Morning Pages
We're aiming for a post a day to get into the habit of writing each morning. I'm writing on the fly here, which has me thinking about one of my favourite books on this exact practice called "The Artist's Way" written by Julia Cameron. The book had been recommended on a few different creativity podcasts so I thought I'd give it a whirl. The major focus of the book is to get into the practice of 'morning pages' which is the habit of writing without any filter or hesitation for a set time or length (like fill up an A4 page). Julia suggests that A) You don't ever re-read your work and B) You aren't allowed to lift the pen or pencil off the page. This results in free writing and develops a muscle for quieting down the inner critic inside of you. It's beneficial people in any profession - not just creative.
Another lovely practice is the 'Self Date'. Quite simply it's a regular date that you take yourself on (easier when things are open we are still in lockdown in Sydney). It can be a long walk, a visit to a gallery, staring at clouds or whatever you like! As long as it is on your own and represents a kind of 'brain spa'. You know, a place where you might check your brain into, pop a bathrobe on it and hit the sauna. There are other little tools that Julia suggests for guiding your creativity and nurturing your inner artist which I'll leave for another blogger somewhere to analyse.
How does this relate to our series Unegen: The Burning Tree? Great question. Last year, Damien and I consistently worked together (before our workday) on the storytelling element of the show. We are lucky to be able to think and discuss creatively together, as there is no filter between us. We were accidentally writing our morning pages together, developing our character backstories and creating new iterations of our episode outlines. On reflection I have been missing our regular writing sessions together as currently, we are in the concept art phase for the project, meaning our focus is more on developing the visual identity of our characters and the world around them - something I am less comfortable with compared to Damo.
The other challenge we are currently facing is resourcing consistent concept artists within our budget - I'll leave that for another blog post. The concept art phase has meant that this year has been more of a project management process as opposed to the creative writing that Damien and I got stuck into last year, there is a lot less in our control in this phase. Which is why starting this blog feels like that refreshing feeling you have after walking out of a day spa. I actually don't know that feeling but this must be close. In that case, this blog can be considered a public version of morning pages with a little editing here and there. I'll get stuck into the start of our writing process next post with a particular focus on index cards, a pencil and a rubber.
Sam