Table of Contents

Introduction

BEGIN: Invitation–Initiation
LET YOURSELF WRITE: Invitation–Initiation
LET YOURSELF LISTEN: Invitation–Initiation
THE TIME LIE: Invitation–Initiation
TRACK: Invitation–Initiation
BAD WRITING: Invitation–Initiation
THIS WRITING LIFE: Invitation–Initiation
MOOD: Invitation–Initiation
DRAMA: Invitation–Initiation
THE WALL OF INFAMY: Invitation–Initiation
VALUING OUR EXPERIENCE: Invitation–Initiation
SPECIFICITY: Invitation–Initiation
BODY OF EXPERIENCE: Invitation–Initiation
THE WELL: Invitation–Initiation
SKETCHING: Invitation–Initiation
LONELINESS: Invitation–Initiation
WITNESS: Invitation–Initiation
WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD?: Invitation–Initiation
CONNECTION: Invitation–Initiation
BEING AN OPEN CHANNEL: Invitation–Initiation
INTEGRATING: Invitation–Initiation
CREDIBILITY: Invitation–Initiation
PLACE: Invitation–Initiation
HAPPINESS: Invitation–Initiation
MAKING IT: Invitation–Initiation
HONESTY: Invitation–Initiation
VULNERABILITY: Invitation–Initiation
DAILINESS: Invitation–Initiation
VOICE: Invitation–Initiation
FORM VERSUS FORMULA: Invitation–Initiation
FOOTWORK: Invitation–Initiation
PRACTICE: Invitation–Initiation
CONTAINMENT: Invitation–Initiation
SOUND: Invitation–Initiation
I WOULD LOVE TO WRITE, BUT... : Invitation–Initiation
DRIVING: Invitation–Initiation
ROOTS: Invitation–Initiation
ESP: Invitation–Initiation
CHEAP TRICKS: Invitation–Initiation
STAKES: Invitation–Initiation
PROCRASTINATION: Invitation–Initiation
INTO THE WATER: Invitation–Initiation
THE RIGHT TO WRITE: Invitation–Initiation

Suggested Readings

About the Author

Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than three decades. She is the author of more than thirty books, including such bestselling works on the creative process as The Artist’s Way, Walking in This World, and Finding Water. Also a novelist, playwright, songwriter, and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film, and television, including an episode of Miami Vice, which featured Miles Davis, and Elvis and the Beauty Queen, which starred Don Johnson. She was a writer on such movies as Taxi Driver, New York, New York, and The Last Waltz. She wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning independent feature film God's Will, which premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was selected by the London Film Festival, the Munich International Film Festival, and the Women in Film Festival, among others. In addition to making films, Cameron has taught film at such diverse places as Chicago Filmmakers, Northwestern University, and Columbia College. She is also an award-winning playwright, whose work has appeared on such well-known stages as the McCarter Theater at Princeton University and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Reviews

Praise for THE ARTIST'S WAY...

“THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron is not exclusively about writing—it is about discovering and developing the artist within whether a painter, poet, screenwriter or musician—but it is a lot about writing. If you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, have always wanted to play and create with words or paints, this book will gently get you started and help you learn all kinds of paying-attention techniques; and that, after all, is what being an artist is all about. It’s about learning to pay attention.”
--Anne Lamott, Mademoiselle
 
“The premise of the book is that creativity and spirituality are the same thing, they come from the same place. And we were created to use this life to express our individuality, and that over the course of a lifetime that gets beaten out of us. [THE ARTIST’S WAY] helped me put aside my fear and not worry about whether the record would be commercial.”
--Grammy award-winning singer Kathy Mattea
 
“Julia Cameron brings creativity and spirituality together with the same kind of step-by-step wisdom that Edgar Cayce encouraged. The result is spiritual creativity as a consistent and nourishing part of daily life.”
--Venture Inward
 
“I never knew I was a visual artist until I read Julia Cameron’s THE ARTIST’S WAY.”
--Jannene Behl in Artist’s Magazine
 
“Julia Cameron’s landmark book THE ARTIST’S WAY helped me figure out who I really was as an adult, not so much as an artist but as a person. And award-winning journalist and poet, Cameron’s genius is that she doesn’t tell readers what they should do to achieve or who they should be—instead she creates a map for readers to start exploring these questions themselves.”
--Michael F. Melcher, Law Practice magazine
 
“This is not a self-help book in the normative sense. It is simply a powerful book that can challenge one to move into an entirely different state of personal expression and growth.”
--Nick Maddox, Deland Beacon
 
“THE ARTIST’S WAY (with its companion volume THE ARTIST’S WAY MORNING PAGES JOURNAL) becomes a friend over time, not just a journal. Like a journal, it provokes spontaneous insights and solutions; beyond journaling, it establishes a process that is interactive and dynamic.”
--Theresa L. Crenshaw, M.D., San Diego Union-Tribune
 
 “If you really want to supercharge your writing, I recommend that you get a copy of Julia Cameron’s book THE ARTIST’S WAY. I’m not a big fan of self-help books, but this book has changed my life for the better and restored my previously lagging creativity.”
--Jeffrey Bairstow, Laser Focus World
 
