The Night Pages: An Essay on Writing

While leafing through Julia Cameron's "Artist's Way," I always find myself thinking back to the first time the night pages came to me. It wasn't one of those "It was a dark and stormy night" type of ideas, but I decided, "Why just write in the morning when I can do it at night?"

Let me explain: In Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" you do a lot of things that are intended to inspire your creativity, foremost being getting up a bit earlier in the morning and writing out three pages. It can be called a journal, but mine was always much different than a journal. I tended to skip ahead in the writing of it, reminiscing on things that had happened to me in the past, and ideas for stories. I would also repeat myself constantly just to fill up those darn pages.

A writer will need discipline, and Julia Cameron taught me to find it within myself. There was no great novel on the backburner - writing was a hard profession.

But back to the discussion; the night pages idea came to me because getting up earlier in the morning can be hard for some. The purpose of it is to inspire creativity, but who can be creative that early in the morning?

I found that I got most of my ideas running around at night anyways. So I began to write, and I stopped repeating myself. I found the night pages made me a different writer.

It still can be hard for a writer to continue to write at night; you just might be tired then, too.

Yet writing at night can be very productive; I found ideas for novels and short stories, began to dream again. Julia Cameron's book led me directly to finding a job as a writer, one that doesn't always pay high (a newspaper), but a fulfilling field for any aspiring writer.

I wouldn't say "The Artist's Way" changed my life, but it sure changed my views on writing. I filled up many notebooks with ideas which, though unused, provided me getting a decent job.

But a writer should take the initiative and write when it's good for them. The family is just rising in the morning, getting ready for work and school, so that's not always a prime time to write.

Instead, write at night when the house is silent, the TV off, and everyone else is dreaming. You can do your own dreaming if you stick to the night pages.