The Artist's Way

Having read previous reviews on this book and having dabbled with creativity on and off most of my life, finally, I decided to take the plunge and see if this book could change my life. WELL? DOES IT WORK, DOES IT CHANGE YOUR LIFE? Has it? Well Yes and no. I'm not putting out massive works of art or prose, nor am I comfortable with even the pencil sketches I do. However, I am doing them again. I've had fits and starts of drawing, but this book does help you put that into perspective. You are a beginner and it is okay for your work to look like a beginners. Simple concept. Hard to internalize. INTERESTING OUTCOME. What I did find and others who use this program can probably confirm is that it helps get situations out in the open. Family stuff. When you do the morning pages, you ramble. You put down all that trash you are thinking and then you find you work to clean it up. You know all the stuff your kids, your spouse, your co-workers do, that really tick you off. You find you start to address that. Kind of a neat by-product. MORNING PAGES ARE NOT SO BAD: My first take on this, is dedicate a half an hour of my precious and sparse sleeping time.....? What are you nuts? Then I tried it. You have a clarity (and a drowsiness) in the AM, that is unmatchable any other time. Also, if you are like me get a whole lot less interruptions. I did the morning pages from 5:15 till 6:00 AM weekdays and after I got up on weekends. Weekends, sometimes I didn't get to them until afternoon. But, each day (except for 1 day in 12 weeks) they were religiously done. Guess what? I'm hooked. I'm continuing and you might too. Consider this as a book (a life), you are writing, you are directing. What a concept! MORNING PAGES LENGTH: With the Artist's way book, I bought the journal. These 3 pages were the size of 8-1/2 X 11 pages. 3 pages do not take you 1/2 hour but more like 45 minutes to an hour. Get ready for that. It seems like a lot some days and not enough on others. You don't need a special book to do this in either. I bought a spiral notebook to pick up where the journal left off, when it was full. The journal is nice though as it has passages from the book on each page. ARTISTS DATES: I found that some of the timing of the artist dates were bad. I'm sure most others will run into this as well. I did this book through the Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday. Artist's dates were often dropped and sometimes one did double-duty. However, these can be very simple. You have to make them what is important to you and that is the point of the book. It makes you feel special. I think all of us wait for others to make us feel special. Most of us could wait a very long time. Little do we realize, we have to set the standard. Make ourselves feel special. Because we are. We have to appeal to the artist within us. It can be simple or extravagant. One thing I like is pens with a 1.0mm tip. They use ink like crazy, but what a wonderful broad stroke they make on the paper. That is one of my "perks". SOME CRITIQUE: In the past years you've no doubt heard of people coming out of therapy accusing their parents of abuse. Many of these people were suggested into this practice by psychologists looking for a quick solution to some of their patient's psychoses. What I didn't care for in the book, is that some of the tasks appeared to be excercising these same demons. Trying to find devils in the details of past "creative blocks". Some times these blocks are cumulative and not one earth-shattering event. Like water on a rock. Sometimes the people around you were highly supportive, etc. etc. We all have a mix of that. I felt however, that this negative aspect was overemphasized. A person sensitive to these suggestions could walk away very convinced that there was a horrible trauma they just can't quite remember. WEEK OFF OF READING TRULY IS IMPOSSIBLE IN SOME PEOPLE'S LIVES: One week was supposed to be one free from reading. I used it as a media free week (Radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, books and non-work email) and not from work related reading. If I neglected the reading in my job, I would have over 300 emails, very job related languishing in my in-box. I also would not be doing my job in writing specifications. Not possible in my job and not realistic in many others I'm sure. I think the author should just emphasize the noise factor or suggest doing this type of exercise on vacation. In summary this book and its tasks were excellent and I can't recommend it highly enough. I'm going on to her book on Work creativity next, then the Right to Write and the Vein of Gold. KEEP UP THE MORNING PAGES AND CHANGE THE WORLD - ONE PERSON AT A TIME!

I recommend this book to every I know! Especially my artistic friends who are feeling lost or in a rut. This is a journey to help you find yourself! I’ve turned to it time and time again and it always lifts me up and gives me direction! Thanks to this book I have built a home music studio and started producing my own music, that’s now on Spotify and I’m working toward performing live! Now I am also pursuing photography and living a full time creative life! BUY IT! DO IT! FIND YOURSELF!

This book is a classic for a reason. I've just recently rediscovered my creative side and stumbled upon this book along the journey. It truly is a spiritual path to higher creativity. Confess that I did not complete all the exercises contained, yet found the journey to still be very powerful. Karen Briscoe, author "Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day".

Content and activities have potential to be life-changing for you.

I read and worked through this book 13 years ago and it changed my life. Getting in the habit of writing morning pages was a wonderful way to drain my brain and start each day fresh. Working through the chapters reawakened my creativity and allowed my inner child to come through. I have been living a wonderfully creative life since my Artist's Way experience and will be forever thankful.

The Artist's Way is designed to help the most creatively repressed, damaged souls in the world. It assumes nothing and asks its readers to take charge of their own recovery effort. It helps artists examine their lives and better utilize the power of their imaginations. If you think you're a hotshot artist, The Artist's Way can help you in ways that you hadn't thought to consider. While the entire program may not be right for everyone, simply answering the questions and doing the exercises are enough to help better define even well-toned creative muscles. To get the full dose of artistic understanding and creative power, read How To Learn Anything Quickly by Ricki Linksman before you read The Artist's Way.

If you want to get writing again - this is it. This book really got me going. I did every exercise in the book and my creativity just blossomed. It's been a while and I'm getting ready to do it again!

Both intuitive and methodical, this book guides the gaze within and helps you dig deep. Julia feels like a mentor who knows just how to lead you to where you need to go. It's a time investment, but one that is without-a-doubt worthwhile. I come back to it again and again. So grateful for this work!

A friend recommended this book to me. I didn't actually finish it - I didn't need to. After around five weeks It did the trick of recalibrating me when I was in the creative doldrums and doubting myself. Now, I not only write, I also paint - without fear! Fabulous book. I have already bought a copy to send to another friend. Really well worth the little bit of regular time and effort that is required of you.

This book is so good. I had to put it down half way though as I was getting too creative. One that I will keep on my shelf for life and recommend to others. It’s a game changer!

It’s inspiring for artists. A practical approach. I’ll read it again

Amazing book. This has totally revolutionised my creativity and unleashed some new direction for my life. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and it's rare that I say that it's a game changer.

Life changing book! Seriously! I'd recommend it to anyone who wishes to be more creative & needs a little help.. This book changed my life and I'm grateful to Julia Cameron for that!