the artist's way
Please consider joining me, and many other creatives, on an Artist’s Way journey beginning June 28th, 2010. The journey is being hosted by Buffy (@azurebreeze) on Wurlwind, Yahoo, and Facebook.
The Artist’s Way, if you’re not already familiar with it, is a book written by Julia Cameron about recovering and nurturing your creativity. Many creatives talk about feeling blocked from time to time in their lives. Some of us may feel more permanently blocked. We may even become what Ms. Cameron calls “Shadow Artists” – artists who become professionally involved in the field on the sidelines, the shadows, of their chosen art. In my case, that would be editing rather than writing.
Don’t get me wrong; I love editing. I’m more than a little OCD by nature, so proofreading and copyediting are perfect for my detail-oriented tendencies. Even more than that, I love working with authors as a midwife to their creative visions. However, I don’t write as prolifically as I used to, and as I often wish I could. Part of that is life – mothering, dayjobbing, and freelancing don’t leave a lot of room in my life for writing. Not as long as there are only eighteen waking hours in a day. And believe me, I don’t function well on less than six hours of sleep. But writing is my first love and often feels like “the one that got away.”
The Aritst’s Way has its roots in the twelve steps program, and shares a bit of common history with the A.R.T.S. (Artists Recovering through the Twelve Steps) program. I recently learned that it is also built upon many of the foundations written by Dorothea Brande in her 1934 book, Becoming a Writer.
I’ve worked through the Artist’s Way, with varying levels of success, many times in the last ten years or so. This past year however has been a study in emotional excavation, and I’ve unearthed some of the biggest blocks to my creativity. I’m noticing a new synchronicity in my life, and when I heard that Buffy would be starting a new Artist’s Way journey, I decided that now is the right time to jump in again. I hope you will join me!
