The Artist's Way: Getting Started

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your creative life!

As promised, I will be blogging lessons and activities from Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" every week to help you (and ME!) unleash the artist trapped underneath work deadlines, household responsibilities and the new fall TV lineup. So often we allow outside stressors keep us from finishing that script or novel or blog post, even though, out of everything we do all day, it's the one thing we want to do the most. Cameron's workshop is not a cure-all, but rather a way to get in the habit of putting your creative life among the other immediate priorities on your list.

So let's get started!

First thing's first- here's what you'll need (besides the book, which I asked you to get last week. You DID do your homework, right? This doesn't help if you don't actually do the homework...) before the actual activities begin.

1- You'll need to read the introduction, as well as pages 1-24 of the book. These sections will outline the Basic Principles as taught by Cameron, which includes acknowledging that our creativity is a gift from our god or creator, and that using that creativity is our gift back. [Please note that you will have to read all of the material yourself as I will only summarize the lessons each week in addition to adding my thoughts on the work I did so far. I am not Cameron and do not pretend to know how to run this workshop. I'm just here as a guide as I participate in the workshop, too.]

2- Set aside time in the early morning to write. Cameron asks us to write morning pages daily, but points out that "there is no wrong way to do morning pages. These daily morning meanderings are not meant to be art. Or even writing." Also, and this is the really hard part, you're asked to turn off your Censor. You know who that is, right? That little voice inside your head that criticizes everything you do. Tell that voice to shut the hell up and just write your pages freely.

3- Plan some artist dates for yourself. As you read on, you'll see Cameron mention taking your inner child/creativity on an excursion in order to nurture it. This artist date is NOT to be shared with anyone but your inner child/creativity.

4- You must "fill the well" to draw from it. If you're a painter, immerse yourself in other paintings or works of art. If you're a writer, READ MORE BOOKS. It's as simple as that.

5- Make a contract with yourself. Cameron includes a creativity contract in the book, wherein we prove our commitment to the workshop and to gifting ourselves a more creative life. Isn't that the point, after all?

I hope you're as excited to begin this 12-week journey as I am. There's so much I can accomplish in my writing career and I cannot wait to get it done with the help of this course. And it feels good to know we'll get there together!

xoxo,
Raquel Ivelisse