“Working with the principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Cameron developed a three month program to recover creativity. THE ARTIST’S WAY shows how to tap into the higher power that connects human creativity and the creative energies of the universe.”
--Mike Gossie, Scottsdale Tribune
 
“THE ARTIST’S WAY is the seminal book on the subject of creativity and an invaluable guide to living the artistic life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published in 1992, it is a provocative and inspiring work. Updated and expanded, it reframes THE ARTIST’S WAY for a new century.”
--Branches of Light
 
“THE ARTIST’S WAY has sold over 3 million copies since its publication in 1992. Cameron still teaches it because there is sustained demand for its thoughtful, spiritual approach to unblocking and nurturing creativity. It is, dare we say, timeless.”
--Nancy Colasurdo, FOXBusiness
 
 
 
Praise for VEIN OF GOLD, the second volume in the ARTIST’S WAY trilogy
 
“For those seeking the wellspring of creativity, this book, like its predecessor, is a solid gold diving rod.”
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

In a flowing sequence of personal essays and exercises (many of them reprises from her bestselling The Artist's Way), Cameron seeks to help readers enjoy writing as a natural, joyful process. "All of us have a sex drive. All of us have a drive to write." She offers advice on how to get over the stiffness or outright paralysis that creeps in when people make writing a "Big Deal." Wholeheartedly believing in writing as a process that connects us to the divine, whether we experience that finer source as internal or external, Cameron is refreshingly real. She invites readers to make use of the interruptions and torments as well as the sensual pleasures of their lives (for example, through the creation of a real or imaginary "Wall of Infamy," using memories of people who have hurt them) as a source of energy that can be focused to write their way "clear of rage, frustration, and negativity." Acknowledging that she is "a sort of creative nurse practitioner," Cameron, telling the stories behind some of her own stories and poems, shows how writing can lead us down into the most vibrant parts of ourselves, to the very source of health. Although she covers much of the same territory she explored in The Artist's Way, Cameron's prose and anecdotes sparkle with fresh, lived experience, demonstrating that when the subject is creativity, a writer really can't enter the same stream twice. (Jan.)

Praise for THE ARTIST'S WAY...

"THE ARTIST'S WAY by Julia Cameron is not exclusively about writing-it is about discovering and developing the artist within whether a painter, poet, screenwriter or musician-but it is a lot about writing. If you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, have always wanted to play and create with words or paints, this book will gently get you started and help you learn all kinds of paying-attention techniques; and that, after all, is what being an artist is all about. It's about learning to pay attention."
--Anne Lamott, Mademoiselle

"The premise of the book is that creativity and spirituality are the same thing, they come from the same place. And we were created to use this life to express our individuality, and that over the course of a lifetime that gets beaten out of us. [THE ARTIST'S WAY] helped me put aside my fear and not worry about whether the record would be commercial."
--Grammy award-winning singer Kathy Mattea

"Julia Cameron brings creativity and spirituality together with the same kind of step-by-step wisdom that Edgar Cayce encouraged. The result is spiritual creativity as a consistent and nourishing part of daily life."
--Venture Inward

"I never knew I was a visual artist until I read Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY."
--Jannene Behl in Artist's Magazine

"Julia Cameron's landmark book THE ARTIST'S WAY helped me figure out who I really was as an adult, not so much as an artist but as a person. And award-winning journalist and poet, Cameron's genius is that she doesn't tell readers what they should do to achieve or who they should be-instead she creates a map for readers to start exploring these questions themselves."
--Michael F. Melcher, Law Practice magazine

"This is not a self-help book in the normative sense. It is simply a powerful book that can challenge one to move into an entirely different state of personal expression and growth."
--Nick Maddox, Deland Beacon

"THE ARTIST'S WAY (with its companion volume THE ARTIST'S WAY MORNING PAGES JOURNAL) becomes a friend over time, not just a journal. Like a journal, it provokes spontaneous insights and solutions; beyond journaling, it establishes a process that is interactive and dynamic."
--Theresa L. Crenshaw, M.D., San Diego Union-Tribune

"If you really want to supercharge your writing, I recommend that you get a copy of Julia Cameron's book THE ARTIST'S WAY. I'm not a big fan of self-help books, but this book has changed my life for the better and restored my previously lagging creativity."
--Jeffrey Bairstow, Laser Focus World

"Working with the principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Cameron developed a three month program to recover creativity. THE ARTIST'S WAY shows how to tap into the higher power that connects human creativity and the creative energies of the universe."
--Mike Gossie, Scottsdale Tribune

"THE ARTIST'S WAY is the seminal book on the subject of creativity and an invaluable guide to living the artistic life. Still as vital today-or perhaps even more so-than it was when it was first published in 1992, it is a provocative and inspiring work. Updated and expanded, it reframes THE ARTIST'S WAY for a new century."
--Branches of Light

"THE ARTIST'S WAY has sold over 3 million copies since its publication in 1992. Cameron still teaches it because there is sustained demand for its thoughtful, spiritual approach to unblocking and nurturing creativity. It is, dare we say, timeless."
--Nancy Colasurdo, FOXBusiness



Praise for VEIN OF GOLD, the second volume in the ARTIST'S WAY trilogy

"For those seeking the wellspring of creativity, this book, like its predecessor, is a solid gold diving rod."
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY