Welcome to part one, a series of reflections about The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

I’m at the end of my first week, when its time to check in.

I’m going to do a series of these posts. Follow along, and share if you have started your artist’s way.

What is The Artist’s Way?

The Artist’s Way is a book published by Julia Cameron in 1992. It is a method. A journey. A contract with yourself and your inner artist. What does being an artist mean to you? Do you picture someone in particular, a character sitting at a bar scribbling into a notebook? Using a sketchbook in a café? An artist staring a a blank easel, before they begin to slowly draw upon it, a tortured soul, poor penniless and agonizing over the next chapter of their masterpiece.

 Oh, sorry, got carried away imagining the most Hollywood cliché of an artist. And that’s what Cameron’s book is trying to discourage. Step away from the cliché! Anyone can be an artist and The Artist Way is how Cameron encourages you to give up your comfy, yet unfulfilled, routine and look for the inner artist in yourself. The book provides a plan, a contract to sign to help you commit yourself, a step by step weekly guide of tasks and two main activities: writing morning pages and going on artist dates. It is not for writers in particular, but for any artist, sculptor, painter, actress/actor. It is for anyone wanting to regain the spark of creativity and nurture it. I see my inner artist self, not so much a child, but a small seed that requires nutrients to grow and blossom. 

I found hidden treasures and hidden writing advice in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and I suspect I will with Cameron’s book as well, with more lessons and tasks in her book and less philosophy.

What steps are in the Artist’s Way?

Morning pages are three handwritten pages completed every morning after you first wake up. They can be anything. Even writing ‘I don’t know what to write.’ the entire time. Eventually you do know and the point is to get you sitting down and free flowing, meditating on the words and thoughts, whatever pops into your head.  

Artist Dates are just that, dates for yourself and your inner Artist. (More about mine later.)

At the end of the week you must honestly look at your efforts and I’ve decided to record mine here, publicly. Gulp.

Week one: Your Rediscovery begins

How do I feel about morning pages? I hate them. They’re horrible. I don’t like waking up half an hour early just to spend that entire time writing down my feelings in a journal I will never look at again. It feels pointless. It takes forever. It hurts my wrist. By the second day my handwriting got faster and fatter, because the sloppiness let me fill more space and get it done sooner. By the third day I was no longer journaling, but tried writing a chapter for my next book. Then I stopped after one pages, because it felt too sloppy and out of control. I went back to stream of consciousness because it was easier… Except I looked back on my scribbles and I may actually polish them into my book (chapter 17 of FD3 if you’re curious).

So, do morning pages work? Well, they forced me to be more productive, but if I’m not supposed to show them to anyone, or look at them again, so how can I work on my story? Urgh.

Waking up early effectively ruined my sleeping schedule, which I feel is detrimental to my creativity. So, I’m not happy about them. Yet, I’m doing them, hopeful, yet unimpressed.

The artist date? I hated the idea at first. I didn’t want to plan something and agonized over what to do. I don’t have extra income. I don’t want to go out shopping for stickers and envelopes, as was suggested, I’m trying to cut down on plastic, in particular, and stuff like papers in general. A play date for my inner child. She’d like to go to the aquarium and pretend it’s a hero’s journey. I cook on the weekends for the week ahead. Could I play cook? Like some kind of Jackson Pollock pancake art? Different colors and splatters, only not on canvas with paint, but a hot griddle with batter. What about a trip to the beach to make sand castles? Or making my own paint out of corn syrup?  I really like idea of playtime art that’s edible. Win-win. You could say. But I have to do this every week? Help I need more ideas!

The tasks this week? I hated them too. I wept, tears dripping off my face onto my binder as I recorded the old hurts and wrote a thank you to the champions in my life who encouraged me. My middle school teacher, who later married and became Mrs Johnson. She complimented a story I wrote in sixth grade and read it to the class. Which was embarrassing, but not in a bad way. It was the first time someone really praised my work. I’ve loved stories and playing stories all my life, but had yet to start writing them down. 

Why am I doing this to myself?

My hope for following the artist’s way is to become constantly creative. I feel like I am a creative person and indulge my inner child to a certain extent, but I’m not mindful of it and don’t take myself on dates, on purpose. I want to be consistent in my art and writing. Not be so sporadic. To make recognizable progress as I learn and master the craft, whether that is writing,  illustrations, making comics or animations or games or 3D art. And gain confidence as an Artist. That’s what I’m willing to commit to. It means finding my own way of following the artist’s way.

Actual check in:

How many days did I do morning pages? Seven days and counting

Did you do your artist date? Yes: Here is proof of what I created.

I call it Sugar Pop. I painted it using a DIY mixture of 1.5 Tablespoon of each of the following ingredients: Arrowroot, Baking Soda, White Vinegar, and Light Corn Syrup.

Why am I showing it off? Because I’m proud of it. I had fun. Go figure.

Other issues, concerns with my creative recovery? I am drawing more, but not writing more (besides the stupid morning pages). Yes, well actually, I finished working on one chapter and have plans for the next. This is progress. I should be celebrating, but can’t, not really. I feel like I should be doing more. Maybe later I’ll look back and be impressed. It is a process. Remember that! A process!

See you for next week’s check in!