The Artist's Way (Hardcover)

~ Julia Cameron (Author) "FOR MOST OF US, the idea that the creator encourages creativity is a radical thought..." (more)
Key Phrases: synchronicity this week, artist date this week, other issues this week, Great Creator, Wet Blanket, John Cassavetes (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan lead you through a comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity.

This book links creativity to spirituality by showing how to connect with the creative energies of the universe, and has, in the four years since its publication, spawned a remarkable number of support groups for artists dedicated to practicing the exercises it contains. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

This program consists of segments from the author's book of the same name (Tarcher, 1992). She recommends two ongoing activities that will conquer blocks and self-destructive tendencies: morning pages and artist's dates. Morning pages are three pages of writing, performed daily, about anything at all. This exercise overcomes the writer's internal censor and makes writing habitual, she claims. The artist's date is a weekly block of two hours spent observing, experiencing, and sensing. The balance of the recording describes how the artist can overcome human tendencies such as jealousy, fear, and addiction. This abridgment leaves much to be desired. In her introduction, Cameron states that the audio is an interactive abridgment of her 12-week program. There is nothing interactive about it, however. The sound quality is poor, and the content is similar to the many available 12-step programs. In that sense, it is redundant and will appeal to a very small audience. Not recommended.?Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Ed. Lib.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 10th Anniversary Ed edition (February 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585421472
• ISBN-13: 978-1585421473
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (314 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,556 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

286 of 306 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, January 8, 2000

By	Richard Smith (Johannesburg, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (Inner Workbook) (Paperback)

I heard about this book a few months ago and was very sceptical at first. As more and more people around me started with it, I became curious and bought myself a copy. It was the best decision I have ever made! I am in week eleven and I can safely say that this book has changed my life, completely. It has taken the South African performing arts scene by storm and everyone I know who has read or is busy reading The Artist's Way feels the same way I do! Apart from the fact the the book contains so many truths, what makes this book such a pleasure to read is that it is so well written. If you are in doubt and you need just that little bit of encouragement, if you know deep down inside that there is an artist in you, that feels neglected or that you haven't yet discovered, take the plunge and start a wonderful journey! If you are a lawyer, accountant or a mother taking care of your family at home, don't be discouraged or misled by the book's title, it is for you too!

Thank you Julia Cameron!

168 of 178 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is not perfect, but it is a very good book, February 2, 2002

By	atmj (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

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This review is from: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (Inner Workbook) (Paperback)

Having read previous reviews on this book and having dabbled with creativity on and off most of my life, finally, I decided to take the plunge and see if this book could change my life.

WELL? DOES IT WORK, DOES IT CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
Has it? Well Yes and no.
I'm not putting out massive works of art or prose, nor am I comfortable with even the pencil sketches I do. However, I am doing them again. I've had fits and starts of drawing, but this book does help you put that into perspective. You are a beginner and it is okay for your work to look like a beginners. Simple concept. Hard to internalize.

INTERESTING OUTCOME.
What I did find and others who use this program can probably confirm is that it helps get situations out in the open. Family stuff. When you do the morning pages, you ramble. You put down all that trash you are thinking and then you find you work to clean it up. You know all the stuff your kids, your spouse, your co-workers do, that really tick you off. You find you start to address that. Kind of a neat by-product.

MORNING PAGES ARE NOT SO BAD:
My first take on this, is dedicate a half an hour of my precious and sparse sleeping time.....? What are you nuts? Then I tried it. You have a clarity (and a drowsiness) in the AM, that is unmatchable any other time. Also, if you are like me get a whole lot less interruptions. I did the morning pages from 5:15 till 6:00 AM weekdays and after I got up on weekends. Weekends, sometimes I didn't get to them until afternoon. But, each day (except for 1 day in 12 weeks) they were religiously done.
Guess what? I'm hooked. I'm continuing and you might too. Consider this as a book (a life), you are writing, you are directing. What a concept!

MORNING PAGES LENGTH:
With the Artist's way book, I bought the journal. These 3 pages were the size of 8-1/2 X 11 pages. 3 pages do not take you 1/2 hour but more like 45 minutes to an hour. Get ready for that. It seems like a lot some days and not enough on others. You don't need a special book to do this in either. I bought a spiral notebook to pick up where the journal left off, when it was full. The journal is nice though as it has passages from the book on each page.

ARTISTS DATES:
I found that some of the timing of the artist dates were bad. I'm sure most others will run into this as well. I did this book through the Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday. Artist's dates were often dropped and sometimes one did double-duty. However, these can be very simple. You have to make them what is important to you and that is the point of the book. It makes you feel special. I think all of us wait for others to make us feel special. Most of us could wait a very long time. Little do we realize, we have to set the standard. Make ourselves feel special. Because we are. We have to appeal to the artist within us. It can be simple or extravagant. One thing I like is pens with a 1.0mm tip. They use ink like crazy, but what a wonderful broad stroke they make on the paper. That is one of my "perks".

SOME CRITIQUE:
In the past years you've no doubt heard of people coming out of therapy accusing their parents of abuse. Many of these people were suggested into this practice by psychologists looking for a quick solution to some of their patient's psychoses. What I didn't care for in the book, is that some of the tasks appeared to be excercising these same demons. Trying to find devils in the details of past "creative blocks". Some times these blocks are cumulative and not one earth-shattering event. Like water on a rock. Sometimes the people around you were highly supportive, etc. etc.
We all have a mix of that. I felt however, that this negative aspect was overemphasized. A person sensitive to these suggestions could walk away very convinced that there was a horrible trauma they just can't quite remember.

WEEK OFF OF READING TRULY IS IMPOSSIBLE IN SOME PEOPLE'S LIVES:

One week was supposed to be one free from reading. I used it as a media free week (Radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, books and non-work email) and not from work related reading. If I neglected the reading in my job, I would have over 300 emails, very job related languishing in my in-box. I also would not be doing my job in writing specifications. Not possible in my job and not realistic in many others I'm sure. I think the author should just emphasize the noise factor or suggest doing this type of exercise on vacation.

In summary this book and its tasks were excellent and I can't recommend it highly enough. I'm going on to her book on Work creativity next, then the Right to Write and the Vein of Gold.

KEEP UP THE MORNING PAGES AND CHANGE THE WORLD - ONE PERSON AT A TIME!

216 of 234 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book turned a practical person into a creative one, June 26, 1998

By	[e-mail] (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (Inner Workbook) (Paperback)

This book has completely changed my perspective about my creative ability. At first my practical side felt very silly doing some of the exercises. But after a while a began to realize how much better I felt about myself and my ability to be creative... not do everything by the book. I began oil painting, which I've even entered into contests. I went to Professional Culinary School, in spite of everyone telling me I was crazy. Now those same people are envious of my ability and attitude to discover something that makes me happy and actually pursue it. So many people dream, but never act on those dreams. As practical as I am and probably always will be, thanks to this book, I'm happy that I'm taking these steps toward self fullfillment, and I've established a balance in my life I have never previously experienced. My only criticism is all of the references to God. I'm not athiest, however I feel strongly that the motivation comes from a higher power within yourself and is in your control, and should not be limited to an association with a particular religious figure. Not everyone believes in God, like another individual has written in this review section. I could see how the constant references could turn someone off. But if you look past that element of the book there are some real powerful tools that can help anyone become a more creative individual. The religious connotations are not really necessary. If you can keep that in perspective, then I highly recommend this book!