Artist's Way

Rating:
Summary: Great book, great inspiration
Review: Don't be fooled by the title -- this is a book for everyone, not just artists, who struggle with self-esteem issues. Sure, this book is all about freeing yur creativity, but the sources, resources, hints, tips and inpsiration Cameron shares are applicable to everyone from the blocked writer (me) to the working professional trying to have it all (me). Cameron shows you how to make stopping and smelling the roses a productive action for life and not a life-waster.

Rating:
Summary: Great book to help you get in touch with your artistic self
Review: I've tried some but not all of the exercises in The Artist's Way. The "art date with yourself" really is a must for anyone who does art, even as an amateur. I found that I would go months without painting because I didn't take this "quality time" with myself. Now I try to take a Sunday or any official holiday from work and make an art date just with myself. The first time I did that, I painted a series of small watercolors, better than any I'd did before.

The "morning pages" or writing a journal about anything at all, first thing in the morning is very tough. This exercise is hard to keep up with, but really gets you to "talk to yourself."

There are a number of books on creatvity and art that are popular, but this one is by far the best I have read yet.

Rating:
Summary: I'll eat CROW
Review: So, I wrote a fairly negative review of this book. I have to be honest. I didn't finish it. I had only gone through about half of it at that point. As soon as I picked it up again, it got better. I said that she gives you a destination, but doesn't really guide you along the way. Well, she points out so many of the pitfalls, and so accurately that I'm ashamed I ever said that about her. The chapter on Crazy Makers was just the beginning of a long series of chapters on specific, detailed issues you might face along the way.

I find myself reccomending this book to people all the time now, or quoting specific sections when they tell me about their problems. Hopefully my previous review didn't do too much damage. I sincerely apologize.

again, if you want to talk, e-mail me @ [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Good Message
Review: This is one of those books that finds it's ways into the nooks and crannies of your life, and one day you just break down and buy it to see why it keeps popping up. It's been reccomended to me by a teacher, a musician, and another musician - all three of them songwriters, one a graphic artist, and only one making a living at what they do (the teacher). I'm a writer, musician, and beginning songwriter, not to mention business professional, and a human being on planet Earth.

I'd seen this book dozens of times in bookstores (I spend lots of time in bookstores) but never picked it up. I went into it thinking it would be silly, but I was surprised. The Morning Pages & Artist's Dates were sound advice. Something I'd been doing for years, even though I had no name for it. I write all the time (especially commuting to and from work), and do plenty of stuff that would qualify as "artist's dates". I firmly believe that if you want to do something, just do it, don't think about it, don't analyze the best way into it, just do it.

As I got deeper into the book, I felt it... how can i say this. I felt it stopped taking itself seriously. It seemed like Julia Cameron gave you great tools for beginning the journey, but as she was showing you the map, she glossed over parts. So she gives you the keys to the car, points out in vague terms the destination, and really glosses over the key sightseeing parts and stumbling blocks along the way. Maybe this is done on purpose (so we each find our own path), I don't know.

I just felt like, the two key points of this book were:

1) Write for 45 minutes a day, in the morning. Write about anything, just keep your pen moving across the page (very Natalie Goldberg-esque advice)

2) Do something interesting, by yourself, once a week. This way you have new, fresh imagery for your art (prevents you from falling into a 'rut')

That's the car, the keys, and the map. No get out there and do it!

Oh, and the section on Crazy Makers was great. How true, how true. I was, and now see in the world, people who flock to artistic types so they can feel more artistic. I also see artistic types who enjoy the attention of a flock. I'm not sure it's healthy for either one of them. They both need to learn something about independance and self esteem.

