Priming the Pump

Julia Cameron's Write for Life, week 1

Welcome to the week one post for Julia Cameron’s Write for Life! Keep reading for my reactions to the first chapter, followed by the weekly check in.

“I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker.”

- Gwendolyn Brooks

Cameron spends the first part of the chapter rhapsodizing on how much she loves to write, as well as the tools she uses to keep her practice regular (Morning Pages, Artist Dates, walks, and the Daily Quota), before diving into a deeper exploration of the writing life.

Who Can Write?

I mentioned in my intro post that while I generally think Cameron’s advice on writing and creativity is spot on, she sometimes says things that make me want to wave a giant red flag. On page 16, she writes (emphasis my own):

Just as we can all speak, we can all put words to the page. Some of us know this fact, and call ourselves writers. Others of us fear this fact. To them the spoken word is one thing, and the written word another. Afraid to put their thoughts to the page, they freeze up. There is a way around this phenomenon, and that is the practice of Morning Pages.

I’m going to assume from this statement that Cameron is unaware of dysgraphia, a learning disability that affects a person’s ability to write, either due to physical challenges or difficulty translating thoughts into writing. There are lots of ways to accommodate dysgraphia; writing three pages by hand isn’t one of them. The irony is that dysgraphia is often co-occuring with other learning disabilities with a proclivity to creativity, like dyslexia. My dysgraphic kid has a wild imagination and a love for storytelling. To dismiss his struggle of getting his thoughts on paper as fear is shortsighted. Story is in his blood as much as it is mine, but while I took to my journal at his age, he prefers to tell someone his ideas. He’s recently become more interested in capturing his stories for longevity, so we will be experimenting with speech to text and transcription software (if you have any recs, please let me know!).

Disability advocacy aside, a writer can be blocked up out of fear and Morning Pages can get things flowing again. But while I used to be a Morning Pages purist (and still am for myself, because I have no issue physically writing three pages and using pen and paper makes me feel at home in my body), I am now a proponent of making the practice work for you.

Protecting Your Inner Artist

Cameron sees the inner artist as the inner child, “easily wounded, hurt by too much attention of the wrong kid.”

The adult self, of course, is charged with protecting the inner child. The adult self must make the commitment and find the discipline to keep up with morning pages. Sometimes the adult self comes through “you need a little treat.”

I thought about my inner child the other day. For months I’ve been telling myself, “You need to go on a no-buy for stickers and washi.” I have a healthy stash of both, although I suspect it’s not nearly as much as other people may have. And yet I keep buying stickers. In fact, I might be buying more than I would normally, for fear of being cut off.

I’ve been writing daily gratitude lists this year (so far, haha), and one night something that came to mind was “I’m grateful for all my journal supplies, my inner child is so happy because she doesn’t get told no.” After I wrote that I thought, “aha!” My younger self sought safety and understanding in her notebooks. She would have lost her mind at all the goodies at my disposal, because extras like stickers and special pens just weren’t as easy to find in her small town in the mid to late 90s (I made due with glue sticks, magazine cut outs, and markers).

I think I’ve given up on trying to go no-buy on stickers; much like I often tell my children “yes” on small items, saying no to something that just isn’t a big deal feels unnecessarily mean. We all deserve a little treat once in awhile!

A Room of One’s Own

“Being truly ourselves is a prerequisite of good writing. We are the origin of our work. When we are authentic, we are original. Our resulting work is original. Our thoughts are clear, and clarity springs from privacy.”

Cameron believes that what Virginia Woolf really meant when she said all writer’s needed a room of one’s own, was that all writer’s need privacy. I don’t disagree. It’s hard for me to write when I’m in the midst of family life. I need to hole up a bit, even if it’s not a completely separate writing studio (although having a dedicated room sounds super dreamy).

Writing Stations

pod under construction in 2023

After the birth of our third child a few years ago, we had a small out building constructed in our backyard. Ostensibly, half of the space is mine. I have my sewing machine and some other craft supplies out there (along with a life-size John Mayer cardboard cut-out, but that’s another story). But the reality is I don’t spend that much time out there. During the week, my husband works from home 2-3 days a week and I try to give him his space when he’s on calls (plus have you ever had to listen to a corporate conference call with at least 15 people on it? not great). And at night, it doesn’t feel cozy. Plus my desk is set up for sewing, not writing. Which is to say: I often end up journaling or writing in bed, which feels like my safe space. It’s okay to cry while writing about a traumatic childhood when you have a quilt nearby!

