The Artist’s Way Pulled Me Back In
12 weeks of renewing my creative devotion
SUMMER WRITING NIGHTS ARE BACK!
Join me for six weeks of co-writing starting on the first Wednesday of the summer.
Just $20. Paid subscribers get $5 off: promo code in the previous newsletter issue.
ANOTHER TRIP THROUGH THE ARTIST’S WAY
At the beginning of the year, I decided to work through The Artist’s Way a second time.
My friend Lexi was quitting her corporate job to become a full-time artist. She’d expressed an interest in The Artist’s Way in the past, so I asked if she wanted to do it together: The Artist’s Way was practically invented for big life transitions. Lex made my year by saying yes.
FOR THE UNINITIATED
If you’re unfamiliar with the book, The Artist’s Way is Julia Cameron’s 12-week course in discovering and recovering the creative self. Released in 1992, the book has three key elements:
weekly reading (20ish pages per week)
morning pages (three handwritten pages every day)
artist dates (one solo date per week)
The thing I like most about the book is its emphasis on devotion to creativity. After working through it the first time, I could still feel its ripple effects years later.
THE ARTIST’S WAY, DAY BY DAY
If you’ve been here a while, you know I love making progress trackers for myself. I made a beautiful one for this trip through The Artist’s Way.
In fact: a printable, date-free version of this tracker can be yours. Purchase it here for just $5. Download it, print it out, and start filling in your squares as you work through The Artist’s Way: either on your own or with a friend.
I added dates to my tracker, and you’ll notice that some of them are crossed out. When I traveled to California at the end of March, I decided to hit pause on The Artist’s Way. I resumed when I returned home. I always recommend flexibility to anyone working through this book.
MORNING PAGES
The morning pages component of The Artist’s Way is, without doubt, the most time-consuming element of the 12-week program. Julia Cameron prescribes three full handwritten pages per day.
I stuck with the three handwritten pages every day, even when I felt rushed or just didn’t want to write. Looking at my progress tracker, I feel proud to report that I only missed one day of morning pages the entire 12 weeks. I haven’t re-read my morning pages yet: I probably will at the end of the year as a form of reflection.
A major theme in my morning pages this time around was getting my brain back after leaving social media. Daily journaling turned out to be a crucial element of my social media migration. When I found myself longing for a mindless scroll through my Instagram feed, I had a notebook-sized container I could pour those feelings into, asking myself, “What do I really crave when I want to scroll?” I craved connection. I craved validation. At times, I craved numbness: a natural response to the current state of our world. On my best days, I’d sit with those feelings and just feel them.
SOLO WALKS & ARTIST DATES
I read Julia Cameron’s newest book, The Artist’s Way Toolkit, prior to interviewing her for The Creative Independent earlier this year. In it, Julia Cameron prescribes a handful of extra tools, including two solo walks per week.
rules for solo walks (according to Julia Cameron)
no headphones
leave your phone at home (if that’s safe)
no friends
no partners
no dog
a minimum of 20 minutes per walk
I decided to fold twice-weekly solo walks into this round of The Artist’s Way.
Like my artist dates, the solo walks almost always felt like an inconvenience: something that had to be squeezed in. An artist date is a playful and intentionally frivolous appointment you’re to make with yourself weekly throughout the 12 weeks of The Artist’s Way: a museum visit with a sketchpad in hand, a trip to the craft supply store with twenty bucks in your pocket, a hike through the forest with the sole intention of collecting beautiful rocks.
This time around, the solo walks had much more value for me than my artist dates. With every step, I could feel my snowglobey brain settling. And almost every time I walked alone, I’d return home with a solution to a problem. Or a new idea. Or a hard realization. Or an invitation to act rather than react.
Obviously, Julia Cameron wasn’t the first to discover the mental health benefits of going for a walk. But I get complacent at times—we all do—and I forget that moving slowly through the neighborhood on foot while occasionally muttering aloud to myself can be the thing that makes the difference. I’m grateful that Julia reminded me of this.
MY INTERVIEW WITH THE ARTIST’S WAY AUTHOR JULIA CAMERON
MY FAVORITE ARTIST DATES
rehearsing songs for karaoke night with a hairbrush microphone (you can take the theater kid out of the theater, but you can’t take the theater kid out of the theater kid)
going out for a luscious bowl of vegan mac ‘n’ cheese and select fun panels to attend at the AWP writing conference
drawing on my iPad while listening to the Matilda audiobook
setting up an entire notebook just for my tarot practice
going to the movies on a random Thursday to see The Friend (and absolutely ugly-crying toward the end) (and now ugly-crying every single time I spot a Great Dane in the wild: it happened twice this week)
THE ARTIST’S WAY WITH A FRIEND
The first time I did The Artist’s Way, I worked through it alone. I’m glad I did: it was a deeply personal time for me, filled with a radical-for-me amount of self-honesty. I turned many of my morning pages from that time into a zine called 100 Swims. (If you want a copy, let me know here: I have a handful left.)
But wriggling through The Artist’s Way with Lexi was waaaaay more fun. Here’s why:
We met every other week to talk about how the process was going.
We each assigned one word to the feeling we wanted on our 12-week journey.
my word: courageous
Lexi’s word: empowered
When we met up, we’d read some of our writing exercises from our morning pages out loud to each other. I especially loved when we both essentially wrote the same things.
The accountability factor made it easier to stick with all 12 weeks of the program.
Since working through The Artist’s Way together, Lexi has released her first of many original products: these absolutely gorgeous felt wall hangings designed to hold your tarot pull of the day. Talk about empowered!
IS NOW THE TIME?
I bought my copy of The Artist’s Way long ago. It stared at me from my bookshelf for three years before I decided to crack it open. And when I finally did, it was on the first day of summer.
Several writers who have joined my Writing Nights series in the past have done so to begin their own journeys through The Artist’s Way. If you’d like to come along, sign-ups are still open. Just $20.
And you can get my printable progress tracker for The Artist’s Way for just $5 here.
TTYL
Next week, I’m heading to the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference for my third summer in a row. I’ll be workshopping a section of my new novel with the inimitable Lydia Millet. Goodness me, I can’t wait.
Happy almost-summer!
💛 Hurley
Can I ask if the tracker you created also has sections for the weekly exercises, not just the daily pages, artist dates and walks ? Because those are the ones I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with which tbh has stunted me properly starting the process
Thank you for this. I’m week two.