I also reccomend:

(on life)

o Anatomy of the Spirit by Carolyn Myss

o After the Ectacy the Laundry by Jack Kornfield

o the Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz

o On the Road by Jack Kerouac

on writing:

o Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg

o the Passionate Accurate Story by Carol Bly

o the Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri

o Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

on music:

o Writing Music for Hit Songs by Jai Josefs

o Tunesmith by Jimmy Webb

o Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zollo

want to talk more? e-mail me at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Read and change your life
Review: When I discovered this book it was at a time when I was very unhappy about where my life was going. I initially read it thinking it was a book dealing with art but it goes beyond that. It is a guide for life, a manual for the mapping of your future and a companion along the rough road. Any book of a similar nature that I have read since has not matched this. I am now reading The Vein of Gold and from what I have read so far it will build and enhance on the wisdom found in the original book.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiration Can Sneak Up On YOU
Review: I began using The Artist's Way in 1998. The artist's dates were the most difficult part of the assignments. The references to 12-step programs assume everyone knows all about those programs, but I don't. I felt excluded from the conversation. There were some aspects of the book that I was simply not comfortable with, and I never felt that I was experiencing synchronicity as described by Julia Cameron.

BUT I have developed a new interest (designing web sites) and new skills since I read The Artist's Way.

At the time I read the book and did the exercises, I thought that what I liked best were the quotes from famous people such as Einstein. They inspired and motivated me, and I began thinking of images to illustrate what the quotes meant to me. (That was more fun than writing the Morning Pages.) Since I enjoy using computers, I used a computer graphics program to create inspirational signs that I placed around my home.

I guess it pays to be open-minded; although I've finished the book, I'm still benefitting from doing the exercises. I followed up The Artist's Way with Mandala, by Judith Cornell, another ground-breaking book for me. I've developed a new career by taking small steps along a meandering path. So, what IS synchronicty?

Rating:
Summary: From fear to flying!
Review: I adore this book! Truly, it has helped me, so much, to uncover my creative side. The "Morning Pages" have changed my life! I heartily recommend this to anyone who has ever felt that they had a story to tell, a portrait to paint, a song to sing.

Rating:
Summary: Suck it up -- it works!
Review: A creative artist's recovery program -- not to recover *from* writing, but to recover from the many things that can block it. Laid out as a fourteen-week program with specific exercises and self-exploration projects to work on each week, plus ongoing basic elements such as the Infamous Morning Pages and the compulsive's terror, the Artist's Date (one thing you do just for yourself, every week).

While Cameron's tone has occasionally made me yell for insulin, or even wax nostalgic over the Inquisition (she is distinctly of the New Age), her insights are sound and her program gets results. I've done the program with an on-line support group, and it was interesting to see the issues of the week crop up in everyone's lives -- even the folks who had gotten involved in another project and dropped the book for that week, hadn't even read the chapter. The basic philosophy of the book is that there is a Creative Spirit in the Universe that will get right down and haul with you as soon as you show any willingness to start using your own creativity. It has certainly been amply demonstrated for me.

Rating:
Summary: Thanks for the help
Review: I am admittedly a wrong brain sort of person. I've never been able to be creative. My life has been transformed this year by this book and THE ROMANTIC'S GUIDE by Michael Webb. Now, there is a lot of creativity present in my relationship and my life is a lot more fun and fulfilling.

Rating:
Summary: The most helpful book I have ever read
Review: This book is, in a lot of ways "self-help", which generally does not interest me. But it was recommended to me by a trusted friend during a time when I was creatively blocked up and could not paint. So, skeptically, I tried it, committed to the exercises and the "morning pages" (which I still religiously do, two years after completing the course), and bit by bit saw my attitude, habits, and most importantly, my work, begin to change for the better. I found at the completion of the course that I knew myself a lot better as well, not necessarily because of Cameron's words, but because the exercises she provides require some digging into your own beliefs, tastes, and attitudes. I have also recommended this book to several friends, and those who actually did the exercises, esp. the morning pages (those are essential to the book's effect) agreed with me that it changed their lives. These are people who generally, like myself, scoff at the self-help book quick fix format. This is not a quick fix, but a helpful guide to recovering and sustaining a more creative way of life. Some of the language, as an earlier reviewer mentioned, is a bit new-agey, and yes there are references to God, but as Cameron states in the introduction, what is meant by God is any kind of higher power, and it does not advocate any specific religious orientation. The principles are sound, and adverse reactions to her use of language can, and I think should be taken with a grain of salt. Overall a highly effective and useful book.