I just started reading Artist's Way and would like to know if it makes any difference if I type my morning pages on the computer rather than write them out long-hand in a notebook. I've been at this for a week and my goal is to type a minimum of 3 pages, double spaced. Because of the work I do, I have gotten into the habit of writing directly into a word processor and quite frankly I find it easier and less cumbersome, not to mention it really cuts down on all the clutter in my home.
I couldnt find any reference to this in the book so I thought I would send this request via this venue....
I tend to use long hand on loose leaf paper because that is how I work. At the end of a given amount of time the paper is put into a notebook. That time has varied from a year to every two months and may drop to monthly because the Pages are becoming part of my writing project.
You would really need to look at how you work and whether typing gets you the needed results. You are looking for stream-of-consciousness writing where you put down anything that comes to the mind. If you can do this via a computer, more power to you. It could be that you are better at thought to text via computer than thought to text via long hand.
I suspect that there are a lot of people who do better via computer than long hand because long hand isn't being taught well or used as often.
As an experiment, try the Pages for a week using longhand. If you get better creativity based results, then the change might be worth the clutter.
Actually there is a reference in the book. Julia suggests longhand. I doubt she'll send the TAW police after you, though, if you prefer to type them. We'll probably even allow you to continue in this forum, although ... yeah, I guess it's ok. What do the rest you you guys think?
But you know, bibian - longhand has the wonderful advantage of allowing you to "scrawl". You can't "scrawl" on a computer, no matter which font you use!
To me, and it is only my personal opinion, there is nothing like opening a notebook/journal and selecting your favourite pen or colour :o) I find the whole process of actually "writing" very theraputic, but, that is only my personal opinion...you have to do whats right for you :o)
Actually, you can 'scrawl' when typing as long as you turn off 'teh' spell check. 1 result is l33t, the computer geek language that I suspect evolved because of typing errors.
Do note that TAW was originally published in 1992, when CompuServe was king of the online services and laptop computers were very expensive and very bulky. There has been a whole new generation that may type faster than they can write longhand, if they can even do longhand.
agree with Generalist. I definitely type Much faster than I can write. But I'm finding I kind of like being slowed down on paper and I like having the morning pages book. Sometimes I look at it during the day and think--yes, this is a tough moment but I can write it down tomorrow morning--and then I seem to handle things better, like I'm looking at them through a filter from tomorrow and they're not so bad.
I do a lot of freewriting on the computer. I also do some longhand. If you're writing in a fancy, expensive journal, you might self-censor more than you would in a 25-cent spiral notebook. Some people are more or less censored while writing on the computer. I think that's the important thing. I often turn off the computer screen while I'm freewriting, or just close my eyes, which helps me get the stream of consciousness going.
I've tried doing the morning pages on paper, but I'm really used to write on my computer, so now I'm changing. Today I wrote 1000 words on Google docs, and it worked just fine. I even think that I can 'loose' myself more while writing on PC. Go on and try it, like Generalist suggested.
Hi peeps, I'm new here. Been lurking for a while. I'm not so much doing Artist's Way as reading it at the moment, but I want to start going through it for real. I've tried the morning pages a few times on paper, and it worked well for me, but I'm definitely one of that generation that feels awkward writing longhand. I'm a computer programmer and typing is just what I do. I *never* write cursive. If I write on paper I'm always printing instead of writing cursive. I tried learning Italics one time, which went nowhere for me. I hated it, in fact. I think writing on a computer would feel most natural and easy for me. I love the feel of pen and paper, but my thoughts don't flow most naturally that way, I would say.
Anyway, thanks lavendercloud for your suggestion to turn off the screen or close your eyes. I'm definitely gonna try it out. Sounds awesome. :)
When I first started TAW I did my pages longhand. Several months ago I thought that by typing MP's I would save on space and clutter as well, so I started typing away. I typed them for a month or two and found that it just didn't feel the same, I missed the pen and paper. I'm back to longhand.
I might consider doing more on a computer, but the laptop/notebook computer I would want has to meet some fairly tough specs.
