The Artist's Way: 25th Anniversary Edition
"Without The Artist's Way, there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love.” —Elizabeth Gilbert
The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published twenty five years ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and shares additional insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for today's creatives.
Reviews (471)
Use religion to avoid taking personal responsibility for your own creativity! Utter garbage.
If you're looking to pawn responsibility for your creative endeavors (or lack thereof) off on a magical higher power, this book might be for you. The author spends most of the first section trying to claim that this book can work for anyone, whether they are religious or not. She LIED. The entire premise is based on repeating dogmatic nonsense about connecting to a mystical sky father to channel said mystical being's creativity through your own work. Instead of, I don't know, working on whatever is blocking you as an individual, taking responsibility for dealing with it, and creating your own stuff. I see why this used to be popular... surrendering responsibility for our own shortcomings is tempting, and apparently a lot of people bought into it. But how can you ever take credit for your own accomplishments if you pawned responsibility for your failures off on a delusion induced by magical thinking? The so-called practical lessons that you don't have to be religious to take advantage of? Journal for 3 pages every morning and get out of the house one a week. That's it. Everything else is channeling mystical creative forces and mentally infantilizing yourself as a coping mechanism.
A Great life-help book-reviewing your life and moving forward on a creative path (and I lost 25 pounds!)
I loved it! I decided to actually follow the guidelines for the book - one chapter a week, doing the written exercises, the morning pages, the artist day..and I stuck to it. That is not usual for me, but I decided to give it a try..and it worked! I still do not go to my studio as often as I should and I am still not as disciplined as I should be..but it doesn't bother me as much and I keep to the thought that this should be fun...and I have more fun! The side effect that I had completely not anticipated at all, was that I lost 25 pounds over the 16 weeks (16 chapters) and I wasn't even trying. Doing the written exercises, thinking through the material, remembering things, and writing morning pages, reduced anxiety and stress and I guess I just ate less. That made me feel good, and good feelings kept building, so, I really recommend this book to anyone who wants to try a 16week course to reexamine your life journey and pursue a more creative life ahead. I have now bought this book for so many friends..but it really doesn't do the magic unless you put the time into it. So, if you buy it, agree to all the exercises, or it is just another self-help book that will not sink in. Good luck!
My Other Bible
I was turned onto this book in 1995 and it changed not only my life in powerful, profound & exciting ways, but the lives of several of my family members & friends. It gave me a way in- into my own soul, my deeper voice, mind, purpose for living & capacity for enjoying life. I won’t lie, there are times it’s hard to show up to the simple practices in this book, because I’ve been through hard times & sometimes difficult emotions & memories arise from my unconscious, but it’s the only way to get my own creativity flowing that’s 100% certain. I’ve learned to write *through* the pain, to write the pain, to just keep writing- and then I’ve found myself through the worst of it, and now, sounding the depths of my wisdom years in ways that enrich my life & my community. In fact, I don’t think I could’ve survived without the lifeline of Morning Pages & Artist Dates through the toughest times in my adult life. I am so grateful for this book. I recommend it to EVERYONE, unconditionally. This is a book that lets you into you, that allows you to come to know yourself.
Actual book looks nice, but the content is horrible
Maybe I'm missing the entire point, since I realize this book is famous among writers and creators. However, I just can't stomach what the author is saying - it's just so ridiculous to me. The only useful part was the Morning Pages, but I had already been doing something along those lines. I really had to force myself to finish this book, and I'm very disappointed. I tried my best to keep as open of a mind as possible, like the author suggested at the beginning, but I couldn't get into it. So much rambling when really she should've just laid out the exercises instead of constantly talking about her successes and other people's successes.
Too limited, too much psycho-babble
Lots of talk about how getting sober changed her life, and I’m glad for her, but not everyone who wants to be more creative is an addict. Too limited, too much New Age psycho-babble.
Way Too Much GOD for My Tastes
This book has been exhaustively reviewed, so I'm just gonna add my two cents. I'm not really a fan of this book. It's got some good stuff, and is worth a look, but... maybe just borrow it from a library or a friend. Her author's voice is bossy/schoolmarm-ish, and she seems to quite like listening to herself speak--so to speak. The book could've been half its current length, and still gotten across her points adequately. Most of all, though, I just can't stand all the "God" references in the book. On the very first page of the introduction, Cameron warns that she uses the word "God" throughout the book, admits it may be "volatile" for some readers, but asks that we keep an open mind. She spends several paragraphs defending the term, and asking you to substitute whatever word works better for you, offering up the examples "good orderly direction, flow... Goddess, Mind, Universe, Source, and Higher Power." My problem is that I don't follow a Judeo-Christian path, and find "God" (capital "g") to be very off-putting for a great number of reasons that have no place in this review. She has a Catholic background herself. Groovy. You do you, Julia. But why use capitalized "God" and then say "But substitute whatever term you want!" How about YOU use a more neutral, less "volatile" word to begin with, so that it's easier for readers to mentally insert our best words? And there is a LOT of God and Creator stuff in the book despite her assertion that "no god concept is necessary," and that "You will still be able to experience an altered life working with [the book's] principles" even as an atheist or agnostic. In fact, her Rules of the Road (p. 55) is a list of 10 rules, 4 of which concern praying and/or the Great Creator. That list has the feel of "Let go and let God" about it. It just got harder and harder for me to ignore/substitute/read around these references. Further, while "flow" was one term she recommended as a substitute, that word makes no sense in those [frequent!] contexts when she actually means a higher power, NOT flow. I'm not sure where in the queue this review will end up, but I wish I'd read a review that warned me about this. I probably wouldn't have bought the book. =/
An amazing process
This is a fantastic book if you are looking for creative direction in your life. We have so many ways we sabotage our creative desires whether it's painting, singing, writing or building a boat, we end up never even considering them to be possible. "Doing" this book can change your life. I say doing because it's a 12 chapter/ 12 week learning process through writing in a daily journal and absorbing the weekly observations and lessons in each chapter. It can change your life, it did mine. Julia has a great saying, "jump and the net will be there." Give it a try, you don't have anything to loose.
Classic
I bought this as a gift and haven't heard how she liked it. I loved it, as did my niece when i gave it to her a few years ago. However, although I expected the anniversary edition to be especially nice it actually wasn't as nice as the original and I regretted choosing it.
Loved it. Great reading for anyone.
This book was recommended to me by a close friend and I read it one chapter a week for 12 weeks as intended. Loved it. I did read it on kindle and plan to buy a hard copy to reread, though - personally, I think this book might be one of those best read in book form. My favorite part is "morning pages", which I took to right away and just love it. Write three pages a day every day to start your morning. It's really helped me get in touch with myself, and writing without expectations, just letting the words flow. It's a great book. I plan on reading it through a 2nd time right away just as soon as my hard copy arrives :)
You'll roll your eyes. But it will work.
It's cheesy. It's hokey. And it's way too spiritual/religious (she says you can replace the word "God" with "the universe" or "creativity" or whatever, but it doesn't work. I've tried). But. I've had frustrating, debilitating, therapy-necessitating writer's block for ten years. Three months after finishing this book, doing all of the exercises, writing my morning pages, etc? I just finished the first draft of a novel. So, I recommend it. And I recommend taking only the parts from it that work for *you*. I don't care about the idea of being the conduit for some creative beam of light that shines through me onto the page. I don't care about prayers or pledges or collages. So I ignore those bits. What work for me were the parts about resetting how we approach creative work - not like adults afraid of criticism, but like children fascinated with their own imaginations. That's a game changer.
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