I'm currently reading Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition] (I found a copy at the Shopwise Cubao branch of Book Sale for just seventy pesos!) The interesting thing was that it was indeed a case of synchronicity -- a theme which Cameron goes back to time and again in the book -- when I went to Cubao with my girlfriend, Marie. I felt lazy to go initially, but she shoved me inside the cab anyway. And boy, I'm glad she did. Going to Cubao, and then finding the book was indeed synchronous, meant to be. At that time, I desperately needed something to spur me on with my artistic pursuits, to imbue with passion once more the jaded artist/writer in me.

So what is The Artist's Way? The Artist's Way is a sort of recovery workshop for blocked artists or those who have lost their artistic drive along the way. Sort of an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) blueprint for stumped artists.

The "basic tools," which Cameron introduces in the first chapter are 1) The Morning Pages and 2) The Artist Date. You have to do both, without fail, for twelve weeks, or three months, or 84 days.

The Morning Pages

This is how the morning pages work. Every morning, you write in a journal or a notebook, or any bound writing material, whatever comes to mind. This is a sort of stream-of-consciousness exercise the purpose of which is to rev up your right brain again, or your artist side. I've been doing the morning pages for a few days now, albeit not too religiously, and I can testify that it works. The first couple of days that I was doing the morning pages, I felt like I was young again, back in my twenties, excited about the possibilities of art and/or writing and all that they have to offer.

Now I have a mind to buy a new guitar, or buying strings for my busted guitar, for that matter, and start singing while playing the guirat and learn to compose. I am also more confident now of writing the novel that I have been wanting to write for a long time. It's as if the creative juices have been stirred and their ready to be poured again and shared with the world.

The best way to write the morning pages is to just -- using the term again -- pour it on, without censoring yourself. Whatever comes to mind. Just write. Like this. Just write. Non sequiturs. Anything which comes to mind. My personal way of writing it is to write as fast as I can in a chicken scrawl. I'm not sure I'll even be able to read what I wrote in the future, but that's great because that's not actually the point. It's all about giving out, off.

The Artist Date

The Artist Date meanwhile is a date with yourself every week, and you cannot take anyone with you on your date -- even your lover or partner. And what in particular is an artist date? Well, it's any adventure or sortie which has an element of creativity in it, like a trip to a museum, a garage sale, taking a different route to work, watching an alternative film, etc.

I haven't been doing this yet, but I'm looking forward to these artistic trysts, although being a loner I've actually been doing it practically all my life. But I think the point is to be creative in your "choices of dates," preferrably to do something you haven't done before, and make these dates more planned and predetermined.

Purpose

So what's the purpose of The Morning Pages and The Artist Date? According to Cameron, The Morning Pages is a way of telling the universe what you want, while The Artist Date is a way of letting the universe give you what you asked for. Ultimately, The Morning Pages and The Artist Date is a way of getting in touch with the all-permeating Creative Force, The Source of Creativity, otherwise known as God, or whatever you want to call it.

One may get the impression that The Artist's Way is too New Age-y, but it's actually fairly balanced because it gives you directions and not just prescriptions. And before you know it you are once again, creating.

The other chapters deal with issues which usually face the artist like lack of support, people who sabotage one's creative works and endeavors, money, etc. Not all chapters may resonate with you, but you will definitely find a section which you can identify with.

I have already read the The Artist's Way cover to cover, but I'm now reading it for the second time -- this time more slowly and carefully so I can fully benefit from what it has to teach.

P.S. -- Odds and Ends

There are a few anecdotes about persons not-so-famous and famous which spice up the reading experience of the book. For example, Cameron, a former girlfriend of Martin Scorcese (whose endorsement of the book appears prominently on the back cover), tells the story of when Scorcese gifted Steven Spielberg a script which the former had been developing for some time. The script eventually because Schindler's List. The point of the anecdote is that you don't have to be alone as an artist, that artists work better in clusters. Second, that artists actually are very giving people, and that jealousy in fact goes against the grain of what it is to be an artist. In this instance, Scorcese felt that Spielberg needed the script more than he did, even if it meant greatly reducing his own chances at the Oscars by helping out Spielberg.

This is the kind of artist affirmations which you will find in The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition] -- and though it's not perfect (no book is, of course) it will definitely help you out if you badly need to rekindle that artistic flame which may have been snuffed out for a while.

If you want to get a taste of the book and what it has to offer, the first chapter is actually available online in PDF format for free at Julia Cameron's website.)