Rating: 
Summary: Good for beginners, grating for professionals
Review: "The Right to Write" was the first how-to-write book I ever purchased and that was several years ago at this stage. Back then, this book helped me realise that it was OK to want to write and it gave me the motivation and knowledge to get started. Ms. Camerons own eclectic career inspired me to do what mattered personally in writing terms and not be afraid of making a rough draft a *really* rough draft.However, years passed and times changed. I recently picked up this book, with fond memories mind, having dedicated myself to a writing life and had reasonable success. Unfortunatly, the reread was disappointing and I found her "cult of me" attitude [as eloquently put by another reviewer] incredibly annoying. Ms. Cameron is of the oppinnion that everybody can write. Yes, maybe everybody can, but that doen't mean they should go for a career in it. Her advice that everybody should be authors could dedicate some readers to a live scrimping a living and ravaged with disappointment. Her statements such as "Why don't we do it in the street?" and her "Cups" initiations smack of New Age - the really bad mumbo jumbo kind. In all, this book is excellent for opening the eyes of the "wannabe" writer to what they can achieve, but in cold hindsight after years as a writer myself, I found it too full of "fluff" and incredibly grating. If you want to be a writer that badly then you need a more "grounding" book with a concrete approach to the how's and why's of the process. Unfortunaly Ms. Camerons book falls well short in that regard. - A.
Rating: 
Summary: WRITING TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE??
Review: Author Julia Cameron is also the co-author of The Artist's Way --a classic book that is great for lives in transition. This book is quite different and great for everyone who desires to write a book, article or report for work. She covers how to make yourself a channel for your heart and soul and more. Somewhat spiritual, she still tackles such basics as finding voice and sound. In addition, she offers suggestions for mood and procastination (every writer's challenge at some time or another). Some workbook-style practices are included in the book for those who want to go deeper and use this as a self-guide to creating a writer's life. Terrific addition to every writer's shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: Thank you Julia Cameron
Review: For aspiring writers, there are many books that teach, inspire and train a writer's growth. Julia Cameron's book, "The Right to Write" is the most comprehensive, emotionally attached writing book I have yet to encounter. Honest, direct and understanding, Ms. Cameron provides inspiration by sharing her own with the world. Her experience as a writer never underminds those writers with less experience. She understands that writing is personal, therefore she teaches from her personal perspective.
This is not only the best writing book I have read, it is also one of the best books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you Julia Cameron
Review: For aspiring writers, there are many books that teach, inspire and train a writer's growth. Julia Cameron's book, "The Right to Write" is the most comprehensive, emotionally attached writing book I have yet to encounter. Honest, direct and understanding, Ms. Cameron provides inspiration by sharing her own with the world. Her experience as a writer never underminds those writers with less experience. She understands that writing is personal, therefore she teaches from her personal perspective.
This is not only the best writing book I have read, it is also one of the best books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: What a comfort!
Review: GIST: A writer speaks on writing. STYLE: Anecdotal, a warm and sensitive approach. SKIMMING QUOTIENT: High, because chapter-headings are theme-oriented. But why skim? Material is intriguing. SUBSTANCE: Ms. Cameron has a gift for articulating the inner life of a writer's world --the concerns, fears, desires. While reading her book, I felt as if she were imploring us to transcend a mindset of concentric traps, such as: You're not a writer if people haven't agreed you're a writer...You're not a writer if you haven't been published...You're not a writer if, even though you've been published, you're not a best-selling author...You're not a writer if, you're a best-selling author, but can't write an equally momentous sequel...You're not a writer if, although you're the author of a series of spectacular works, your screenplay version hasn't been purchased...You're not a writer if, you've won the Oscar for Best Screenplay, but the award wasn't for the "Original" category, etc. etc. -- the boundaries of my mind just kept expanding as I read. Cameron explores fears and blockages, revealing with honesty and poignancy her own past writing struggles. QUIBBLES: As much as I enjoy her books, I've rarely found her (well-intentioned) sometimes silly New Age-y exercises, effective. I faithfully wrote "Morning Pages" (daily speed-writing in longhand whatever comes to mind, three pages worth) for two years, without seeing any real impact on my work or life. The cramping of my hand became an unnecessary chore -- a writer uses the hand daily to type or jot down; why exacerbate the physical challenge of our craft? Releasing subconscious "junk" as Cameron refers to it, is really an individual preference. I need to gaze at scenery, a picture of scenery -- or even read a quote about scenery -- for a few moments, to attain the sense of freshness Cameron asserts, rightfully, is integral to the creative process. SNACKS TO READ HER BOOK BY: pretzels, popcorn, tropical mix heavy on the chi-chi nuts, are ideal to munch on as you snap off a paragraph and chew it a while -- Avoid rushing. Cameron's insights are layered, healthy and enriching. BONUS BOOK: Reading a classic, Gift From The Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, on the beauty of balance in life, the importance of times of solitude leading ro renewal, creative rejuvenation, nicely complemented Cameron's book. As a female writer, I enjoy reading other women writers, and Lindbergh is one of my favorites.
