“Writing ‘rights’ things.” Julia Cameron, The Right to Write
When I started this blog, I intended to pull out all the tools that I’d previously used with great success as a way to “prime the pump” and get my long -dreamed creative projects off the ground. I started off 2012 knowing that I wanted to write more, and I knew that the first step involved revisiting old lessons and old teachers.
One of the most powerful writing tools I’ve ever used is what Julia Cameron calls “The Morning Pages”: three pages of stream-of-consciousness, journal-type writing, preferably in the morning. I first encountered the morning pages while working through Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. And while I haven’t always been a diligent practitioner, I find that when I’m getting my “pages” done every day, all of my writing – creative and professional – comes easier and feels more natural. That’s the whole idea behind priming the pump – old water pumps needed a little splash of water before the contents of the well would start flowing freely. When you’re trying to write, the hope is that the words will flow and the ideas will come rushing in – but first you must prime that pump!
Right now I’m working – again – with one of Cameron’s other books – The Right to Write. Broken up into quick chapters that address all the obstacles and excuses that keep us from writing, it’s a great place to start if you want to write, want your writing to be more effective, or just want to open your life up to a more creative existence.
In the introduction, Cameron says, “I have a fantasy. It’s the pearly gates. St. Peter has out his questionnaire, he asks me the Big Question, ‘What did you do that we should let you in?’
‘I convinced people they should write,’ I tell him. The great gates swing open.”
That’s the goal of The Daily Creative Writer too. To get you to write, to express yourself creatively – that’s why am showing up at the page every day, posting new exercises every week. I’m priming that pump. I hope you’ll join me in this adventure.
Related articles
- “Writing rights things.” (thedailycreativewriter.wordpress.com)
- Drama As Creative Fuel (thedailycreativewriter.wordpress.com)
- What Gets You Writing? (thedailycreativewriter.wordpress.com)
- Fail, Fumble and Fall – but make sure to get it all on paper. (thedailycreativewriter.wordpress.com)
- Review: The Right to Write by Julia Cameron (seymourjacklin.co.uk)
- Overcoming Doubts and Doldrums (thedailycreativewriter.wordpress.com)
- The Artist’s Way, an interrum Report (poetic-muselings.net)
the daily creative writer 
I have the TAW but not this one! Do you think TAW can help a ‘writer’ achieve the same things as The Right to Write? I also have the Vein of Gold but I have not started it yet.
I think that TAW is probably the strongest of all her works. It definitely helped me figure out how to make writing a part of my life. I can’t recommend it enough, but it does require more of a commitment than The Right to Write. Let me know what you decide!