1. It needs to be able to be used to hammer nails in an emergency without breaking. 2. It shouldn't break if dropped, sat on, run over by a car/truck, or handled by a large dog or a three year old child. (Scuffed surfaces are permitted.) 3. It can take having a two liter bottle of cola spilled on it and a fall into a swimming pool, lake or ocean. 4. It is about the size of a clipboard with half an inch of paper clipped to it. 5. There are no moving parts, other than electrons. 6. It can be self powered for those times when I'm away from the grid. (I will make allowances for a limited usage time when off grid.) 7. It has to be fast enough to handle me typing at speed but it doesn't have to be a gaming machine. 8. It needs to cost less than the most expensive car I own.
We're slowly getting to the point where the above is possible. But my 'ideal' machine has been an idea I've had for over a decade.
I'll stick to pen, paper and metal clipboards for now.
I write my MP's in longhand though I've two computers and a netbook (a little notebook). And my typing is very fast. I like to scrawl and the feeling of flow from page one to three. And I havn't to rework my MP's. They are as they are... and they energize me and give a powerful morning dynamic. One day I will experiment with a pad...
Nathalie Goldberg who wrote the excellent Writing Down the Bones (recommended highly by Julia Cameron at back of TAW book) reckons that she connects more to emotional and spiritual matters but using pad and paper but if she has to write some more functional plot narrative she'll switch to the computer - interesting and I see where she's coming from.
She reckons that the actual physical action (or ache if you do it for a while) in the hand, arm is important - and that the motion of handwriting is somehow more in synch with our heart and emotions....part of the idea of 'scrawling' as mentioned above by others. I am currently going back over my Morning Pages and enjoying the look of them on the page - the neatness (sometimes), the scrawl, the tired bleary eyed, messy page, the angry pen nib making deep indentations on some pages, the relaxed, I'm-so-sorted today, arty squiggles......not sure that would be so apparent on a PC screen!
However, if time is of the essence, I'm with you, my typing speed is much much quicker than my writing speed....but sometimes isn't it good to slow the hell down? Wildflower made that point well.
Writing with your hand is so much more visceral. It is slower, to slow down your thoughts. Our everyday lives are all about hurrying, mutlitasking, hitting the high spots. Sometimes it's good to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n and think: mellow the mind, let it wander, mull things over, branch out. Typing full speed ahead is so linear. Type fast! Abbreviate! Hurry! Not for me, thanks.
It's ironic that I should find myself asking about longhand vs. computer given that I am of the jurassic era of longhand. ( I fought and fought a thesis advisor back in the 80s who insisted that I type directly onto computer and now my longhand is so bad, I skip letters and my writing is illegible)
But I do get the point most of you make about the visceral effect of writing and, more importantly the effect of sloooowiiing down the thoughts long enough to get them on paper. I usually reserve the slowing down of thoughts to meditation; perhaps i should apply that to writing as well..
I've now reached the point where I have four styles of longhand.
Style 1 is my normal handwriting, legible enough for me to read but nothing that would win prizes.
Style 2 is my Pages handwriting, one where I sometimes dot my T's, cross my H's, put descenders on my B's and D's, leave out letters, add letters and other problems. It is not pretty.
Style 3 is my signature quality handwriting. It actually looks like the stuff you find in handwriting books.
Style 4 is various calligraphy styles. If I want something that stands out and can be read, I break out the fancy pens and paper. Very slow but very pretty.
It would be interesting to try seeing how long it takes to do the pages in each style and see what the speed does to the thought processes.
I have been typing. I have a chronic illness that includes severe arthritis - pain and stiffness in my hands. I am a watercolor artist. This might sound strange to some, but typing is actually easier for me. It is painful to grip a pen, and I drop things often after tiring. If I do my pages in longhand, I find that I do not have enough strength left to hold my brushes without severe pain and dropping them. I have changed nothing else. But this was a conscious, self caring decision on my part. This modification actually makes it more likely that I will do my pages, which I do faithfully.
Today, I started my typing experiment, I definately went over the 3 page allotment(750 words) without noticing. I stopped at about 1100, took less than 30 mins. I did noticed that I was tempted by the backspace key, actually, for some time I did not notice I was using it. It came to my attention, when I typed "then the", started hitting backspace, and then stopped myself. The sentence I was working on would have changed direction if I erased the word.
I do admit, I loved the speed, I was much faster than my inner critic, he was just too distracted, and then stunned at what came out.
