The Artist’s Way: A Book Review for Creative Entrepreneurs Who Write
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It was 2015, and early on in my self-development journey, when I saw the title of this book and figured it was for artists.
I resisted The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
At the time, I worked as a communications management consultant. I did, however, want to be a freelance copywriter and run my own business.
I whizzed through the book and one practice stuck with me for almost a decade — morning pages. Even if I’d dip in and out of the practice for the next 10 years, it was one that I always came back to. A daily journaling habit that I never regretted.
Morning pages are three letter-sized pages of whatever words pour out of your brain first thing in the morning — written longhand, no editing, judgment, or filter.
Why creative business owners need The Artist’s Way:
By learning how to weave creativity into your day, you’ll unlock new ideas and inspiration and show up as a better human (and, therefore, business owner)
You’ll get to know your inner artist and inner children — they’ll either hinder or help you in business, so you want to get acquainted with them.
It’s helpful to release expectations of what The Artist’s Way will DO for you. It’s not like a mentorship where you expect to invest $20,000 and learn a specific skill to be able to go out and make more money. Let go of the ego attachment to wanting to read this book only if it will help you make money or advance your career.
This is a journey for you. There’s no comparing or competition with anyone else.
This is soul work — not brain work, which can be a refreshing diversion from the day-to-day in your business.
The book is structured into a 12-week exploration. Let’s look at the highlights of each week. These quotes and lessons stood out to me for business owners and creatives.
Week 1 - Recovering a Sense of Safety
Week 1 introduces the three main practices you’ll explore over the next 12 weeks. Also, as an aside. If following one week a week feels too intense and you want to meander through the work, I suggest spending two weeks on each “week” in the book.
Morning Pages. As covered earlier, this is your three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing first thing in the morning. Many business owners in my community choose to write these any time of day. I recommend writing them in the morning, but if that doesn’t work, try writing them right before you write for your business or dive into working for the day. See how doing them every day or most days of the week feels for you. Personally, I set a goal of writing them five days a week.
Weekly Artist Date. Take yourself out for a creative adventure. A trip to the craft store, museum, new shop, a small town, painting, crafting, reading a different kind of book, visiting a book shop. The intention is to go on this date alone.
Walks. These are intended to be walks alone. I rarely walk alone. I have dogs who need walking and only so many hours in the day. The point is to walk with just you and your thoughts. No podcasts, music, or audiobooks.
In week 1, we explore negative beliefs that may be unconsciously limiting us. I also appreciate the sample positive alternatives. Like “Artists are crazy, and the replacement, “Artists can be sane.” Swap these out for your profession… business owner, writer, author, entrepreneur.
We also have 20 creative affirmations. I love exploring new affirmations to support my goals. Try replacing any words you’d never use with ones you will and tailoring them to your business.
There are 10 task suggestions this week. The ones I see most valuable for business owners are the ones around time travel and people who supported or were enemies of your art. You might uncover horror stories of your jerky high school teachers or a parent with their own wounding projecting it onto you.
“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.” C, G. Jung.
Week 2 - Recovering a Sense of Identity
Who are you? This week might bring up all the uncomfortable feelings around your unhealed ego. What I love about this work is that we get to take all the stories of who others think we are, drop them, and define our own identity.
Are you doing morning pages? For me, I needed to do them consistently for months to see the benefits.
I also started exploring non-artisty Weekly Artist Date ideas — like rollerblading — it felt so fun and freeing!
Julia talks a lot about being blocked and becoming unblocked. I don’t believe in writer’s block. I think it’s complete BS. We’re either full or empty. We either have ideas, or we need to go live life. It’s not a block. It’s wounding that needs healing or experiences that need to be experienced. Explore Liana Shanti’s wound healing programs.
There are 10 task suggestions around recovering a sense of identity, and boundaries and noticing who are your "poisonous playmates." You might also know these kinds of people as "energy vampires." Who are your peers, fellow business owners, or people in your network who are always squashing your ideas, dampening your enthusiasm, and doing anything but cheering you on? They gotta go.
