A new Artist’s Way program that teaches readers how to seek and accept guidance, from "the Queen of Change" (New York Times) author Julia Cameron.
In the thirty years following the publication of The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron relied on an essential tool to help her through every juncture in life: writing for guidance. Now, in Living the Artist's Way, Cameron finally shares this method with the world as the fourth main Artist's Way tool.
Over the course of six weeks, readers learn how to ask for guidance from a higher power within themselves, and trust the answers they receive.
Revealing a more personal and vulnerable side, Cameron describes how she developed confidence in her own guidance and began using it not only to bolster her art, but to make sense of the world. This handbook to seeking and accepting guidance will help readers follow Cameron’s path, becoming creatively unblocked, happier, and more productive.
Many who try guidance for the first time ask Julia, “What if it’s just my imagination?” This book asks, “What if it’s not?”
Welcome to the creative act of writing for guidance.
Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years, with fifteen books (including bestsellers The Artist's Way, Walking In This World and The Right to Write) and countless television, film, and theater scripts to her credit. Writing since the age of 18, Cameron has a long list of screenplay and teleplay credits to her name, including an episode of Miami Vice, and Elvis and the Beauty Queen, which starred Don Johnson. She was a writer on such movies as Taxi Driver, New York, New York, and The Last Waltz. She wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning independent feature film, God's Will, which premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was selected by the London Film Festival, the Munich International Film Festival, and Women in Film Festival, among others. In addition to making film, Cameron has taught film at such diverse places as Chicago Filmmakers, Northwestern University, and Columbia College. Her profound teachings on unlocking creativity and living from the creative center have inspired countless artists to unleash their full potential.
When I was in highschool, I had an English teacher that had read the Artist's Way. Each class period, we started out by writing morning pages - even if the class was in the afternoon. 18 years later, and this has still stuck with me. That said, this is the first Julia Cameron book I have read for myself and I think I may have made a mistake picking this as my first. The description boasts of this being a guidebook to followers and newcomers. As a newcomer, I would disagree with the term guidebook. This book was mainly, memoir with a couple lines here and there with guidance. The description definitely should have mentioned this because had I known, I would have started with one of her other books. I feel like I would have appreciated and been able to get more from this book that way.
This is sectioned off into daily "guidance" - which was essentially the author talking about her day for a page or two and then 2-3 lines of a guided topic to write on. There wasn't any real guidance here. I also didn't feel motivated or inspired hearing about filling her dogs water bowl, phone calls with her friend to ask each other of they wrote on guidance, frustrations with fires, frustrations with rain, frustrations with the AC taking longer to get installed, etc.
As a newcomer, I don't think this was the right book and shouldn't be described as a great guidebook for newcomers alike. I am still very interested in the author's teachings though and plan to pick up one of her other books and go from there.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc of this book.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. I'm not required to write a review.
However, I felt like I should, since I loved The Artist's Way and it truly changed my life when I read it last year. So I was very excited to read this new release, and was kind of disappointed. I had high expectations, but this book is very different to the original The Artist's Way.
As a lot of reviews already mentioned, this book focuses on the 4th tool that Julia Cameron relies on for creativity, guidance. She uses her morning pages to ask for guidance on anything and everything that bothers her, as well as asking for it out loud. Which is a good idea to practice, and I started incorporating the "What about X?" guidance questions to my morning pages.
However, the chapters are more of a memoir style, about her days and her friends, and how they use guidance, rather than concrete examples or theory that I'm used to from The Artists Way. So after a while, her talking about the weather, her newly installed AC system, etc. got extremely repetitive and boring, as well as constant mentions of phone calls with her friends, because they were all the same conversations. I didn't learn anything useful from it.
The writing for guidance prompts were also not relatable to me, because I'm at a different stage in my life, so try to read through it before buying this book. 2.5/5 stars
Julia Cameron is the author of the original Artist's Way book. Twenty- two years later, here's another book from her called Living the Artist's Way: An Intuitive Path to Greater Creativity. It's somewhat misnamed. It's more of a daily journal of her dog walks and phone calls with friends. It is literally very mundane. I did enjoy some of the eloquent prose descriptions about her nature views.
There are small sections in each part with questions to write down to ask for guidance. Guidance, she explains, is asking God or some higher source for input, and she recommends writing down both your requests and the answers you receive. I feel this is a very basic method. I've been in touch with my intuition most of my life, and I don't feel a need to write it down most of the time. Most often, a few quiet minutes of meditation will give me good guidance. If I have an issue I'm really confused about, then I will write about it in my journal. I was really hoping for more activities to be suggested.
Ms. Cameron doesn't use the word Intuition that is in the title. Instead, she always uses the term Guidance, so that should be used in the title or the text edited to include more references to intuition.
