The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal [Paperback]

Julia Cameron (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The idea behind Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way is that by writing three pages, longhand and stream-of consciousness, first thing in the morning, you can overcome the obstacles that stop you from becoming your most creative self. This works partly because it forces you to create something (even if it is just a long list of gripes) every single day. It doesn't take much time. You're not even supposed to think. But the act itself gets you past all that self-defeating fretting about why you think you aren't a creative person. Cameron sees her morning pages as "a form of meditation," as "spiritual windshield wipers."

While Cameron touts the morning pages as a way of life, she suggests you start out doing them as part of a "twelve-week program to recover your creativity." If you would like to keep your first twelve weeks of morning pages together in one tidy place, The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal is a fine tool for doing so. Each nearly blank page features an inspiring quotation from The Artist's Way: "Leap, and the net will appear," says one; "Creativity lies not in the done but in doing," reminds another. We should mention that many of these little inspirations include references to God, which may be troublesome even for spiritual atheists. --Jane Steinberg

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; First Trade Paperback Edition edition (December 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874778867
• ISBN-13: 978-0874778861
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Self-Help > Creativity

More About the Author

Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years. She is the author of twenty-eight books, fiction and nonfiction, including her bestselling works on the creative process: The Artist's Way, Walking in This World, Finding Water, and The Writing Diet. A novelist, playwright, songwriter, and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film, and television.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

123 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful if you do Artist's way morning pages, January 29, 2002

By 

atmj (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal (Paperback)

This book is very helpful if you do the Artist's way morning pages. In fact, if you are not doing this, I'm not sure what else you would use this book for.
I gave it a 4 only because the number of pages for each week were off and it was an awkward book to write in. Other than that it was great.

GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF WHAT THE AUTHOR INTENDED FOR 3 PAGES OF WRITING
When you do the Artist's way journaling, it states you should do 3 pages of writing per day. This book gives you a sense of what the author meant as 3 pages. By the way 3 pages this size took me not the 15-30 minutes the author implied, but more like 45 minutes to 1 hour. It could also be the morning grogginess too.
I get up at 5:15AM to do these.

NOT ENOUGH PAGES FOR EACH WEEK PLUS A CHECK-IN:
As this book is by the same author that did the Artist way 12-week program, I am surprised that the number of pages provided did not meet the authors requirement. Per week you should have at least 21 pages and then 1-2 pages for a weekly check in. I found that I often wrote into the following week though I never wrote over 3 pages/day nor more than a 1 page per check in. 23 pages per week should be what the author provided as a minimum.

BOUND-BACK MADE IT AWKWARD TO WRITE AT TIMES:
This book would be better as a spiral bound book, so that you could fold back the areas you did not need. At times in the AM, it was all I could do to write much less trying to hold the book open.

INSPIRATIONAL SAYINGS EACH DAY PERTAINING TO THAT WEEK WAS NICE:
The author paraphrazed the Artist's way book providing page numbers as well, each day. That was nice. It often helped to get my writing jumpstarted.

SUGGESTION TO THE AUTHOR:
As you recommend to your readers to continue the morning pages a follow on set of books would be handy with the same type of inspirational phrases each day. Buying this book again with the unmatched set of pages and difficulty to hold open, does not appeal to me.

This program is a good one and I plan to continue the morning pages. It is a very useful thinking practice.

152 of 158 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clarity and a truely different form of journal writing, May 26, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Berkshire Mountains) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal (Paperback)

I have written in journals sporatically for years, when I was "in the mood". Morning pages are a different kind of journal writing that must be taken on faith at first. Get up half an hour early every day just to brain dump into a book? Sounds crazy, but it works. As the weeks go by, you find answers as well as grumbling complaints, worries, and random thoughts. Amazingly, as you clear away the clutter of your mind, all these wonderful creative things start to happen. I discovered I was joyful and clear headed when I wrote my morning pages and began looking forward to them like a good friend who always listens patiently. Match them with artist dates, and watch your life change. I highly recommend it.

81 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of money, November 18, 2004

By 

kdd (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal (Paperback)

Only,if you need serious handholding while doing "The Artist's Way," this might possibly be helpful. It is basically a blank book with the sugested 3 pages ticked off for each writing session. The author threw in some quotes from the book and a couple of paragraphs in the weekly segments. Also, there is no extra room to do some of the exercises each week--a feature that would have been helpful.
It isn't even very comfortable to write in.
I wish I had looked a little harder at it when making my purchase