Morning Pages & Why I Stopped Doing Them

Concerns for Christians who want to do The Artist's Way or Write For Life

As I mentioned in my article about removing all my books from Amazon, I had watched a documentary about a devotional book that had quite a lot of errors. There were a few similarities that I had found with the book being mentioned and that of Julia Cameron’s, The Artist’s Way and Write For Life.

I couldn’t quite find the words I was looking for of why I wasn’t entirely comfortable with her books even though I had seen so many positive results come from it personally. I mean, I had written the first draft of my novel (which I had been struggling to write for 8 years), and after reading this book I did it in 6 months! I was filling up my 29th morning pages journal and had self published 6 books with my 7th about to launch. What could be so wrong?

Maybe the answer I found was the reason why I hadn’t been as motivated to write and publish as much this year as I had the year prior.

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I read this article after typing in some searches on stream of consciousness writing and if it differs from automatic writing, and the things I read in this article was like she was putting words to the feelings I had. I was so overjoyed by what I learned because it all finally made sense to me.

I repented of reading her books and deleted them from my library. I then went to my bookshelf and put all my books and journals into the recycling bin. Then I took to my laptop and deleted all the drafts of every book I had written or was writing (bar my novel which I’ll get into why in a moment) and put my physical draft book and book ideas notebook in the recycling.

I can’t say that I think my books came from a bad place as I never “cleared my mind and invited something to write through me”. I’m just concerned if I unintentionally went into a meditative state through my morning pages practice which I always (regrettably) did before I did my Bible study. I definitely should’ve changed the order around because in hindsight, everything I wrote now seems to be from a place of self which I’m not happy about.

I had to get rid of my books because each and every single book I wrote can be traced back to my morning pages pretty much word for word.

I think the most recent book I was working on up until this point was the biggest cause of doubt for me because it didn’t quite feel like a book I would be 100% happy with releasing.

Now when I think about the novel I’ve been working on for the past 8 years, I can see that the idea of it hasn’t dramatically, but I want to be more cautious about anything I work on now and will keep it on pause until I’m sure what to do about it.

I’m not sure of Julia’s influences when she wrote her books and that’s why I can’t be sure of what I took away and implemented from following it. Yes, it may seem extreme but I’d rather be sure starting from scratch than going down a path that I may find harder to come back from, as well as potentially leading others down too. If something will only affect me, then that’s one thing, but if it will affect others, then that’s a responsibility I won’t take lightly, not to mention that I’m not the only person now that has come to these same conclusions about her work (thanks to the article I found).

I’m really glad and also don’t find it a coincidence that I’m learning all these things as I’m embarking on a media fast with the main goal to grow my relationship with God. The removal of things seemed to start even before my fast did!

Now, I’m not saying that these books are evil and so is everything that anyone has made from them, but I’m going to be more cautious about what I read and what I take away from things or introduce into my life and the lives of others.

Years ago my goal was to have a bookshelf filled entirely of my own books. I’ve ticked that goal now so I don’t have to be disappointed about letting them go (even though I was strangely prepared for it so I don’t even feel bad about it at all). Who’s to say I will never again achieve that goal but with books I can be unashamedly happy and confident in?

✨ Nadine