The narrator, Eliza Foss, did a nice job reading the book with her pleasant voice.
Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
DNF. 39 pages in and calling it quits. This could have been a pamphlet with the limited useful information. Most of this is Cameron rambling about hot weather and calling her friends to ask them if they write for guidance.
Soy una fan incondicional de El camino del artista, el libro al que complementa éste. Aquel libro me marcó, me transformó y ayudó muchísimo. Después leí El camino del escritor, que me encantó, y El camino de la escritura, que me gustó mucho aunque no tanto. Por eso, al ver que Julia Cameron acaba sacar un nuevo libro que continúa las enseñanzas y trabajos del primero, me lo he comprado sin dudar.
Estaba llena de emoción, como loca por sumergirme de nuevo en semanas de lectura, reflexiones y actividades reveladoras y transformadoras. Pero vaya decepción... ha sido un bajón increíble...
Desde el principio Julia se enfoca en la idea de rezar para pedir orientación, menciona constantemente Dios y la necesidad de creer en él. Sí, en el Camino del Artista también lo hacía, aunque sugería que podíamos cambiar la palabra Dios por lo que mejor nos fuera (yo cambié "Dios" por "Universo" y todo fluyó de maravilla). Pero esto era un elemento más, algo importante pero no el punto central. Pero ahora parece que este Dios y su respuesta es sobre lo que gira todo el libro.
Para mi gusto todo tiene un aire muy religioso, más de lo normal, y se basa en pedirle consejo a Dios, lanzar la pregunta y escribir la respuesta que recibamos de él. Es decir, en pedir consejo y recibir orientación. Esto es básicamente lo que expresa el libro...
Además, entre actividad y actividad hay montones de páginas que para mí carecen de interés: conversaciones con sus amigas y familiares detallando cosas que no vienen demasiado al caso, como su nieta llorando o un amigo dando de beber agua a la perra... Siempre ha narrado cosas de su vida en los libros pero entendía y justificaba su aparición para ayudarnos a comprender los conceptos y las activudades mejor. Pero en esta ocasión creo que se excede demasiado... es bastante aburrido de leer y, cuando llegan las actividades, consisten principalmente en lanzar nuestras dudas y esperar a recibir orientación escrita. Sí, de manera inconsciente eso lo hago mucho en mi diario, lanzo una pregunta y sigo escribiendo, y muchas veces es cierto que surge de manera natural una respuesta, una posible explicación, un posible camino... pero... ¿es esto como para escribir un libro centrado en ello?
Estoy un poco en shock, las ganas eran tan fuertes y las expectativas tan altas que me he quedado descolocada total. No entiendo muy bien el sentido de este libro... Pero adoro y admiro muchísimo a Julia Cameron, así que no voy a calificarlo con estrellas. No quiero perjudicar su puntuación porque quizá haya gente que sí conecte con el libro, quizá ayude mucho a otras personas, tal y como a mí me ayudaron sus otros libros. Puede que sencillamente esta vez lo que ha escrito no sea para mí. Aunque me habría encantado que sí lo fuera...
Before I review this book, I have to preface by saying that I have done Julia Cameron's original Artist's Way book several times in the past 25 years with various groups and each time it has changed my life! I am currently a pressed flower artist living my best life as the direct result of that book. Several years ago I started a creative, successful children's party business because of that book. I also became and worked as a floral designer for 20 years because of that book. And I had never considered myself to be a creative or artistic person before that book. It's amazing and one of my all-time favorite books that I recommend to everybody!
That being said, I was so excited to read this new book, thinking it was going to be a kind of sequel to the original. Sadly that was not the case. This book was very disappointing for me. The entire book I felt like I was reading Julia's morning pages. Each chapter was basically a description of a day in her life where she talks about walking her dog, talking to friends, getting phone calls from people checking in on her, the weather, getting air conditioning installed in her house, etc. It's just chapter after chapter of flowery writing about her daily life. The one new tool she presents is writing for guidance. That's it! I will admit it is a good tool to add to the morning pages and artist dates. But this could have easily been a one chapter book discussing this tool. Instead, the book goes on and on about how she asks for guidance about everything that happens each day. In the process she exposes us to her daily fears, anxiety and insecurities. She offers a few prompts at the end of each chapter but again, it could have been a one-chapter book with guidance prompts at the end. It was a tough book to make myself get through. I wish I could recommend it but I cannot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I have friends among the librarians, which is very cool. I was browsing my local stacks when one of them came up and said "You've read the Artists Way, haven't you? Have you seen this?" and then pressed this book into my hand. Well, nothing feels cooler than a recommendation directly from a librarian, so I checked it out and set about on this volume. I liked the Artists way, but with qualifications, but the same can not be said here. This is more a memoir, and not an especially flattering one. Julia Cameron seems to have an endless stream of friends who call at exactly the right moment, listen to her whine, and then impart wisdom about the subject that she wants to write a book (this book), about. I found this much less useful in building a creative practice than The Artists Way- this is more about the author, and less about the work.
