Unblocking Your Creativity

Are you looking for a way to unblock your creativity? Perhaps you are between creative projects and looking for inspiration. Of all the books on writing I've read, the one I most often return to myself and always recommend is Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. It comes as no surprise to me that I often hear it referred to by other writers.

According to Julia Cameron, one of the two basic tools to unblocking creativity is the writing of "Morning Pages." The second is the "Artist's Date," which I'll blog about at another time.

Now that I am between books, I've gone back to doing Morning Pages. This involves sitting down first thing every morning and producing three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing. You should write whatever comes into your head, in whatever state you are in at the time: grouchy, feeling sorry for yourself. Even if all you write is the fact that your brain is mush and your feet are cold. Just keep writing till three pages are filled.

Why are you doing this? Because, as Cameron explains it, "All that whiny, petty stuff you write down in the morning is what stands between you and your creativity." Are you feeling resentment towards another artist? That's a sure sign, says Cameron, that you are creatively blocked. You need to get rid of all that "drek" by putting it  in your morning pages.

Back when winter was WINTER and snow was fun.

When you're doing the pages, don't stop to think that what you're writing is drivel, or that you're wasting your time. There's no wrong way to do Morning Pages and therefore, the opinion of that pesky, internal editor doesn't count. Your internal editor is just another blocking device. 

Why not give it a try? There's nothing to lose and all that natural creativity to unleash.

Write on!