. I taught myself to touch type as a teen—why spend good school time in typing class?—so I just did it again. Having an external keyboard you can stick letters on is a big help, too.
I’ve kept up with the morning pages for awhile now and I feel I have built them into my daily routine. I think they really do help me achieve certain goals I set, just so I won’t keep harping about them. 😊
Oddly enough, I did have a moment of synchronization regarding something I wrote in the pages so that was a nice surprise!
I have set a small goal for daily writing on my project and only one day was a success with that. So I hope to improve in week two.
I have read many of Julia’s books and am familiar with the core concepts she teaches. I have never been able to stick with artist dates. Somehow they just don’t resonate with me. I was going to use the library for this week but our library is under renovation and only a small area is open to the public.
I did do the walking a couple of days. I’m trying to get back to walking daily as the weather allows. I feel like that will help in many areas. I’m mourning my sister’s sudden death in January and walking does help clear my head.
Overall I think Week 1 was fine. I hope to improve on the areas I didn’t meet my goals in Week 2.
That you had a moment of synchronicity is wonderful! I'm happy to hear this, and I hope this continues. That's very interesting about the artist date not being something that has resonance for you. I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. I hope that the writing and the walking help you continue to process that. Thanks for weighing in on how week 1 went!
I’ve been writing Morning Pages for a little more than 5 years. I’ve worked through several of Cameron’s books with a group of creatives & have found it to be hugely rewarding as a creative practice. Julia Cameron has published a LOT of books. In my opinion, they are all quite similar and these principles she introduces in chapter 1 are present in all of her books. There is also a very heavy 12-step recovery influence. (A few paragraphs of chapter one are directly taken from the Big Book of AA.)
I write my pages every day. By hand. In a journal. That works for me. I like the connection of pen to paper and the time away from a screen.
Artist dates come pretty easy for me. I often find myself “window shopping” on an artist date...spending extra time at the farmers market really looking at all the different vegetables, wandering every aisle at the thrift store, going to museums on the days they offer free admission, etc.
I don’t have a current writing project...would simply like to be open to the possibility of having one. So daily quota doesn’t really work for me at the moment but it will at some point. Thank you Amy & all of you for your comments & participation! On to chapter 2!
So glad to see your comments. Even having not read her other books, it seems clear that this one is a repackaging of info, in many ways, so I appreciate your comment on that. (I knew about context of the first book in terms of AA, but I don't know much about the process, so it wouldn't jump out at me..... or maybe it has, and I didn't have the framework to label it.) Your examples of artist dates are excellent -- after seeing what others said this week, I think your examples are really helpful. (I am not out and about much, so my single example doesn't offer much to others -- other than that I totally understand the mindset. You've described it beautifully.)
I think seeing your comment today helped give me words into why I have gone ahead with pen, too. So thank you for putting your thoughts out here. Enjoy chapter 2 ....
I want to thank everyone who commented so far and shared thoughts on this first week.... and thank you to those who have commented to each other. I do hope you have conversations with one another and not just with me. I was worried this week that the slant of my reflections on week 1 might really bother people..... and I'm so relieved to see that in the comments, mostly everyone really enjoyed their first week. I'll try and keep things toned down on my end next week..... and am hoping to just continue to enjoy the process.
I am late responding to this as we are already in week 2 but here a little bit about my week 1.
My morning pages went pretty well. I got up a bit earlier to do them and that went remarkably well. What I have to figure out is a routine for the weekend similar as for weekdays. Yesterday and today, I did the pages later in the morning which was fine but I don’t think that would work in the long run, especially when the weekends are busy.
I noticed that I was able to not overthink doing the pages or set any expectations except that it feels good to start the day with putting your thoughts on paper.
Mindful walking was already part of my routine though not so much as I wanted during the bad weather. However, it was easy to pick up as we had some nice days and spring is coming.
