The Artist's Way

When I was working for an M.A. in Creative Writing I came across a book called 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron.  It was sub-titled 'A course in discovering and recovering your creative self'.

I wasn't sure I needed to discover my creative self.  I had written, with a colleague, four books on

creative therapy to be used when working with children, particularly those who were difficult to reach.  We had designed and used activities and games that helped the children with problems such as anxiety, depression or  overcoming trauma. And then there was the huge commitment I had made to being creative, by working hard to gain a place on an M.A. My self-satisfied self proclaimed no use for such a book.

But flicking through the pages I realised that this author drew her creativity from God. I knew that I sometimes threw up a prayer before or during the writing process, but I also often procrastinated then forced myself to write masses of words to catch up, forgetting for a lot of that time that I was linked to the Creator of the Universe.

I have never gone through the course diligently, but I read chapter after chapter, drawing wisdom from it and finding great truths and a large enough wallop of good psychology to make me sit up and take notice.

The two basic tools are simple but priceless. 1. The Morning Pages: handwriting three pages of anything each morning - it is quite a discipline but if you can do it, it can reap great benefits. 2. The Artist Date: about two hours per week taking your 'artist child' (creative inner self) on a date. Take no-one else. Listen to your artist child.

That's quite a challenge especially in these days of lockdown - but as it eases, I will pick that one up again. As Julia Cameron says, 'Spending time in solitude with your artist child is essential to self-nurturing.' I agree.

I know that from last Sunday, watching my great-granddaughter delight in playing with three ice cubes in a bowl, especially when she laughed at making them invisible by holding them until they melted.  It's partly that sort of experience of seeing the world afresh that emerges when nurturing your artist child.

I hadn't planned to write a book review - I was only going to refer to the book when talking about links between other arts and writing, but there's so much in The Artist's Way that my artist child thought I should share!







Annie Try is the author of three Dr Mike Lewis stories, which are novels with a touch of mystery focusing on the life and clients of a clinical psychologist.  She has written a previous and, as Angela Hobday, has contributed to the psychological literature including writing the Creative Therapy series with Kate Ollier.