Working Through "The Artist's Way"

A few years ago, I had the delight of working through Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. I chose to read the book, hoping that it would help me to develop my creativity as a writer. Julia Cameron is essentially a life coach for readers, asking you deep questions, coaxing me to think about who I am as an artist. I had no idea how much of an impact this book would have on my life as a whole. It pertains to far more than just my writing.

I have worked through challenging issues related to my childhood and the criticism I received for being an imaginative, creative individual. Now that I am pushing forward in my writing career, I am seeking to release all that locked-down creativity to think the way God designed me to think and be who God created me to be. God loves artists! This is a new and exciting concept for me after being taught that artists are essentially impoverished drains on society.

My husband Pete has been so supportive in my journey as a writer. He rented a nearby cabin for me to write three days a week. In the solitude of this writing retreat I have made significant progress in the revision of one of my novels. I have no interruptions, no distractions, no excuses. My mind is free to imagine and I am allowed to tap into my imagination. In my writing retreat I am slowing down to think, feel, observe life.

Julia Cameron also encourages artists to do enjoyable things as a means of unlocking creativity. I have chosen to study French. Surprisingly, I am finding that this exercise is not only fun, but it uses a completely different section of my brain, allowing my creative brain to rest, rejuvenate and refresh so that it is more ready to imagine exciting things when I am ready to write.

Walking and "artist dates" are also recommended and I am finding that being alone in various settings is allowing my creative ideas to flow. It is often on a walk that I have bursts of energizing thoughts for my characters and scenes.

There are so many more wonderful things I could say about Julia Cameron's book, and I will write more in future blogs, but I am stuck on this discovery of slowing down. In slowing my pace in life I am becoming more observant of the world around me. I am drinking in scents, sounds, senses, sights, and tastes.

This slowing down has had another interesting effect on my life. I have discovered that I am enjoying food more as I take the time to savor it. Coupled with my French lessons, this slowing down to eat led me to look into the French diet and lifestyle. Of course, I found that France has one of the lowest obesity rates in Europe (1 in 10) and lower in obesity than the United States (4 in 10). One of the reasons for their higher health is that they slow down to eat their meals. I am so intrigued by the positive effects of slowing down to eat that I will be writing more about this in future blogs.

Until next time....

Thank you for reading!