I love artist’s dates but maybe some people would see it differently than I do. For me they can be very simple as long as they are done with intention. Little blocks of time that make me feel good and inspire me. It can be a visit to the library or bookstore to browse around or sitting cozy under a blanket on the couch with a cup of tea flipping through art books or old craft magazines or playing around with paper, glue and scissors. I think that in the Artist’s way, Julia Cameron suggests to list what you enjoyed as a child and generate ideas for artist’s dates from that. It works for me, and it gives me permission to do “silly” things that give me joy.
My daily quota is a very short blog like entry for when I start a blog/substack in the future. One of the reasons I stopped my blog years ago, was getting blocked by the fact I had to come up with something good every week. I would overthink it and it turned the joy of writing an entry into something stressful. Training myself to write something every day that could potentially be used for a blog entry or not, seems a good experiment.
I am glad to hear how your week went! I think this is right on the spot: “it feels good to start the day with putting your thoughts on paper.” I agree with that. Maybe it is that simple -- it’s a really nice way to start the day. Interesting that the weekend felt different. These observations are good to have and make total sense as you ease into this and find a pattern that works well for you. As for artist dates... I agree about intentionality and mindset being important factors. I enjoyed hearing how each of you thought about it. Have a good start to your week!
This week I read and started morning pages. I was sick most of the week with horrible stomach issues related to medication, so I barely made it through the week, and didn't get in any walking, project writing, or even all of my morning pages. It was frustrating.
I also have a lot of chronic pain, and writing by hand can wear on me, but I've found that Pentel Energel pens (I prefer .7 tip) write very smoothly, and if I try to not make it overly legible, my hand really glides across the page. 😁
I still really resist the parts of the book that come across as religious (or recovery focused as someone else pointed out). 😬 I'm trying to gloss over/ignore it and move forward, taking the parts that work, and leaving the rest behind.
On Fridays, I participate in Zine Lunch, a zoom workshop hosted by Sarabande Books. I'm counting Friday's as my Artist Date because it was fun and got my mind going in a creative way. Later, I committed to exchanging zines with someone from another FB group, so I felt like that was a minor win.
Hoping for a better week this week. I enjoyed reading everyone's experiences. ❤️
I am glad to see you check in! I was going to reach out to you — sorry to hear though that it was a rough week in terms of side effects. Don’t get down about what you did or didn’t manage in terms of days for this… you had it in mind and gave some days a go…. All good. I share some of your thoughts. If I’m the end, we walk away having written more than we would have in these weeks, it is a win. But I hope you find more inspiration than that, overall. The Friday zoom workshop sounds fun - and so does your zine swap. You’re in the mindset! Into week2! (And I’m glad you have a pen that you really love and that reduces the friction and stress on your hand for you.) Composition book ready? Let’s do it. What is your quota project if you work on that angle?
i walked to the library in a light rain this afternoon and picked up the book. i will not write until the morning, but i do have a composition book at the ready to receive my words.
(i am hoping this will not upset the apple cart. if it does i can be a casual observer from the sidelines… so please let me know.)
three pages will not be difficult - at least i can declare that now, and, like amy, i doubt any page will be legible enough for anyone else to read. (that is actually perfect!). my hands are a little creaky and arthritic and it definitely would be easier to type, but i won’t stray from the rules. (perhaps my hand yoga exercises will help with pain and stiffness resulting from longhand recording. fingers crossed…)
i was not aware the author had written so many books. friends had always raved about ‘the artists way’ but it never held my attention enough to finish it.
rambling, my apologies. looking forward to these exercises.
Of course you should not stand on the sidelines! I am glad your book came in. The walk to the library in the rain feels somehow tied up now with your reading :) -- I hope you enjoy getting started. And, yes, Cameron has written many, many things - and a whole series of books on this topic (most hinging upon The Artist's Way, I think, as this one does, too).
Week 1 I am out of the country. No 1 challenge walks and writing my morning pages. Skipped the quota.
Implementing walks done. Making time for me in the morning after I have showered and dressed was better than writing it after wake up in bed. Was w say too late the first day! If not doing eg ..“finding time later on..“ does not work for me.