I picked up this book on a whim after spotting it on the shelf at the public library. Julia Cameron! Sure! She’s a “go to” for inspiration, particularly as it relates to my own writing practice. After the first chapter, however, I had to force myself to push on and try to seek additional guidance from this book. There simply wasn’t enough substance for this to become a published book, much less a 6-week course.
Sadly, readers who are new to Cameron might be disenchanted by the author - who focuses so narrowly on the “horrible interruption” of having air conditioning installed in her home and includes so many instances of her dog chasing lizards on daily walks - that she causes herself to appear shallow and quite boring. Clearly, this book was written during COVID and, particularly, lockdown. One area that felt relatable was Cameron revealing her nerves and fear of failure when presenting to groups. She discussed this with close friends and seeks reassurance. Even acclaimed writers have this fear? Now that’s relatable!
"Living the Artist's Way: An Intuitive Path to Greater Creativity" by Julia Cameron is a transformative guide that combines memoir and workbook elements to help individuals navigate life's challenges with greater creativity and intuition. The book introduces a six-week program aimed at strengthening the practice of seeking guidance through writing, offering practical tools and exercises to facilitate self-discovery and personal growth.
At the heart of the program is the concept of "Writing for Guidance," a practice derived from Cameron's influential book "The Artist's Way." This practice involves writing down questions or concerns and listening for intuitive answers that manifest through pen and paper. Through daily rituals such as Morning Pages, Artist Dates, and solitary walks, individuals learn to tap into their inner wisdom and connect with higher forces for inspiration and direction.
The six-week program outlined in the book focuses on different aspects of personal development and creative expression. Week one emphasizes grounding, encouraging individuals to seek guidance on everyday concerns and interactions with others. Week two focuses on strength, promoting self-care and positive reinforcement to build a healthy sense of self-worth.
Week three centers on inviting calm, encouraging patience and acceptance in the face of uncertainty. Week four emphasizes optimism, guiding individuals to cultivate a hopeful outlook and recognize opportunities for growth and change. Week five highlights resilience, fostering the ability to navigate life's challenges with grace and wisdom.
Finally, week six underscores the importance of commitment and perseverance, inviting individuals to embrace guidance as a long-term practice and trust in their inner wisdom. Throughout the program, participants are encouraged to reflect on their experiences, cultivate gratitude, and embrace the creative journey with faith and acceptance.
Overall, "Living the Artist's Way" offers a comprehensive guide for individuals seeking to enhance their creativity, intuition, and overall well-being. By integrating writing practices, self-reflection, and spiritual exploration, the book provides a roadmap for living a more inspired and fulfilling life. Whether you're an artist, writer, or simply someone looking to deepen your connection with yourself and the world around you, this book offers valuable insights and tools for personal transformation.
Julia Cameron’s newest addition to her Artist’s Way toolkit—“writing for guidance”—provides the foundation for a more spiritual accompaniment to the bestselling method that helps one unlock their inner artist and discover their creative potential.
As a lover of Cameron’s original Artist’s Way workbook, I found this addition to be an interestingly intimate peek into Cameron’s lived experiences as an artist who, like many of us, yearns for answers to seemingly difficult questions.
Although Cameron explains her technique for writing to achieve guidance in the introductory chapter, I found it to be less specific than I had hoped—especially after reading the intricately specific original Artist’s Way workbook. This book reads more like a memoir with some loosely tied in guidance (see what I did there) on how to achieve her outlined method than a true step-by-step guide. I would suggest seeing the book as such before jumping in to limit any dissatisfaction that may come from expecting another nitty-gritty Artist’s Way 12-week program.
I would recommend this book to those craving a deeper connection to Cameron as an author and teacher and those who are searching for an extra push away from the “woo-woo,” as Cameron calls it, nature of the spiritual aspects of her work.
✨ Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for sending me this electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review ✨
Too much repetitive talk about weather and not enough reflection on writing or teaching. Writing about the weather is only interesting in bad weather, and only interesting to the person experiencing it. I found it hard to empathize with her “struggle” about the air conditioning when given where she lives, she should have had it all along. I liked the few places where she wrote about teaching. When I write my morning pages I try not to write about the weather and try to dig deeper. I would have liked to see that in this book.
WIP - a combination memoir and workbook. It presents a six-week program for writing for guidance. Come back to this to get my writing groove back. 4/5?