I am amazed at the speed too and I just keep typing and dont worry about correcting. I find I can keep up with my censor and as soon as that distorted thinking or resentment comes out I put it immediately down on paper. It is much more comfortable for me due to the fact that I have such arthritic pain when gripping objects. I am also able to get at whats really on my mind and bothering me and getting in the way of my creativity. I have a tendency to space out when writing longhand, never mind the pain. Maybe slowing down is part of it, but I do tai chi and meditation too, to fill that need.
My problem with "writing" morning page in long hand is that I never really learned cursive and my printing takes way too long and can't be read... even by me. Because of the "writing not typing" dictum, I must admit I've never really done morning pages... This thread gives me hope that typing in a computer will accomplish the same results.
yes thank you typing them was so much better i'm one of those youngins that was practically raised with keyboard in hand this was so liberatingly easy 40 minutes done printed and sealed it felt great YAY
I'm one of the oldsters who had my first typing class in 10th grade, on a manual typewriter. I think I managed to hit 35 words per minute at the time.
A few years ago, after decades of typing on an electric typewriter and a computer, I did a timed typing test. I managed to hit 65 words per minute at max speed. But when I finished my hands were sore. I can't sustain that speed though.
I can, however, get the Pages done in 30 to 35 minutes with very sloppy longhand where I forget letters, add letters, dot my t's, cross my i's and l's, misspell things, drop words, and do other forms of writing mayhem. I do this on a clipboard with a special writing surface that keeps me from digging into the pages below. (I tend to press down hard when writing. It creates an interesting textured effect on the paper.)
Oddly enough, I had thought that 45 minutes was my fastest time until I tried pure stream of consciousness combined with a reckless disregard for readability. It is interesting what happens when you revisit things and test old assumptions.
I have the exact same experience, typing the morning pages... disregarding spelling, punctuation, context and all that.... I never could gain anything close to a pure stream of consciousness with my so called long hand... however typing does exactly that. I wonder what Steven Hawking would use? Writing is writing regardless of the tools used to accomplish it, IMHO.
I suspect that there is a paradigm shift going on as people are not taught long hand and spend more and more time at a keyboard. This shift is further boosted by the fact that you can buy a small footprint netbook computer for cheap and carry it around with you at all times.
Back in 1992, when TAW first came out, computers cost a lot and laptop computers were even more expensive. DOS ruled with Windows 3.1 hot on its heels. Only a few people spent a lot of time on computers and the World Wide Web was still in its infancy.
Today, almost twenty years later, people spend huge amounts of time using their computers, typing away. The Morning Pages advice may need to be changed to accommodate this paradigm shift, perhaps with several suggested methods of doing them. The results would be the focus, with the method tailored to each individual.
Twenty years from now, the Morning Pages might include an additional method, speaking to a program that translates what you say into words. We're part way there now.
Twenty years after that, yet another method for doing the Morning Pages might appear. That method would be direct neural input, with tagging for blurts as well as other filtering based on the emotional loading of different thoughts. (Now that might make an interesting story. Or a product for self help at several levels.)
Hey generalist, one day when I was feeling very tired, I thought of speaking the morning pages into my mobile voice recorder. :-D I might do that some day, just to keep the flow going. Currently, I am doing the pages by long hand, but It seems a pity to stop just because you didn't maybe get the time to sit down, pen in hand, some day. "That method would be direct neural input, with tagging for blurts as well as other filtering based on the emotional loading of different thoughts." Interesting idea, wow. I agree with Robert Burton, "Writing is writing regardless of the tools used to accomplish it, IMHO." It's like drawing. For me it remains drawing whether I do it online, or on used paper, with pen/pencil, whatever. Some tools may just be more comfortable to a particular person, that's all.
Some days I invision myself sitting in a cloister, carefully drawing the serif on each letter as an act of devotion. Some of my pages have illuminated capitals. My mind turns inward and my pen meanders across the page. I do not want to rush through it as fast as I can. It's not a chore to get behind me. It's a ritual, like a warm bath or a tea ceremony. Y'all run on ahead, I'll catch up with you later.