Walks are fine as these I can easily do after lunch break or skip hot lunch and grab something while walking. I eat healthy so had more fruits and raw veggies this week.
I am convinced whatever it needs that makes your ink flow do it. No matter how it has been suggested but keep an eye words are flowing and you practice daily.
I am a fountain pen writer. Anyway, the morning pages I use ink for but my quotas, my projects, I am a typewriter.
I realized now a huge difference in my writing journey. I am more successful in writing with my fountain pen . My words are flowing nicely. Writing by hand does not make me feel the need of correcting over and over again.
Anyway, I have lunchtime where I am and will keep my eyes open on street arts. That is my artist date.
Thank you for sharing your experience Amy. Best, Marion
Thank you, Marion. I'm so happy to read the account of your first week. I really appreciate your words on how writing by hand is more successful for you. I think many have a similar feeling. Recognizing our patterns is a good thing! Enjoy the walk (and your travels). I hope you see much street art to inspire you.
When I do write by hand, I always use fountain pens. Cartridges are nice, but I also use bottled ink. JetPens has a good selection of journals with paper that it is a joy to write on. I like Clairfontaine and Rhodia. I think I would like Tomoe River. Moleskine is overrated.
Week 1 went pretty well- it felt like a good start. I’ve read The Artist’s Way before so the concept of writing 3 pages of whatever comes to mind (“Morning Pages”) was familiar but a habit I needed to revisit.
Morning pages: 7/7 days
Daily quota: 6/7 days
Solo walks: 6/7 days - I walked every day as part of a separate fitness challenge already in my routine, but one of the days I walked with my spouse and couldn’t fit in a separate, solo walk.
Artist date: 3 instances counted as a “sort-of” Artist’s date.
My struggle is classifying the date as “something festive and out of the ordinary” as the author describes ... whereas I tried to fit something creative/inspiring into my ordinary day. I have trouble thinking of what to do that’s festive and out of the ordinary that isn’t super expensive/time consuming and can easily be done solo. So I need to consider more about what an artist date could be for the upcoming weeks.
As for the daily quota, I decided to write by hand to give myself a break from screen time during this creative effort, and choosing to write by hand has helped with some... but not all... of my resistance. I started reading Chapter 2 last night and can see the the pain points of rough drafts are explored, which will be helpful reminders/insights for me.
I’m hoping to gain creative momentum from this book/6-week endeavor. The process of writing morning pages does help clear out stagnant thoughts and keep ideas flowing. Movement in the form of daily walks helps too... in recent weeks I usually listened to podcasts while walking but reserving some solo focus time during walks has been more centering and has sparked ideas. The importance of movement is underscored in another book I recently read by Twyla Tharp, so I definitely am trying to prioritize that in my habit-building and creative journey.
With writing versus visual arts I always wrestle with how much time I prefer to spend on each, since I’m equally interested in writing and art... sometimes I don’t have much creative writing energy left “in the margins because I do a lot of marketing writing for my day job.
I’m enjoying this exercise; thanks for creating a community forum around it.
Hi Rachel, I've had the same struggle with writing vs visual arts. I draw a comic every day, so trying to write quota pages as well has left me with a pretty empty creative cup! I decided this morning that the quota pages are not going to be an everyday thing for me. I just can't keep up with both. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I'll be interested to see how things shake out re: editing. I read just enough to, I think, already have a much different opinion. I do enjoy how all of this strikes us each differently. That's all good. As for those artist dates..... I wouldn't have a shot if I was really looking for something "festive" or "out of the ordinary." So, that doesn't play into it for me. What I do (already - and what fulfills this goal/objective) isn't festive or out of the ordinary, but I have a different mindset when I do it..... a deliberate openness. So.... maybe you just need to reframe how you are thinking about it? I do not believe that this needs to be something that has any cost associated with it or requires a lot of time or planning.
(To me, feeling it needs to be that way is problematic.... and also an indulgence some simply can't manage. I'd say just don't overthink it. Maybe you make a list of possible artist dates you could take, which includes some "extra" options as well as a few places you go to already that are easy but always offer room for inspiration - and then you choose something doable each week.)