"I shut my eyes in order to see." Paul Gauguin
Week 3 - Recovering a Sense of Power
Here's an excerpt that stood out to me:
"We don't make art with its eventual criticism foremost in mind, but criticism that asks a question like, "How could you?" can make an artist feel like a shamed child. A well-meaning friend who constructively criticizes a beginning writer may very well end that writer."
I can't tell you how many people have told me about a red-pen-wielding English teacher that made them believe their writing was crap. It's why people don't start — businesses, website writing, blogging, books, and also why they never ask for feedback.
I particularly love Julia's rules of the road for dealing with any form of criticism. Stay open to it, write down what parts of it bothered you, and discern where it came from. Did the criticism come from another wounded person (likely)? Is there any aspect of the criticizer's life or business you want? No? Then disregard and move on.
This week's exercise involves some detective work and exploring your emotions as you dig.
There are also 10 tasks to explore. At first, your brain might say, "I'm busy, I've got work to do and I don't have time for 10 tasks."
This is what my brain likes to say, too. Here are some suggestions for breaking these down so that they happen.
Add 5 of them to your 12-week plan for this week and 5 the next. Grab my free 12-week planning worksheet.
On your online or paper calendar, write down as a task, "Do task # from AW." — and then do it.
Breaking down any task into small chunks is what makes them practical and doable. And really, the exercises are fucking powerful... if you do them.
“Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.” Eugène Delacroix
Week 4 - Recovering a Sense of Integrity
We're moving into week 4 of The Artist's Way this week, which is all about recovering a sense of integrity.
"The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind." W.H. Auden.
The exercise this week around recovering buried dreams is all around spontaneity. As you explore the six items in the book, it can be easy to want to go to, "So how does this apply to my business?" And "How does this make me money?"
Let them be fun!
The other big exercise this week is reading deprivation. Julia suggests it for those feeling stuck. She says nothing jump-starts you more than NOT reading.
I love a good media diet. If you scroll social media for just an hour a day, just imagine how much you can create in that time!
“I learned that the real Creator was my inner Self, the Shakti... that desire to do something is God inside talking through us.” Michelle Shea.
Week 5 - Recovering a Sense of Possibility
Week 5 of The Artist's Way is all about recovering a sense of possibility.
“Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor or geneticist if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, good mother, good-looking, good-tempered, well-groomed, and unaggressive.” Leslie M. McIntyre
There are some really powerful nuggets this week about self-sabotage and being destructive. This week, we’re answering uncomfortable questions about what’s letting us (notice I didn't say keeping us) stay stuck.
After answering the hard questions, you might enjoy the wish list exercise. Dreaming big — and doing it before our inner censor can have a say, can be a wildly insightful exercise.
Week 6 - Recovering a Sense of Abundance
Week 6 — Recovering a Sense of Abundance, feels so timely with what comes up for a service-based business owner around being helpful. Abundance is one of my favorite topics, and in 2020, when I ran a high-level mentorship for copywriters, this topic came up a lot, and I realized how much work I'd done in this area.
Money comes up A LOT for creative business owners. The Money Madness exercise in the book is a great one to begin exploring where ideas about money came from. Hint: they didn't come from you — they came from your upbringing and then your unconscious mind continued to look for validation that what you learned was true.
"All substance is energy in motion. It lives and flows. Money is symbolically a golden, flowing stream of concentrated vital energy." The Magical Work of the Soul.
Week 7 - Recovering a Sense of Connection
This week's reading is pretty light. If you picked up The Listening Path by Julia Cameron, this week feels like an intro to that entire book.
This week is all about listening. Listening makes us better humans and better writers.
When we get quiet and still we can write what wants to come out. Listening can be your meditation.
There's a really great section this week on perfectionism — which I’ve talked about many times.
Here's a question from the book to explore: What would I do if I didn't have to do it perfectly?
"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." C. G. Jung
Week 8 - Recovering a Sense of Strength
Week 8 kicks off talking about artist survival. Julia says we have to navigate through hope and loss (of face, money, belief).
A few things came up for me as I read the first line of the chapter. First, I can choose to reject those ideas. Loss of face would only be my ego dying off anyway — and this is a good thing. Money — I see it as an investment. Belief — our belief in ourselves may wane, and in my experience, the more action you take, the more you can believe in yourself and your work. Action is the BEST way through overthinking every time.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that I’ve ever lost a thing in my business or creative pursuits.
