The Artist’s Way

A few days before the attacks on the World Trade Center (funny how life is "before" and "after" that day), my ex and I had a sometimes-bandmate of his over for a picnic and swimming in our co-op pool.  I talked to Peter about my frustrations with writing, and he suggested that I pick up Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, so I did.  It was a few months before I made the commitment to work through the book, but when I did, my life changed.  Really.  Not a life change like when I find a pair of pants that make my butt look fantastic, but fundamental changes in my thought process and understanding of myself.  I have volumes of morning pages that I wrote, and when I look back through them, I see the shift as I went from making myself secondary to my ex’s creative process to writing my first novel draft to dealing with my separation and divorce to falling in love with the man I will marry in eight days.

Less easy for me were the artist’s dates.  I enjoyed them when I did them, but I let myself ditch them too often.  My dear friend Cae was working through the book at about the same time, and she recalls having a similar difficulty with the artist’s dates.

Well, it’s been too long since I’ve written morning pages, and yesterday I decided that after the wedding I would go through the program again.  I have about 12 weeks off from work and a big project to complete this summer, so it feels right.  I also have a tendency to put my creativity aside for things such as washing floors, and as I enter my new life I want to ensure that I live every hour in such a way that will let my creativity blossom.  It’s time, in other words, for some tweaking of the creative recovery I experienced in 2002.

Back to the artist’s dates.  I decided one way make sure I do them would be to involve others.  Not on the dates themselves; those are meant to be solo.  I started a swap to exchange packages to spark artist’s dates ideas.  If this is something that goes well, I’ll do it every month. 

If you’re interested in The Artist’s Way, whether you once worked through the book and want to go back to some of the tasks, or you want to learn what it’s all about, head over and join the swap. It could be the start of something creative and wonderful for you.