Ring in the New Year with the Artist’s Way

I fell upon the thorns of prose. I bled. — Julia Cameron

If you've ever perused through a list of books all writers should read, or just been a person who exists in some form on the internet, you’ve probably heard of The Artist’s Way. Often called “the creativity bible,” Julia Cameron’s book is hard to pin down into one small niche. This is perhaps why its popularity has endured, and everyone from famous directors and models down to your retired hippie neighbor Sally have tried it at least once. 

The Artist’s Way first floated into my consciousness more than ten years ago, when then XOJane writer Mandy Stadtmiller wrote an article for the publication with the headline “Doing ‘Morning Pages’ from ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron led me to get divorced, lose 40 pounds and find a dream job.” (all typos Mandy’s.) While this article is no longer available, at least not in its original form, the headline has always stuck out to me - do The Artist’s Way, and your life will change radically.

As of this writing, the book is marked as “Currently Reading” on Goodreads by 17.1k people. That doesn’t account for all of the people who have it on their nightstand as their own creativity bible, or those who have it gathering dust on a bookshelf in the corner of the living room that doesn’t get any light. So what exactly is it, and why are creatives and wannabe creatives so obsessed with it?

Well, firstly, Julia Cameron doesn’t believe in “wannabe creatives.” Throughout the book, she expresses the idea that creativity is a divine, innate gift that we all have. As she goes through narratives of people who found their way back to art after a decades-long stifiling via the process of The Artist’s Way, including her own tale of addiction and triumph, there is a grandmotherly way about her that makes the reader feel soothed and cared for. Of course you are creative, of course you are divinely gifted. 

Cameron’s soothing and affirming words are something any artist needs to hear from time to time. A lot of us have very limited time and resources to write, so when we sit down with a book like this, that seems to be asking for a lot of time - time to write words every morning that don’t go toward your word count, time to go on Artist Dates, away from family and friends and creative projects, time to contemplate the past and recreate the map that led you to where you are today - it is imperative that we feel that the book gives us back something worth more than the time we put into it. 

There are a few simple tasks the book asks of you. The first is that you begin the daily practice of Morning Pages, three stream-of-consciousness journal pages in which you purge from your brain all of the tasks, ideas, phobias, and feelings that are taking up precious creative space, so that you can then go deeper into what you really feel, and really want, and have breakthroughs. It is part therapy, part journaling, a cleansing of the mind so that you can leave the inner critic behind and start making art. Cameron says the pages must be handwritten, not typed, and must be three pages exactly - not two, not four. This should be done every morning, no matter what, before you do ANYTHING else. 

In addition to the morning pages, Cameron assigns “artist dates.” Artist dates are meant to be inspiring, invigorating, and creatively expanding. Cameron offers suggestions such as a long walk in the country, a “solitary expedition to the beach for a sunrise or sunset,” or even bowling. There is also a trove of ideas online, where devotees have made lists. The best part about the artist dates, for me, is that they really ask you to prioritize yourself, and your art. To carve out time not just to write (or paint, or sculpt or cook) but to tend to the fire inside of you that causes you to create in the first place. I know that whenever I have felt the least creative in my life, it has always directly correlated to the fact that I had stopped filling my cup with music, movies, art, and nature that inspires me. 

Finally, at the end of each chapter, there are a series of questions and exercises to reflect on and answer, in addition to the morning pages. These exercises help you go even deeper by exploring things like whose voice do you hear as your inner critic, or creating a “jealousy map.”

What I love about the Artist’s Way method is that Cameron urges you to “accumulate pages, not judgments.” As I said earlier, the pages are here to help you get past all the little waves and foam of the surface, and down below to the dark, quiet, unexplored part. This is similar to meditation - the thoughts on the surface of the mind are like little bubbles upon the ocean. They are a distraction from what lies on the bottom of the ocean floor. When you get down to the bottom of it, you are simply an observer. On the page, you do not need to react or judge yourself for writing things like, “I wish I had moved to Italy alone at 21 instead of getting married and having children,” or “I don’t even want to be a novelist - I want to be a clown in a traveling circus.” Maybe those ideas are true, or maybe they are your mind trying to distract you from why you are really here, and what you are avoiding. The deeper you get into the pages, the deeper you get into your true essence. 

We all know by now that journaling is an amazing tool that is beneficial in myriad ways - and much cheaper than therapy (but if you can, go to therapy too!). Every time I do another round of the program, I come away from it having learned something new about myself, my reactions, and my artistic process. I see this book as one of the most valuable tools in my kit, because you can do the process one hundred times and come away with something new every time. There is no ending to the possibilities. You can always start again. In my opinion, The Artist’s Way has been around so long because it works.

So should you try it? I recommend doing so, and you don’t have to spend very much money to do it. Consider checking out a copy from your local library, or purchasing a used copy from a local bookshop. Sit down with yourself and see where you can carve out the time to write three handwritten pages a day, or think up some artist dates. And remember - a few words on the page is better than zero. Don’t worry about trying to be perfect - perfectionism is exactly the hurdle Cameron is trying to help you jump over.