25. Dr Pepper, What's The Worst That Could Happen? (2004)

falling down the concrete stairs at work at lunchtime and breaking your femur and cracking your head open and also shitting yourself because of the shock and pain

I don’t mean to sound like a scratched CD, but earlier this summer - in an attempt to unblock my inner artist - I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. One of the book’s best known bits is about Morning Pages: the practise of getting up first thing in the morning and writing three full pages, longhand. There are no rules, except that you do it every day.

I’ve been doing Morning Pages every day for seven weeks now. I had initially hoped for straightforward, immediate results. Complain for a few paragraphs about being tired, then all of sudden I’m nailing down the final scene of my A24 screenplay.

The material results have been more like what you’d expect: several A5 exercise books full of phrases like “just woke up” and “okay mate I’ll see you here again tomorrow.”

That’s not to say Morning Pages isn’t working.

It’s taught me to enjoy handwriting.

It’s taught me to slow my brain down to the pace of my pen.

And it’s taught me - when I get stuck halfway through a sentence and stare out the window thinking of things that would have previously felt too abstract or shameful to commit to paper - to think fuck it, what’s the worst thing that could happen?