Welcome to Chapter Eight of The Artist's Way
And how did you get on with Chapter Seven?
Before I get into this chapter I just want to say for those of you still with me, WELL DONE! We are starting Chapter Eight! Weāre well over halfway now. It has been a hard journey at times but we are truly making progress.
If youāve been dipping in and out then that is great too. Keep holding on, keep doing the morning pages - even if youāre doing them āimperfectlyā. Iāve reduced the amount Iāve been writing for my morning pages lately. Firstly, because Iāve written so much over the weeks Iām either boring myself or gathering energy for another outburst in the future - Iām not quite sure which. And secondly, because I just donāt have the time or the energy right now.
And my artistās date? Well, Iām struggling to do things alone. Iāll watch programmes on my own. Iāll listen to podcasts on my own. But going to watch a string quartet? Well, I want to go with friends. Watching my daughter sing in her band? Yep, Iām going to be with my friends too. Booking tickets for a musical in the summer? I will be going with friends and my daughter thank you very much. Iāve done so much on my own over the past few years, maybe even the last decade or more, that now Iām deliberately seeking out time with friends. Itās good for my mental health and you will not convince me to do activities solitary just because itās been written in a book.
In Week Seven/Chapter Seven, Julia talks about recovering a sense of connection and specifically writes about:
Listening to ourselves (in our morning pages and on our artist dates).
Perfectionism. I wrote a little about perfectionism last week.
āPerfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop - an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight of the whole.ā
~ Julia Cameron
Risk. Answering the question, what would I do if I didnāt have to do it perfectly?
āUsually, when we say we canāt do something, what we mean is that we wonāt do something unless we can guarantee that weāll do it perfectly.ā
~ Julia Cameron
Basically, we donāt allow ourselves to attempt the risk in case it goes badly. Who can admit to not taking the risk in case it doesnāt work, in case we get laughed at, or in case we fall flat on our faces?
Julia writes: āSelecting a challenge and meeting it creates a sense of self-empowerment that becomes the ground for further successful challenges. Viewed this way, running a marathon increases your chances of writing a full-length play.ā
I can relate strongly to this. Back in 2012, we moved to the countryside. The former owners of the house left us three ducks which largely lived on the pond but would come knocking on the door for food every day.
I also wanted chickens BUT I was massively daunted. What if one of them escaped, got sick or died? I knew nothing about them. So, emboldened slightly by the ducks weād adopted, I did what I do well. I started some research. I read books, googled, attended a chicken-keeping course and bought myself six young girl chickens. Plus another two a few months later.
And I managed to keep them alive. Plus, they were very happy (how do I know? I learned to speak chicken!)
Learning about keeping poultry, about looking after the land, about planting trees: an orchard, a hedgerow for birds and a natural windbreak made from Scotās Pine amongst others gave me confidence in myself. It encouraged me to take a risk with my creativity and I began to teach myself how to take photographs and how to take video footage and to turn them into mini-films. Which then led to increased confidence and risk-taking with my writing.
Finally, Julia writes about jealousy:
āMy jealousy had actually been a mask for my fear of doing something I really wanted to do but was not yet brave enough to take action toward.ā
~ Julia Cameron
How did you react to Chapter Seven?
In Chapter Eight weāll be looking at ārecovering a sense of strengthā.
Commenting is, as ever, for paid subscribers only so you can add your thoughts safe in the knowledge they arenāt there for everyone on the internet to read.
I'm still here, but feeling rather rubbish. We took a short holiday to relax from the stress of work and I ended up with an unknown virus (not COVID or one of the other biggies) but it has taken a good week just to get out of bed. Today being the first day I have the strength to sit at my desk. Hopefully, I'll feel up to tackling Chapter 8 soon. I am definitely ready to recover my strength.
Hi Helen. I āheardā a lot of what Julia says in Chapter Seven. I have somehow allowed fear to grasp me by the neck, creating a hole in my Self-esteem and self-confidence. On Substack, I felt completely intimidated. Maybe I thought it was because I have not āsetā the account the way I want it to be, maybe it is because I want the approval of the readers, and additionally, want to write like the ābestā of them, right away after not having written for thirty years.
The losses in the family both my daughter in 2023 and prior to that in 2022 a huge financial loss due to blind trust in a family member. Too many emotional and mental upheavals, but I am excited of this particular journey of TAW with you and all the colleagues here.
I am looking for us to working together š