I'm only part of the way through the week (I started on Monday) but I've kept up with morning pages and I've managed to write 2 short essays. And I'm not a writer, so I feel pretty good about that! Taking walks is something I already do so that was already part of my routine.
I've been doing morning pages on paper, but typing any other writings and that's been working fine. The only struggle so far is that I haven't found a writing app that I really like for my iPad yet. I don't really want to pay for one, but the free options haven't been great.
I have not done an artist date yet, but I'm planning to this weekend. There's a quilting shop near me that I'm going to go explore. I'm not a quilter but I appreciate the colors and patterns very much, so it should be interesting. I already spend a lot of time at my local art museum so as you said, Amy, I was sort of doing these types of excursions anyway.
Overall, I enjoy the morning pages and I like trying my hand at writing, but I have yet to have my telegrams answered by the universe. Maybe in week 2? 😀
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Amy!
I'm excited to hear how your week went and that you did branch off into some writing that is new for you. There's a lot of potential here simply because we are all really reframing our writing and "focusing" on it.... which I think will/can lead to good and new things.
I hear you about finding a good tool for iOS (or Windows). This is something I am constantly looking for/testing/evaluating. I went through another round of looking last week even. I'm an Evernote user, but I have been really wanting to shift things for some of the other writing I do.
For iOS only (if you don't need sync), I think there are a lot of options. Tools that play well between Windows and iOS is harder --- or maybe you are a Mac user, in which case there ARE lots of options (although some of them may not be free). I was going to list some basic suggestions.... but it does make a difference if you also use a Mac or if you really just plan to write on iOS/iPad and don't need to sync. What are you currently using on iPad and what have you tried? And what are you looking for in terms of features (are you looking for just a minimal entry writing system, or are you looking for formatting tools/options)?
(We'll await our telegrams together!)
I'm using iOS for writing but I am new to it and have no other Apple devices so sync to Google Drive is essential. I've tried the Notes app and one called Just Writing but neither feel exactly right. I keep hearing about Scrivener and I'm going to try that next but in general, it looks like the free versions of paid apps are pretty light on functionality.
And to be honest, I'm not even sure what I'm looking for exactly. Since this is all new (writing AND iOS) I'm trying to figure out what I need as I go. So I'm extra complicated! 😆
My guess is that Scrivener is overkill for what you want right now. (It's also not free.) I've used Scrivener twice now for NaNoWriMo (using a trial version each time) on computer. Ultimately, I want it, but I haven't bought it yet -- it does NOT have a connected iOS app. So it has the iOS version, but it's separate (a separate purchase and doesn't automatically sync). Still might work for you - but having used it, it wouldn't have been my first suggestion. Have you used Evernote? It's very good for writing (all places) and good for stashing (ahem) thousands and thousands of other things, too. For a different and slimmed down built-in approach, you might consider OneNote. (It won't sync to Drive. It syncs to itself. But it is cloud-based that way.)
I don't think you are extra complicated -- but if what you really want is an inviting place to write..... just find that. I'll pull up the article I looked at the other day when I get a chance. I know it had several compelling options, but none met my need since being able move between my phone and my computer with ease is a requirement. (I'm using Evernote and currently also experimenting with OneNote as a more lightweight, on the fly, input system.)
This is so helpful! I had a feeling Scrivener was more than I want or need. I'm going to try Evernote! I've honestly never used it. Since I mostly use Android devices, Google docs and drive have just always been easy. I'm going to try Evernote and then if that isn't what I want, OneNote. Thanks SO MUCH, I really appreciate it!!
Acck! I didn't realize you aren't an iOS user all across the board! I'll be interested to see what you like and what works best for you.
You ARE a writer! As Gail Sher says in “One Continuous Mistake: Four Noble Truths for Writers,” “Writers write.” Simple as that.
Scrivener is too nonintuitive. I got a book to teach me how to use it and the book is nonintuitive.