I have a problem with deadlines, which I found manifests itself when I write my pages on paper. Knowing exactly where I am at all times (which page, top, middle, or bottom) is so distracting that I find it hard to let loose and allow my stream-of-consciousness out. After reaching the required three pages, there is no deadline any more, so I can go easier. But the struggle to get there is annoying. When I type on the computer, I do not know how much I have typed unless I stop a moment to check. I usually check only once or twice before I get the required three pages (on the program I use, that is 75 lines). Stream-of-consciousness flows right out.
I do try not to hurry, though. What I want is a flow, not an avalanche. If it does not take about half an hour, I am not going slowly enough. Every few days I go over in length and in time, and that is really fun. I love just having the ideas come out. So liberating.
PJ thank you so much for your post, i love writing and doing it neatly is like a meditation .A while ago i used to write in a journal and just waffled on about my day ,my thoughts ,craft ideas ,shopping lists - anything and it all just flowed from my mind ,and i often wrote solutions to things which i thought -" where did that idea come from " or i would write a poem or short story Now im doing t a w and on second week of morning pages i felt i shouldnt write neatly but should rush it ,the daft thing is i often stop and think "what can i write " and have to wait for my mind to get going . Something is telling me to start doing mps the first way espiecally as i love doodles ,little drawings ,stickers ,pretty borders and could add these to them I hope this makes sense ,love flowergirl
I'm basically apposed to all dogma... insofar as spirituality and the arts are concerned. I'm sure guys like Stephen Hawking and other handicapped people can get just as much benefit from morning pages using the tools they have than any perfect or imperfect longhand. Do what works but do it. Now all I have to do is practice what i preach...
I find it most interesting that some people who are opposed to "rules" are more ruled than those who go with the flow. I know people--mostly teenagers, I grant you--who will do something a particular way simply because it is contrary to what they've been told. I figure there are a lot of mistakes out there for me to make without having to do it from sheer hard-headedness. If I can learn from someone else's experience, it saves me the headache. I have often thought that comes from having an older sibling. Watching him screw up has provided me with a wealth of learning opportunities, not to mention entertainment. On the other hand, my younger son is thrashing about like a wild dog on a short chain. I guess some people just have to learn for themselves.
One approach to figuring out the 'ideal' technique for the Morning Pages is to figure out what the Pages should do and what limits/resources you have in doing the Pages.
I seem to recall a description that the Pages were a form of 'meditation for Westerners'. That would be one attribute.
'Brain dump' is another attribute. So is 'stream of consciousness.'
(Time to check various sources on what the Pages should do. Perhaps someone has an itemized list that could be used. (I'm in analytical mode right now.))
Once you have the goals of the Pages listed, think of the limits/resources you have. If longhand is physically difficult, typing or dictation would work. If you think in pictures rather than sentences, doodles might be useful, with icons or notes to remind you of what you were thinking. If your mind to paper throughput is slow in all mediums, you might have to condense the Pages to what ever you can do, with half an hour or more of thought put into a few line items that appear on a single page, using whatever shorthand methods you have to get the ideas through. And if physical or mental conditions vary from day to day, you may end up doing a mix of things.
The goal of the Morning Pages would be the same no matter what medium you use.
Hey generalist, what you say seems to make much sense, and explains how I've been doing the pages. Some days I'm in the mood to mix doodling and writing, other days, I'll doodle in the page margins after writing, sometimes I'll simply write and let it go on to as much as it wants - like today I wrote four pages and a little more. As long as I'm comfy and I look forward to doing it, I'm okay with all these methods for myself. I believe that in doing anything, it's a good idea to figure out what works for you best. There's usually a system, a tried-and-tested one, true, but you're free to engage with it your way and make it your own.:-)
Ideally, education should be tailored to your learning methods, with variations that handle such things as mood swings and topics. The 'one size fits all' style of education may work for a part of the population but it starts to fall apart once you get out of the 'one size' zone and it goes completely to pieces when dealing with the fringe.
It would be nice if there were a way to determine, in advance, what teaching techniques work best for someone given their learning methods, moods and topics. If the proper teaching techniques were used early in a person's eduction, then they might become avid lifetime learners.
Note that education isn't limited to formal education. I consider TAW to be a training manual.
I think a useful spur to stream-of-consciousness writing on a keyboard can be achieved by using Write or Die (writeordie.drwicked.com). I have used this for some time and it really keeps you going -- if you stop and think too much while you are writing, it starts alarming and you can only turn off the alarm by continuing to write. If you have never tried it out, you should give it a whirl. There's also a desktop version.
