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The Wish to be Original

The root of the word “original” is origin. We are the origin of our work. It is the ego’s demand that our work be totally original-— as if such a thing were possible. All work is influenced by other work. All people are influenced by other people. No man is an island and no piece […]


Enthusiasm over Discipline

“It must take so much discipline to be an artist,” we are often told by well-meaning people who are not artists but wish they were. What a temptation. What a seduction. They’re inviting us to preen before an admiring audience, to act out the image that is so heroic and Spartan– and false. As artists, […]


Finish Something

As artists, we often complain about our inability to begin. If only I had the nerve to start X– a novel, a short story, the rewrite on our play, the photo series we’re “thinking” of. I would like to suggest that you start somewhere else– start with finishing something. There must be some obscure law […]


Creative Weather

Try this: During a sustained period of work, artists require special care. We must be vigilant to not abuse our health and well-being. We must actively nurture ourselves. For each of us, the act of nurturing differs. Take pen in hand. Number from 1 to 10. List ten concrete ways in which you can support […]


The Miracle of the Artist’s Date

Julia Cameron’s groundbreaking Artist’s Way program has helped millions of individuals around the world discover their creative selves. In this invaluable companion to The Artist’s Way, Cameron provides further insight into one of her most powerful Artist’s Way tools: The Artist’s Date. The Artist’s Date is a block of time that aspiring and established artists devote to stepping […]


A book is finished…now what? Or, “the post-project blues”

Yesterday, I finished a project. I put the final touches on a book and emailed it to my editor. For myself, I like the book, but I am always nervous until it is read and accepted. My editor promised she’d read quickly, but in the meanwhile, I have stepped off the cliff and into space. […]


What next step are you evading?

I have said before that creativity is a spiritual issue. Any progress is made by leaps of faith, some small and some large. At first, we may want faith to take the first dance class, the first step toward learning a new medium. Later, we may want the faith and the funds for further classes, […]


Leaping into the dark

Agnes de Mille put it this way: “Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” I like that […]


Originality

It is all too easy to think of art as something we aspire to, an ideal by which to measure our efforts and find them falling woefully short. Well, that is one way to think of art, and God knows we have bludgeoned ourselves with it pretty thoroughly. Our concepts of “great art” and “great […]


By Teaching I Learn

I first learned that I should teach as I was out on a walk. It was 1980 or 1981. I was praying for a sense of direction and I heard, “teach.” I was shocked. I wanted a creative idea, and teaching seemed punitive to me. I called a girlfriend up, distraught. “I’m praying for my next […]