Evernote makes me nuts because it doesn’t let me nest things. You have to find everything with keywords and searches. It’s not elegant.
When I was in the PC world, there was a marvelous app called InfoSelect that was very hard to give up. But I replaced it in Mac OS with a relational database called DevonThink. I use it on my MacBook, but I can also sync it to iOS. I literally have millions of words—all my writing exercises, bills and accounts, stabs at fiction, recipes, quilt patterns. It’s all easy to find. I can move easily from Substack to poetry to writing exercises.
Yeah, it costs $99 for the basic model, $199 for the version I use, but you get what you pay for. Free isn’t really the most viable option.
I think Pages comes free with any Apple product. It has preformed templates, which I can’t work with. If you’re using DevonThink, you need Word or Pages to print your writing. It doesn’t have a built-in word processor, although you can format text.
Finally, if you are using a tablet, I strongly suggest you get an external keyboard. You can hold it in your lap. You don’t have to switch layouts to access numbers and punctuation. It really speeds things up.
1 and 2: I am not new to Morning Pages...I tried it a bundle of years ago and was successful for what seemed like forever, but in reality was probably six months. I was in a creative group that met and discussed the book. There was a heavy emphasis on the spiritual nature of the exercises which weighed heavy on me. I remember when we moved from the big house to a smaller house on the water, I came across these pages and in a blink of an eye decision tossed them out. So coming home to the pages feels comfortable...although at that time I wrote these pages as a 'brain drain' of whatever was on my mind...the purpose was to clear one's head of the debris that keeps creative thoughts at bay. So, all last week I wrote the 'brain drain', dredging up some bothersome memories long buried. But Amy is right. There are no guidelines (or very few dubious ones) and what I knew is what I did. This morning, after reading Amy's response to Week 1, I wrote of yesterday...all that I remembered in the ins and outs of the day. It felt good and the words flowed easily even with added adjectives and descriptors to the nouns, rounding out my three pages. As for the other elements of the exercises, I did them all (and have been doing them in some fashion for some while) except for the Daily Quota. I do not have a writing project in mind.
3. The elements of the exercises were in place already. The difference is that now I pay more attention to details and my responses. The days flow one into the other seamlessly.....with the Morning Pages as an anchor. I love the easy flow of the days.
4. Since I live on a small island with limited venues...my artist's dates were all with my access to the ocean and beach, and wooded areas. We have a small (very small) island library which I frequent and it gives me grounds for a sense of awe and curiosity each time I am there.
5. I am not working on an additional project.
6. I thought hard and long about different writing stations in my house. My options are limited. I use my basement studio which is all mine....and write at my art table facing a window looking out at the bay and the Olympic Mountain Range beyond. There are no interruptions and it is quiet.
7. I hope to continue with my schedule and let it become a standard of my days. I love to write...I love to use anything to write...even pencil which gives a unique look to my words! I love my composition books paper. I hope I will be writing for years and years to come. Who knows, maybe a writing project will present itself some day.
I am glad you had a good week. I gasped a bit to hear about the moment of throwing out old journals, but I know it happens all the time -- and in time, most of us probably do it as we cull and reduce and minimize our things. We can’t keep everything! I am glad you were happy to start keeping your morning writing practice again.... I do think it can be a brain dump.... you can cover a lot of ground in three pages! What happened yesterday or what you see out the window is totally valid fodder though.... whatever comes to mind can be written down. It can help clear the mind, yes. Or it can help lock things in place. Or it can be a way to realize there are new ideas or questions lurking.... which probably approaches what Cameron sees as the logical outcome. I think you have so many options available to you for the artist date -- and I think you are already fairly good at making that happen. I do think even the most basic of outing can work as she describes.... with the right mindset. Into week 2!
I am starting the process today, April 6, which happens to be the first full day of Passover. I'm not Jewish but I live in a Jewish community and it seems like a good time for new beginnings. So I haven't done the artist dates or the walks yet.
I have two delicious writing areas in my new apartment here, looking out onto large stands of Douglas fir mixed with cedar, spruce, maples.