There are times when I think that the Write or Die setup could save me a lot of time transcribing things IF I used that technique for NaNo oriented story writing. As it stands, I'd probably trade quality for quantity if I went that way, which might not be too bad. Going the handwriting route I can usually reach 2K words a day, and sometimes hit twice that.
I suspect that the characters would lead me on even greater tangents than they currently are doing, even with an outline of where I think they are heading.
Generalist, I agree that Write or Die does tend to sacrifice quality for quantity, because you just have to keep typing no matter what. You can adjust the settings for the alarm, and make it a more relaxed pace than what I am describing. But overall, there's not much time for reflection, that's for sure, which makes it ideal for stream-of-consciousness.
I love to write by hand, and have a huge collection of notebooks, paper, and pens to prove it. Occasionally I will go back to handwriting, but I always run up against the problem of the time it takes to transcribe what I have written, as you said. That's the major reason I am trying to do as much as possible on the keyboard because I HATE having to type things in from handwriting -- it feels like writing twice (although if I edit as I go, that's actually a strong reason to do it that way). And I feel like a lot of my writing gets "trapped" in notebooks because I don't want to take the time (or simply don't have the time) to go back and transcribe stuff.
I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments. Has anyone experimented with doing morning pages on an iPad? I just got one, and it's great for reducing paper clutter. There's a cool app called MaxJournal that I'm trying out for my morning pages.
I went to an organizational meeting for a TAW class that is being held locally. The leader has been doing TAW classes for almost 10 years. He said that they absolutely cannot be typed--must be longhand, and that you must never, ever go back and read them!
So, I didn't sign up for the class. I don't think making hard-and-fast rules for others to follow is what TAW is all about.
And, I'm not paying $300 for a twelve-week class to talk about a book I already own. I'll just stay here and chat with you all, if that's ok.
That guy is wrong for another reason. In week 9, I believe, Julia has you go back and read your pages. As I've said before, the purpose of TAW is not to create perfect little TAW-ers. It's to get your creative juices flowing. So if your way of doing the pages gets you moving--even if St. Julia herself tells you it's the wrong way--that's the way to do them.
hey, artists way as the name itself says is a journey. and there's a good guide as on a tour, but everyone's free to amble and sniff and look around and take side-trails, experimenting with how they want to do it, i guess. no rush.
I've just started TAW too and was immediately drawn to this subject. Ten years ago, I could get a lot closer to my own thoughts by writing longhand, but that's no longer true. Now, I write longhand so seldom that my hand has poor control and cramps up quickly, so I can't do stream of consciousness any longer that way. It's become too laborious, takes too much conscious effort at controlling the pen, so I'm glad to hear that some other people are using a keyboard.
Also, I didn't like having the pages around the house for anyone to pick up and read, so I've been throwing them away! Thanks for letting me know that we'll need them later! I think I'll do better with typing them now.
I don't know if it's "proper TAW procedure" but I do go back and read mine. Not only does it help me research when something happened...sometimes they are actually pretty interesting. Letting MP's sit for awhile and going back to read them gives just enough distance to make an objective evaluation. It just so happens, sometimes I'm a halfway decent writer.
hi everyone I am new here & have found just the ONE topic that has driven me wacky for years LOL
the MP's always are difficult for me... it is time to do the book again [is it like re-treading?] I have done it more than once & really gained much each time.. but MP's always rough
I will try --again-- long hand, time is now a mess as I get up very early to get to a job that I really need. Someday I will get to do just what I love doing even more than what I am doing now.
today, I was being asked to 'mentor' a group.. not as a guru.. just help 'call the cluster to order' when we meet.. it has not been completely decided .. I don't feel like an expert on this as we all contribute.. we get out what we put in [or so I think] so I have not really agreed to do it.
as to MP's, I like to make my own book.. using either loose leaf pages or an Ibico [?sp] machine however, a new tool is I play with Zentangles now [it is a repetitive drawing process] as a meditative process... it is fun and useful :> it can take the place of words or be added to them..this is what I have been doing but not to the 3 page criteria [yet]
thanks for the great comments...makes my brain work :>