Next week I’m launching my “4-Week Guide to ‘The Artist’s Way’” for anyone who wants to invite more creativity into their life! There’s a 30-day free discount code at the bottom of this email.
Earlier this month I came across this post on Threads about “The Artist’s Way.”
I first did “The Artist’s Way” in 2018 or 2019. It was definitely pre-pandemic. And while I’m not sure I had any kind of miraculous breakthroughs, what I did appreciate about the book was how it spoke to my self-doubts and encouraged me to center creativity in my life. As Julia Cameron writes in the appendix, “[A]rtists are people who have learned to live with doubt and do the work anyway.”
When I became a college professor, I began assigning the book to my seniors. I wanted them to understand that they would need to create a creative life for themselves outside of academia. I didn’t want them to graduate and then be flooded by uncertainty, just as I’d been when I’d graduated with my MFA a few years earlier. For months, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever write anything again. When I finally forced myself to get over this fear, the essay I wrote was published by Longreads, went viral, and launched my writing career.
Before putting this book in my students’ hands, I did caution them that some of it had not aged well and that it was real God heavy, but there would still be much they could take away from it. And now, after reading this Threads, I’m thinking about what would it be like to refresh “The Artist’s Way” for this particular moment? When the average person is so ground up and burnt out, they don’t have energy for creative endeavors. In a year when NEA grants for writers were canceled.
Cameron posits that the major blocks to living as creative beings are a set of myths, “These myths most often involve matters of money, time, and other people’s agendas for us.” Which could easily serve as a definition for Capitalism. So the source material might still serve us well with some slight tweaks. And her general premise still holds up, “[W]e are all creative — and with the use of a few simple tools, we can all become more creative.”
And like Cameron, I believe we are most confident in our creative nature when we have a creative community. Cameron calls this “Being mirrors” and a mirror is “someone who believes in you and your creativity.” She continues, “As artists, we must find those who believe in us, and in whom we believe, and band together for support, encouragement, and protection.”
Which is why I’m inviting you all to revisit “The Artist’s Way” with me. But instead of 12 weeks, we’re going to do it in 4.
The book isn’t necessary to follow along, but because it’s been out since the 90s and sold 4M+ copies, it is fairly easy to get your hands on a cheap copy or bum it off a friend who’s not using theirs.
Which brings me to my next point: A lot of people don’t complete “The Artist’s Way,” many fall off in week 5. So why not condense it down to 4 weeks? Now, some AW acolytes might find this sacrilegious, but we live in a lawless land. So let’s get this wrapped up by Thanksgiving, okay? Cameron was heavily inspired by Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12-step program. But just like AA isn’t right for everyone, not everyone can commit 12 weeks to reviving their creative spirit.
Each week, I’ll smash 3 chapters of “The Artist’s Way” into 1 week of insights and writing exercises. We can dish as a group in the comments or in the paid subscribers chat section of my newsletter. The post will be behind a paywall but you can sign up for a 30-day free trial to my newsletter: https://mindahoney.substack.com/4weekfree. Code expires at the end of November.
The first installment of the 4-week guide will go out next week. Invite a friend to join us!
Know someone who’d want to join us? Share this post!