I have been writing morning, pages, or what I call “today” exercises, since at least 1992. So now I am going to do something different. I am going to type them all using the Dvorak keyboard. (I have to type because of MS pain in my dominate arm.)
I have been working on learning Dvorak for a couple of years now. It is much more efficient than qwerty when you get some speed up. I am up to maybe 30 words a minute, so it forces me to go more slowly. But I am liking the process.
I’m already writing for Substack, so as a new project I’m going to work on poetry. I’ve found that with a little meditation the Universe dictates to me. I’m just the amanuensis for what Spirit writes. I can’t wait to get started; hoping for a poem a day.
Yay for poetry! That sounds exciting and fun. 😀
I think it sounds like you have a wonderful pair of writing stations at that window! I’m surprised and delighted to hear you are using the quota to push into poetry, which I know you often include in your substack writing. That’s exciting, and I wish you well as your first week gets underway. (I have never tried a Dvorak keyboard.... it seems like it would be so very hard to re-train for that switch!)
It IS hard. I just had to persist. And a number of letter combinations, like ght, tion, ing, fit neatly without having to move off the home keys. I taught myself to touch type as a teen—why spend good school time in typing class?—so I just did it again. Having an external keyboard you can stick letters on is a big help, too.
I’ve kept up with the morning pages for awhile now and I feel I have built them into my daily routine. I think they really do help me achieve certain goals I set, just so I won’t keep harping about them. 😊
Oddly enough, I did have a moment of synchronization regarding something I wrote in the pages so that was a nice surprise!
I have set a small goal for daily writing on my project and only one day was a success with that. So I hope to improve in week two.
I have read many of Julia’s books and am familiar with the core concepts she teaches. I have never been able to stick with artist dates. Somehow they just don’t resonate with me. I was going to use the library for this week but our library is under renovation and only a small area is open to the public.
I did do the walking a couple of days. I’m trying to get back to walking daily as the weather allows. I feel like that will help in many areas. I’m mourning my sister’s sudden death in January and walking does help clear my head.
Overall I think Week 1 was fine. I hope to improve on the areas I didn’t meet my goals in Week 2.
That you had a moment of synchronicity is wonderful! I'm happy to hear this, and I hope this continues. That's very interesting about the artist date not being something that has resonance for you. I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. I hope that the writing and the walking help you continue to process that. Thanks for weighing in on how week 1 went!
Thank you Amy. I forgot to say that I really appreciate your comments and insight about Chapter One. Very helpful!!
I’ve been writing Morning Pages for a little more than 5 years. I’ve worked through several of Cameron’s books with a group of creatives & have found it to be hugely rewarding as a creative practice. Julia Cameron has published a LOT of books. In my opinion, they are all quite similar and these principles she introduces in chapter 1 are present in all of her books. There is also a very heavy 12-step recovery influence. (A few paragraphs of chapter one are directly taken from the Big Book of AA.)
I write my pages every day. By hand. In a journal. That works for me. I like the connection of pen to paper and the time away from a screen.
Artist dates come pretty easy for me. I often find myself “window shopping” on an artist date...spending extra time at the farmers market really looking at all the different vegetables, wandering every aisle at the thrift store, going to museums on the days they offer free admission, etc.
I don’t have a current writing project...would simply like to be open to the possibility of having one. So daily quota doesn’t really work for me at the moment but it will at some point. Thank you Amy & all of you for your comments & participation! On to chapter 2!
So glad to see your comments. Even having not read her other books, it seems clear that this one is a repackaging of info, in many ways, so I appreciate your comment on that. (I knew about context of the first book in terms of AA, but I don't know much about the process, so it wouldn't jump out at me..... or maybe it has, and I didn't have the framework to label it.) Your examples of artist dates are excellent -- after seeing what others said this week, I think your examples are really helpful. (I am not out and about much, so my single example doesn't offer much to others -- other than that I totally understand the mindset. You've described it beautifully.)
I think seeing your comment today helped give me words into why I have gone ahead with pen, too. So thank you for putting your thoughts out here. Enjoy chapter 2 ....