Right now I’m writing this at a coffee shop, which is fine, too. The change of scenery and background noise is pleasant. I’ve seen a few cute dogs going for walkies on the sidewalk outside. My coffee was kind of gross, though; next week I may try working from the public library a few blocks away.

Grounding

I have always struggled with mindfulness and being present in the moment. Until adulthood, I didn’t realize it was a problem that my brain literally never shuts up. Cameron says Morning Pages “keep you grounded because they keep you from being swept in other people’s agendas.” I have found this to be true; when I am writing regularly, and by that I really mean journaling, I am happier and more focused. The problem, of course, is that there are so many things that can interrupt or curtail my journaling habit. How to stay grounded in the grounding?

Expansion

“As we write morning pages, we connect to the many details— like the roses— the spell inspiration and expansion. Writing our daily pages, we find ourselves interested by the flow of our own lives.”

This morning, dinosaurs stomped through my morning pages. First, as I recounted picking my youngest up from preschool and observing him stomping around the playyard, wearing his favorite dinosaur hoodie (also his oldest brother’s Halloween costume from the year he was two), and then as I tried, in vain, to finish my pages while my middle chattered at me and chomped me with a T Rex mask. Both could be rich scenes and launchpads for writing about this season on my life.

Writing as a Spiritual Path

There is more spiritual discussion in Cameron’s books than one might expect. Or maybe not? Where does inspiration come from? What compels us to show up to the page?

For Cameron it is simple, she promises to show up, and leaves it up to God to take care of the quality.

She writes, “But as I retired from my ego’s need to be a brilliant author, my writing became more clear. No longer aimed at being impressive and brilliant, it aimed instead to be forthright.”

I’m very curious to read some of Cameron’s non-Artist’s Way prose (we’ll read two of her memoirs this summer); I don’t find what I’ve read of her work so far particularly inspiring, lyrically. She writes a lot about the weather, she repeats stories and advice with slight variations in wording. And maybe that’s the point— her books about creativity are approachable and straightforward, which if you’re a struggling creative, is probably what you need.

Maybe I am asking the universe for more lyricism in my own work.

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Check In

How did it go for you this week?

I will admit that I struggled mightily. I wrote something for Morning Pages three days this week, although I only hit three pages once.

The Daily Quota was hard, too: I am very motivated to work on my memoir, and I did make some progress, but according to my Scrivener history, I added 924 words to my manuscript this week, which is pretty far from the 3600 that I would have if I’d kept up with the Daily Quota.

And, I didn’t manage a walk, either. It was particularly gross in Austin this week which was a contributing factor, but I could have accomplished it if I had really tried.

my completed vision board for 2025 (located in the front of my B5 Commonplace Planner)

I did do my Artist Date, which this week was participating in a vision board workshop. It was funny because while I was flipping through the magazines provided by the instructor I was thinking, “these aren’t the magazines I would normally use for this, I’m not finding anything good,” and then I found the armadillo illustration (armadillos have become a bit of a mascot for my memoir project)… and the “Daddy Issues” headline (might as well be the subtitle of my memoir). I think that’s what Cameron would call a ✨ synchronicity. ✨

All in all, a pretty abysmal week! The new year has felt like a slog so far; I think there are astrological reasons for this. Regardless, I’m not going to let my perfectionism get in the way; we adjust and we just keep going. I will work on aligning my daily routine more with what I need/want to get done.

Onwards to week 2!

1. How many days did you do your Morning Pages this week? Are you able to get to them quickly and do them without interruption or distraction? (On Thursday I tried to write while my kids were arguing over the remote)

2. Did you take your artist date? What was it? How was it? Did you experience synchronicity, optimism, or a sense of a benevolent higher power? All three?

3. Did you take your walks? Are you able to do them alone and without distraction? Did you try walking out with a question and seeing if you returned home with an answer?

4. Did you hit your daily quota? How many pages are you into your project? Do you feel a sense of excitement as you watch your page count building?

Feel free to answer the check in Q’s (taken directly from pgs 31 and 32 of Write for Life) in the comments, or link me to a Substack post or Note. Did you find any of Cameron’s essays this week particularly resonate?