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Summary: Julia Cameron: Books are National Treasures - Read 'Em All!
Review: I am an avid reader of Julia Cameron - and I had taken my time in reading this particular title.
The title turned me off - it reminded me of "the entitlement mindset" which annoys the heck out of me... and reminded me of how turned off I had been by "The Artist's Way" at first, until I allowed its truth and glory to shine through and into my heart.
I am so grateful I got out of my way and into this book!
Each delightfully short chapter zeroes in on a simple topic followed by an initiation tool.
What I especially enjoyed was seeing the echoes of Cameron's own tools in the writing itself.
I read this one straight through - hungrily - taking on some of the initiation tools, not all.
I can see myself going through it again, really working with the tools... some of which are familiar and some of which I have been doing intuitively, without Julie C's guidance.
What a blessing Julia Cameron is to the world of writers and creative souls everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: I get the point already!
Review: I liked Julia Cameron's "The Writer's Way," and found it had a good balance of practical tips and inspirational thoughts and above all a practical program to use on the road to reawakening the creative impulse. But this is getting a bit indulgent when you take one idea that rehash it into variations on the same theme. I don't particularly care that Cameron feels alive and excited while "covering" a rock concert. I don't particularly care what she finds inspiring, and she does too much of that in this book. She lambasts writing guides that say to find the right pen, paper, time of day to write; she advocates demystifying the writing process so that it can be as much of a habit as brushing one's teeth. She basically seems to be saying to other writers who write about writing "I'm right and you're wrong if you have a different perspective." I'm beginning to get the feeling like Seinfeld, her whole show is "about nothing." I suppose if you make nothing seem like something you have a hit. At least Seinfeld had interesting characters engaged in quirky, subversive behaviors. Cameron, at least in this book, sounds like a "hip" school marm. Alas, a school marm is a school marm. Stephen King opens his excellent book entitled "On Writing" with the comment that he plans it to be a short book because there is too much b.s. written about writing; he doesn't use the abbreviation, however. This book adds to the amount; maybe we should be doing some reducing.
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Summary: This is a motivational book
Review: If you need to get motivated to write in your journal, or to write a book this is for you. Simple assignments and a variety of skill.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent premise
Review: Julia Cameron begins this volume with an excellent premise. We should write because "[w]riting claims our world" (p. xvi). By naming our experience, we make that experience uniquely our own. Ms. Cameron goes even further and tells us that writing "is a birthright, a spiritual dowry that gives us the keys to the kingdom" (p. xvi). Yes, yes indeed! Writing connects us to something larger than just ourselves. Ms. Cameron's non-elitist approach to the craft refreshes the spirit, giving energy and focus to her advice to "Just show up at the page" (p. 36). Exercises at the end of every chapter nudge her readers in the page's direction. No doubt about it, Ms. Cameron inspires. The book occasionally bogs down with its repetition and wordiness and that's unfortunate. And, I believe the framework of the book wobbles at times as Ms. Cameron leans a little too heavily on the 12-step recovery model approach to make her points. For example, during a dinner party, a Great Writer scoffed at the idea of everybody being called a writer these days. "They're not real writers," he said. As soon as he left, "the rest of the dinner party sat around and played detox" (p. 232). In spite of that, the book abounds with gems. "Writing is the art of a listening heart" (p. 28). "Writing specifically, writing detail by detail, we encounter not only ourselves, not only our truth, but the greater truth that stands behind all art and all communication" (p. 54). "[W]riting is a means of prayer. It connects us to the invisible world" (p. 101). "If you keep writing, you'll publish. If you keep focusing on publishing, you may not write" (p. 132). And perhaps one of the hardest principles to grasp involves "the idea of writing as process instead of product" (p. 190). This is a book I would recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Some gentle nudging, and some tough confrontations
Review: Julia Cameron takes a gentle, but steady approach. She understands full well that if you have had writer's block your entire life, it will not be easy to unblock yourself. Her main unblocking tool is to write three pages a day. You can write anything you want. After some initial reluctance, I have now become an addict, and I have filled several notebooks. She understands very well what demons wannabe writers might face, and gives plenty of exercises for overcoming them. Many of them very gentle, some where you must face old demons, but all basically very simple and easy to do.
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