This week also talks about time and some practical ways to look at overthinking.
The exercise this week may help you connect the dots to your beliefs about your work, creativity, your craft. You’ll explore those teachers, parents, and caregivers who left an impression on you.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” - Albert Einstein
Week 9 - Recovering a Sense of Compassion
This week kicks off with talking about being blocked. And she lays out the key differences between being blocked and lazy. And you know what I think about being blocked ;)
Julia talks about the blocked creative being unable to take a baby step. Heck, let’s let the baby roll over first and then crawl. She says the inability to start isn’t laziness – it’s fear.
👉 Here’s a question for you: By procrastinating, what emotion are you avoiding by not finishing?
Identify that emotion for what you’re having trouble initiating, and sit with it. Pushing emotions off til later or quickly dismissing them because we sometimes think we “shouldn’t feel this way” only leads to more feeling that way.
This week also talks about creative U-turns. Reading the examples, I cringed. People asked when they could buy my art; I needed to get it properly photographed. I haven’t done it, so I haven’t listed my art for sale.
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” - Anaïs Nin
Week 10 - Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection
This week, we get the important reminder that creativity is spiritual. The tasks and exercises this week are all designed to help us see the toxic patterns that block our creative flow — which are affecting more areas of life than just creativity.
If we find ourselves blocked in our writing, look around. We might be blocked in at least one area of our lives, and it’s simply showing up in our work.
This week also shines a light on competition. Business owners and writers might procrastinate hitting publish — on their websites, blogs, and books because they look outside and see so many voices. “But everyone’s already saying this!” And so we put our pencils down and call it a block. When we’d be better served by protecting our energy, keeping our blinders on, and making stuff that feels good to make.
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” - Jalal - Ud-Din Rumi
Week 11 - Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
Nearing the final week of this 12-week experience, this week, we focus on the ongoing ways we nurture our inner artists — they need love!
Julia dives in with some money beliefs I call BS on. “...odds are good we may be broke some of the time.” NO! This is old programming that you do not need to accept. In fact, I suggest you vehemently reject those ideas. It’s these archaic ideas that keep some creatives feeling small and being “okay” with not earning a living and becoming extremely wealthy.
We also explore success in this chapter. I think success in business — and creativity are about never being satisfied. Happy yes — be the happiest MOFO on the planet. But satisfaction? Always wanting to do more and be more is where you’ll find growth.
This week also talks about small rituals — spiritual ones that fuel our minds, bodies, and our creativity.
“To keep the body in good health is a duty… Otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” Buddha
Week 12 - Recovering a Sense of Faith
We're in week 12 — the final week. The final chapter is on Recovering a Sense of Faith. We explore and acknowledge the mystery at the heart of creativity.
This week we ponder mystery, imagination, and the idea of being a channel. This idea came up in my Authentic Visibility Course. We're the channel, and if we're too busy distracting ourselves, entertaining our inner critics, or procrastinating with vacuuming, social media, or consuming and comparing we can't listen.
Our responsibility as creatives is to show up, shut up, listen, and write what comes through.
We can't hear shit when we're talking.
If you've ever experienced writing flow, you know what I'm talking about. You lose track of time, you're in your body, and importantly — not thinking. You might read back the words that fell out a week ago and wonder, "Who wrote this?" THAT'S how you know you're a channel.
This week, we take a trip back to our notes from week 1. Make sure you celebrate your focus and growth. It's huge.
"Adventures don't begin until you get into the forest. That first step is an act of faith." Mickey Hart, Grateful Dead Drummer
What’s next?
I hope you enjoyed this journey through The Artist’s Way. It’s a book I’ve reviewed several times, and each time, a new layer of healing and insights come through.
To keep exploring your creative life:
Read my book, Intuitive Writing: The Remedy for Writer’s Block & the Secret to Authentic Communication. It’ll be the last (or only) book you need to start writing.
Stick with your morning pages habit. Here’s how I wrap mine up on a feel-good note that also supports my goals — Blog: A free daily practice for sparking creativity & manifesting goodness
Read this blog, Fear of Writing: It Might Not Be What You Think. 10 Powerful Writing Prompts
