Artist's Way Journey 2012

This is the year I am going to do what I have wanted to do for several years: Go through all of  The Artist's Way series of books by Julia Cameron. 

For a long time, The Artist's Way has been THE go-to book for creativity recovery. Countless writers have gone through this workshop-in-a-book, waxed poetic about the discipline of morning pages, refilled their creative wells with art and music and poetry and photography, and praised the virtues of Cameron's writing exercises.

I went through The Artist's Way in 2006 with an online writer's group, and while I found it helpful, I did not get the breakthrough in my writing vision, dreams, or career that I had hoped to find. In the meantime, I requested the remaining workbooks Cameron had written since TAW on my Paperback Swap wishlist, and over the next four years I received every single one of them. They are: The Vein of Gold, Walking in this World, and Finding Water. I did discover that she has yet another book coming out today, entitled The Prosperous Heart. We have a big Amazon order to make soon, so I think that will be on my list (although with only 52 weeks in a year, that book might lead me into 2013!).

I always wanted to go through all of them in one calendar year. Well, my friends, for the first time in 2 years we know we are NOT moving this year, so THIS IS MY YEAR. My year of Cameron and creativity and writing and discovering things about myself I did not know.

Alongside these books, I will also reread Janice Elsheimer's The Creative Call. This is another book I went through with a group a few years ago, and I honestly don't remember anything except posting the exercises and talking. I don't know that it really changed me any. So, I'm going to give it a whirl as well.

I am learning, as I listen to the words around me, the words from God's word, and the words on the pages I read and write, that this year is going to be a lot more about process than product, about journey rather than destination. About how to become a better, happier, more content woman.