In the era of iPads and new technology at every turn, I am asked even more frequently if people really need to do their Morning Pages by hand. In short, the answer is yes. When we write by hand, we connect to ourselves. We may get speed and distance when we type, but we get […]
Morning Pages: why 3 pages?
Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, morning writing about anything. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages, and they are for your eyes only. Doing Morning Pages, we find that we go into our day with more clarity. Although they do take time (about 30-40 minutes), they actually make more time than they […]
Are you willing to make bad art?
You say that you only want to make “good” art. Who can blame you? The only problem with making good art is that sometimes, in order to make good art, we have to be willing to make bad art. Styles mature spasmodically. Sometimes we write poorly on our way to writing better. Sometimes we paint […]
Do you worry that you lack discipline?
This is a paradox to me: many of us start off worrying that we will “lack the discipline” to do morning writing. When we are willing to try writing anyway, we find soon enough that morning writing does not take discipline– but it does make discipline. What is it about stumbling blindly to the page, not knowing […]
Do you think you “can’t” write?
Most of us think we can’t write. We think it’s something other people do– “writers.” Or, if you have a novice’s happy skill and an amateur’s fervent love, it’s a name you reserve for the skill belonging to “real writers.” If we eliminate the word “writer,” if we just go back to writing as an […]
In the “mood”
We often make the mistake of thinking we “have” to be in the “right” mood to write. The truth is, any mood can be used for writing. Any mood is a good writing mood. The trick is to simply enter whatever mood like a room and sit down and write from there.
Gentle Progress
When we are unable to work, we can work at the work of getting ready to work. Writers can lay in supplies of paper and enticing pens, notepads that plead “Please write on me.” Painters can prepare their canvases, clean their brushes, neaten their studio space. Potters can acquire a new lump of cool clay […]
Drought
I want to say something about droughts: as painful as they are, they deepen us. When we feel we have “nothing to say” as artists, we are grappling with what it is we do want to say. In struggling to find our sources of inspiration, we find ourselves. Another thing: drought doesn’t disqualify you as […]
Inspiration
Creativity is not something you possess, but someting that expresses through you. You might call that something “inspiration.” The point is, you need to step aside and allow this force to enter. Puccini claimed the ideas for Madame Butterfly were dictated to him by God. I myself have often sensed “higher forces” of inspiration. I sometimes […]
Change
Creativity involves process, and process involves change. The truism we often hear is that we often resist change because change is difficult or change is painful. This is not quite accurate. It is the resistance to change that is difficult or painful. In the same way, it is the resistance to our creativity that causes us […]
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