To sort of piggy-back on yesterday’s post about what readers want, I’m curious, what do you read?

Do you tend to read in the genre you write or do you kind of go all over the map?

Right now I’m reading a mix of things.

Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz. It’s the third in his Frankenstein trilogy. Good stuff.

Moonwalk by Michael Jackson. His autobiography. Not far in yet but it’s interesting so far.

Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I admit…I’ve been slack with the course, but I’m still with. I will finish, dammit!

I just finished a book, which I won’t name, because I really like the author, but the book was such a disappointment, that well…*sigh* I just can’t talk about it. I’m too upset. Hopefully you haven’t read anything lately that’s had THAT effect on you, but if you have, please share. We can get through this together.

And if you haven’t already, be sure and friend me on Goodreads!

Have a great weekend.

Julia Cameron is the author of, “The Artist’s Way.” The book/program is supposed to help unblock the blocked and discover the undiscovered artist in each of us. It may sound a little woo-woo for some people, but oh well.

I’ve started and stopped this program about twice now. However, I have restarted it and am determined to finish this time, as I discussed in an earlier blog post. So far, so good. I know I will finish it this time. I expect you to yell at me if I don’t. We can yell at me together. It’ll be fun.

Anyway, below is an interview with Julia Cameron, primarily about “The Morning Pages.” (In other clips linked on the page, she discusses other aspects of The Artist’s Way as well.)  The Morning Pages are one of the key stepping stones in The Artist’s Way path. Seriously, when I first started the course, I thought they were pointless. I’ve always resisted free writing. I’m more of a stare out the window till inspiration hits, incubate the ideas for a while and have them pretty much solid before I ever commit them to paper or screen. Staring at a blank page freaks me out and tends to scare away my already flighty muse.  I arrive at the blank page armed with ideas, but that’s not the point of the morning pages.

Last week though, I had a breakthrough.  I’d been doing the morning pages, but filling them with ho-hum journal-ish type things like how I wish I had a cup of coffee, and, oh dear god why won’t the cat make me a cup of coffee, or if I could just use the force to make myself a cup of coffee I’d be so happy. You get the point.

However, last week I actually wrote a piece of fiction. Not a story really, but a little slice of time. Just a page long, more of a descriptive piece than anything, but there it was. It came from nowhere. I hadn’t tossed it around beforehand, I hadn’t developed a mental sketch of anything. I just sat down and wrote, and it was great. Can’t wait to see how the rest of this journey unfolds.

Click here to see Julia Cameron on The Artist’s Way.

Following up with goals…one of my goals this year is to start *and* finish, The Artist’s Way course. For those that don’t know, The Artist’s Way is a book by Julia Cameron, but is also a 12 week program to help with recover your creativity from various blocks, including fear, self-doubt, etc.

I started the course earlier this year when I felt particularly blocked. I wanted to complete the final draft on my novel, but I just couldn’t do it. I had no power, no drive, nothing. When things like that happen, I, like most creative people go to that dark place where I wondered why I even bothered writing. Those tiny thoughts tend to grow exponentially. First it’s why do I do this, next it’s, why bother? You’ll never make it anyway, hell you’ve never even sold a short story. You should be focusing on REAL things, not self-indulgent, artsy-fartsy things.

The problem is, I can’t do it. Every time I come to that point where I think I should give it up, I can’t. Even if I never make a dollar doing it, I can’t stop writing. When I’m writing, I’m happy. When I’m not, I feel like something is missing. So why, if I love it so much, do I run into these blocks? Why does anybody?

Various reasons of course…no time, life gets in the way, etc.

What the Artist Way course tries to do is find out what your blocks are and get you past them. Creativity is one of those ellusive things that we can’t just turn on or off. It comes and goes, and for me anyway, I can never quite pin it down. It’s like one of those friends you have who you LOVE visiting with, but then they don’t call or e-mail for a few weeks or months and you start feeling rejected, but then they come back and everything is right with the world again.

So, in embarking on The Artist’s Way journey, I’m hoping to equip myself with the tools I need to be able to get through these blocks when they happen, because they WILL happen. The people I know who have completed the course have said it was incredibly useful. Fingers crossed. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Have you done The Artist’s Way course or read the book? Any comments or suggestions? If you haven’t and you’re interested, drop me a line, maybe we could be study partners.