The Artist's Way Read Along: Week One
Completing Week One of our Non-Fiction Book Club Read Along
Okay, I’ll be the first one to mention it…there’s a lot of work to do in Week One. I’m going to presume all weeks will be the same. Plus we have our Morning Pages every day and our Artist Date once a week.
Now, I’m going to make an assumption here. We are all busy people. With children, elderly parents, a career, multiple jobs, other commitments, maybe even ill-health or it’s simply that reading quickly is a challenge - so many things pressing on our time and I don’t want this book, this course, to become a chore. So much so that some of you will drop out because you can’t keep up. Or, it becomes another stick to beat yourself with. And I’ve got enough of those sticks.
So, I’m going to make a suggestion. And if I can I’ll insert a poll here.
What if we take two weeks to do each chapter instead of one? Would you prefer this?
The other thing I’m slightly uncomfortable with is putting so much pressure on ourselves at the beginning of the year. Creativity is a marathon and not a sprint and I’d rather do the exercises with thought than with panic.
It would also help me with my time management in terms of writing this Substack. That being said, I will defer to the majority and do what you would like me to do.
Week One: Recovering a Sense of Safety
On the first page of this chapter Julia says “ you may feel both giddy and defiant, hopeful and skeptical.”
How did you feel about starting the first chapter? I have to say I was in the skeptical camp. Slightly negative, too. But as I journaled about this I realised this is because I always feel this way when starting a new project or have been away from the project for a few weeks. So, straight-away Julia had taught me, or reminded me something about myself and this helped me with the exercises later on in the chapter. (For example, because I feel I’m lazy, untalented, and stupid.)
I highlighted a lot from this chapter. I felt very seen. Especially with the term “shadow artists” - “hiding in the shadows, afraid to step out and expose the dream to the light, fearful that it will disintegrate to the touch.”
I know this is what I was doing when creating on Instagram instead of writing. I even had an epiphany at the time, that I was busy taking photos and promoting other author’s books instead of writing one of my own.
“Shadow artists all, these women needed to place themselves and their dreams stage centre.” - Julia Cameron
and this one below…oof!
As a rule of thumb, shadow artists judge themselves harshly beating themselves for years over the fact that they have not acted on their dreams. This cruelty only reinforces their status as shadow artists.” - Julia Cameron
You mean, Julia, it’s not just me??
Did this bit hit hard for you too? Or were there other bits that really resonated? Maybe nothing resonated? Or maybe it resonated so much it was painful and you could only read the chapter in small bursts?
Affirmations
I’ve never done affirmations before. Always saw them as a bit woo but then if you knew about some of things I’ve been doing lately you’d find that a bit hypocritical! (I’m going to touch on this behind the paywall, because - you know - verrry vulnerable).
But, I guess I have been doing affirmations. Just the negative ones - so I know they work because I seriously believe them. It’s definitely worth a try to turn my mindset around. I’ll be adding them to my morning pages.
I did get a message from one of you asking me how many affirmations I do. And do I write new ones each morning or keep working on my old ones. At that point I hadn’t read that section of the chapter yet but I felt I would do whatever was right for me. As with anything creatively instructional I never follow the instructions or the rules to the letter. I’m guided by them. For some of you with perfectionist instincts this might be difficult but there is no right or wrong way to The Artist’s Way. Do as many affirmations as YOU need. And change them as you see fit.
Morning Pages
Speaking of being guided and not being exact, I’ve been doing my Morning Pages every day but I’ve yet to do three full pages of A4. But that’s fine. I’m doing it, I’m sticking to it and that makes me happy. The full test will be from tomorrow once my daughter is back in school and we’re back in the full on school run routine but even if I don’t do them first thing but later in the day - that’s still good.
The Artist Date
I’ve been quite social this past few weeks so I deliberately chose something where I was in my own house and didn’t have to speak to anyone else for my Artist Date. I chose my new Poirot jigsaw puzzle. In fact, this might be my artist date for a few weeks.
Again, I was resistant at first; seeing it as a chore, but soon the fact I was searching for straight edges and corners lulled me into a state where I just let my thoughts bubble and tinkle like a gentle babbling brook.
I’d love to know what dates you’ve been choosing for yourself.
Other tasks
Julia suggests confronting your historic monsters, traveling in time and writing a letter to the editor in the voice of your wounded artist child. I always find exercises like this difficult and I have to be honest and say, I’ve not completed all of them yet at time of writing this. Maybe I should also be asking “why do I find them difficult?” “what is it I’m avoiding?”
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