(And I hope you'll draw with us again soon.)
Thank you for sharing your ideas for artist dates. I have to look up if and when our museums offer free admission. That would be a nice treat !
I want to thank everyone who commented so far and shared thoughts on this first week.... and thank you to those who have commented to each other. I do hope you have conversations with one another and not just with me. I was worried this week that the slant of my reflections on week 1 might really bother people..... and I'm so relieved to see that in the comments, mostly everyone really enjoyed their first week. I'll try and keep things toned down on my end next week..... and am hoping to just continue to enjoy the process.
I am late responding to this as we are already in week 2 but here a little bit about my week 1.
My morning pages went pretty well. I got up a bit earlier to do them and that went remarkably well. What I have to figure out is a routine for the weekend similar as for weekdays. Yesterday and today, I did the pages later in the morning which was fine but I don’t think that would work in the long run, especially when the weekends are busy.
I noticed that I was able to not overthink doing the pages or set any expectations except that it feels good to start the day with putting your thoughts on paper.
Mindful walking was already part of my routine though not so much as I wanted during the bad weather. However, it was easy to pick up as we had some nice days and spring is coming.
I love artist’s dates but maybe some people would see it differently than I do. For me they can be very simple as long as they are done with intention. Little blocks of time that make me feel good and inspire me. It can be a visit to the library or bookstore to browse around or sitting cozy under a blanket on the couch with a cup of tea flipping through art books or old craft magazines or playing around with paper, glue and scissors. I think that in the Artist’s way, Julia Cameron suggests to list what you enjoyed as a child and generate ideas for artist’s dates from that. It works for me, and it gives me permission to do “silly” things that give me joy.
My daily quota is a very short blog like entry for when I start a blog/substack in the future. One of the reasons I stopped my blog years ago, was getting blocked by the fact I had to come up with something good every week. I would overthink it and it turned the joy of writing an entry into something stressful. Training myself to write something every day that could potentially be used for a blog entry or not, seems a good experiment.
I am glad to hear how your week went! I think this is right on the spot: “it feels good to start the day with putting your thoughts on paper.” I agree with that. Maybe it is that simple -- it’s a really nice way to start the day. Interesting that the weekend felt different. These observations are good to have and make total sense as you ease into this and find a pattern that works well for you. As for artist dates... I agree about intentionality and mindset being important factors. I enjoyed hearing how each of you thought about it. Have a good start to your week!
This week I read and started morning pages. I was sick most of the week with horrible stomach issues related to medication, so I barely made it through the week, and didn't get in any walking, project writing, or even all of my morning pages. It was frustrating.
I also have a lot of chronic pain, and writing by hand can wear on me, but I've found that Pentel Energel pens (I prefer .7 tip) write very smoothly, and if I try to not make it overly legible, my hand really glides across the page. 😁
I still really resist the parts of the book that come across as religious (or recovery focused as someone else pointed out). 😬 I'm trying to gloss over/ignore it and move forward, taking the parts that work, and leaving the rest behind.
On Fridays, I participate in Zine Lunch, a zoom workshop hosted by Sarabande Books. I'm counting Friday's as my Artist Date because it was fun and got my mind going in a creative way. Later, I committed to exchanging zines with someone from another FB group, so I felt like that was a minor win.
Hoping for a better week this week. I enjoyed reading everyone's experiences. ❤️
I am glad to see you check in! I was going to reach out to you — sorry to hear though that it was a rough week in terms of side effects. Don’t get down about what you did or didn’t manage in terms of days for this… you had it in mind and gave some days a go…. All good. I share some of your thoughts. If I’m the end, we walk away having written more than we would have in these weeks, it is a win. But I hope you find more inspiration than that, overall. The Friday zoom workshop sounds fun - and so does your zine swap. You’re in the mindset! Into week2! (And I’m glad you have a pen that you really love and that reduces the friction and stress on your hand for you.) Composition book ready? Let’s do it. What is your quota project if you work on that angle?