I am a big believer in both Creativity Prompts and in Morning Pages. I love them and have used them both. Morning pages were a big part of my life several years ago and I’ve used creativity prompts in this blog and will again in the future. Creativity Prompts can be fun and send you off in different directions, which is why I want to share how to spark your creativity with prompts and morning pages. Both can be used to: Build a habit; develop your skills and allow for breakthroughs.
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Build A Habit
Whether you are a painter or a writer, practicing your craft every day builds a habit. If you are using a daily creativity prompt and you do it daily, then you become used to writing or painting every single day. It’s as simple as that. At least it sounds simple–I know that execution is much harder. But building a habit is important and you should stick to a schedule.
Years ago, I didn’t have a habit of writing. I would write something occasionally and then bemoan the fact that I wasn’t writing. But there was no discipline there, I just wasn’t doing it Then I read The Artists’ Way by Julie Cameron and learned about Morning Pages. I started to get up earlier every morning and write three pages, without fail, even if all three pages only said, “Why am I doing this?” Eventually, I was able to start writing other things, but the goal of Morning Pages is to get the crap out and jump start your engines. It also helps to build a habit of writing.
If Morning Pages aren’t your style, then try Creativity Prompts. Allow yourself to work on one Creativity Prompt each day. Develop that habit of writing, or painting or collaging or whatever art form you’re working in. The point is, it didn’t matter what I wrote, all that mattered was, I created a habit that 16 years later, I still follow.
Develop Your Skills
Creativity Prompts and Morning Pages not only help you develop a habit, they also help you develop your skills. They aren’t there for you to create your masterpiece. They’re there for you to practice, so you’ll know your masterpiece when it comes along. This is true whether you’re a writer or an artist in another medium. Practice. Practice. Practice. Overnight success takes years. Years of practice. Years of rejection. Years of trying again. I love what Natalie Goldberg said about practicing in Writing Down the Bones. “It is odd that we never question the feasibility of a football team practicing long hours for one game, yet in writing, we rarely give ourselves the space for practice.” Writers write. Painters paint. It isn’t the sale of a piece that makes you a writer or a painter. It’s practicing your craft that does.
Allow For Breakthroughs
No matter the habit you create or how much practice you put in, there sometimes comes that moment when you are blocked. Not necessarily unable to write at all, but you’re stuck on a specific piece. Maybe a character isn’t fleshing out the way you want, or you have a deadline looming and you haven’t even started. Creativity Prompts or even Morning Pages might seem like you’re goofing off, but in reality, they are more important now than ever.
Sure, it might not make sense to use a prompt about space travel when you’re working on a piece about the Old West. Or, writing all the crap that comes to mind onto three pages just seems like a waste of time. But, so what! Just go for it. It can help to shake out the cobwebs, give you a different perspective and possibly help you to move forward or even throw out what you’d been working on so you can do something new.
Do you have a regular habit of practicing your writing? Your art? Let me know what you do.
The Artist’s Way is a wonderful book. I agree the morning pages habit really is effective. I was quite shocked at what used to come out in mine! The other thing I loved doing was the ‘artist dates’ – it really kick stared my creativity with art and crafts. So much so that art and craft is a way of life for me now and I do something arty/crafty every day. Not only that but I make good money teaching craft workshops – so I have much to thank Julia cameron for! I don’t do the morning pages any more – not sure why, they just naturally came to an end.
That’s funny, I used to do a lot more crafting and less writing. I don’t do morning pages anymore either instead, I just write during those morning hours. But, the habit was set and the space carved out all those years ago.
I love both the books you mention in your article. They are a must for any creative!
Definitely. Writing Down the Bones is my favorite of the two.
I also got a lot out of The Artist’s Way. Like Gilly, I stopped doing Morning Pages although I’m not sure why. Probably a time issue! Thanks for this encouraging article.
Stopping morning pages appears to be a common theme. We used them when we needed them and then moved on.
The Artist’s Way helped me to make a lot of changes in my life. I’ve been slacking off on my Morning Pages – thanks for the reminder, Jennifer.
I’ve stopped morning pages, but appreciate the habit they created for me.
I love Julia Cameron and The Artist’s Way. I refer to it every now and again and was fortunate enough to attend a workshop taught by Cameron. Morning pages, not to be confused with journaling or other types of writing, was something I got into and then fell out of. I journal fairly religiously. And I love creative prompts to get the pen scratching against paper.
It seems to be the way with Morning Pages. I fell out of them too, but took with me a habit of writing in the morning, which I cherish.
I’ve never tried creativity prompts, but really like your explanation of their usefulness. I will have to try this sort of thing some time.
If you check out the Unfold Tab at the top of the page, there is a sub-tab called Creativity Prompts. There are quotes, pictures and some “last line” sentences from books.
Quiet time–especially in the shower or when driving alone–seems to allow ideas to bubble up to the surface. Also, lying quietly in bed when I first wake up (the challenge is remembering the good ideas when I’m up and about!). I practice my writing by doing it just about every day–either my paying work as a medical copywriter, or working on my blog. If I get stuck, walking away from it for a while seems to help. Or taking a shower. 🙂
Yes, some of my best ideas come in the shower too, especially an early morning shower!
I love the idea of morning pages. I’ve gotten lazy in my writing habit. Why do we think that writers just “happen” but so many other skills come from years of doing. I need to read these books.
I love the use of creativity prompts and have often come up with my own scouring through Pinterest or other blogs, sometimes magazines and news articles. Thanks for sharing the great reasons as to why we need to use creative prompts to help our creative practice. I love the two books you mentioned; they are must reads for creative people.
I think the creative process is so important to lasso when possible. I use photography prompts and my own images to inspire my writing and ideas. I love the idea of The Artist Way/Morning pages, but I CANNOT write in the morning, believe me, I tried. Not happening. But I am aware that my best time of day to write, prep blog posts and lectures is mid afternoon. Perhaps I should write something called the “afternoon pages” for all of us PM folks out there.
I like the sound of “Afternoon Pages.” I certainly won’t be able to participate, I’d rather have an afternoon nap than try to write at that time of day. Luckily, that will be when I can do other things like Pin or Tweet or nap.