Context: - After having the manuscript rejected by publishers, Julia Cameron decided to self-publish her book. First, she simply sold photocopied editions to local bookstores. But the demand soon grew, and it kept growing. A national publisher finally decided to give the work an official release in 1992, and from there The Artist’s Way became an enduring best seller.
Action items: - Morning pages: When you wake up, take a moment to produce three full-length pages of longhand, freeform writing. Don’t overthink it. Even if it’s gibberish, just write down whatever comes to mind. This practice serves as a gateway to clear your mind. - Artist Dates: weekly solo adventures, whether it's a museum visit, a stroll through nature, or a couple of hours of quiet reflection to fuel inspiration and rejuvenate creative spirit. - Walks: solitary ambles undertaken twice a week with no distractions. No phone. No dog. This is all about you reconnecting with your surroundings. - Get a sheet of paper and a pen, and write down three things that are currently a source of worry or anxiety. Try to identify the biggest, and then write down the question, “What should I do about this issue?” Then, whatever comes to mind, write it down. Chances are, new solutions will present themselves. - “What is it that I really need to know? What do I need to do? What do I need to accept or grieve? What do I need to celebrate?”
Notes: - there’s no aspect of life where guidance can’t be of help - Nick, asks for guidance every day. He starts his day by writing his morning pages. And then, feeling that his channels are open to receive, he asks for guidance about his poetry and what shape his verse should take that day.
Ik durf Julia Cameron bijna niet slechts 1 ster te geven na het boek The Artist’s Way, maar van dit vervolg kan ik helaas echt niet meer maken. Ik heb hem braaf uitgelezen, omdat ik aan het wachten was op meer diepgang. Dat kwam alleen helaas niet. Ik heb het programma gevolgd zoals bedoeld, maar ik kon het na 2/3 van het boek niet meer opbrengen op de hoofdstukken volledig te lezen. Het laatste stuk heb ik steeds gescand om niets te missen, maar dat had ik beter niet kunnen doen (ik miste er niets aan).
Ieder hoofdstuk lijkt wel op een serie morning pages (waar Julia Cameron veel over schrijft in haar eerdere boek). Het springt van de hak op de tak. Het gaat over haar kapotte airco, haar hond, haar gebrek aan inspiratie. En ja, daarbij schrijft ze steeds heel kort over haar wegwijzers (hou vol, hulp is onderweg, begin gewoon ergens). En ja, soms kan dat inspuitend zijn. Maar dat staat voor mij totaal niet in verhouding tot alle zinnen die slaan op haar gedachten die zo’n 90% van het boek innemen. Ik had echt gehoopt op meer diepgang over haar wegwijzers, maar achteraf gezien had ik beter kunnen stoppen met lezen na de inleiding. Heel jammer. Ik houd het dus bij The Artist’s Way en ga geen vervolgboeken meer aanschaffen van Julia Cameron.
Overigens wel nog even goed om te benoemen; haar boeken kunnen zeker wat aan de “zweverige” of “spirituele” kant zijn. Ik lees dit soort boeken zelf prima weg, waarbij ik kijk waar ik het mee eens ben en waar ik het met een korreltje zout neem. Als je niet van dit genre houdt, begin dan zeker niet aan haar boeken. Als je twijfelt omdat je graag meer wil weten over creativiteit, begin dan met The Artist’s Way. De informatie en opdrachten daarin zijn een stuk toegankelijker en hebben meer diepgang rondom zelfontwikkeling dan dit boek.
I was so excited to listen to this audiobook, written by the legendary author of The Artist's Way. Sadly, the book was repetitive and reminiscent of a personal journal rather than a memoir or guidebook, which is what I had expected. I really could not get past the first third of the audiobook because of these flaws.
The key message of the book is how to seek what the author calls "Guidance." Guidance is essentially a prayer in written form, and the author shares that this Guidance has been a benevolent force guiding her life and artistic pursuits. The author goes on to name a laundry list of her personal friends and professional contacts who use Guidance. The author also writes too much about her personal day-to-day. While that can be helpful in a craft kind of book -- sometimes I enjoy learning creatives' processes -- in this case, it came across as a Dear Diary entry that was too detailed and mundane to be engaging.
The narrator did do a wonderful job. She has a pleasant voice and emotes well. Unfortunately the source material she had to work with was just meh.
Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Julia Cameron (author), Eliza Foss (narrator), Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for this free advanced reader/listener copy of "Living the Artist's Way: An Intuitive Path to Greater Creativity" for an honest review.
A fan of Cameron's whole 'Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity' series, I jumped at the chance to review this arc. Sadly, I find myself one of the people Cameron self-admits in the earliest parts of the book might find it too "woo-woo." I originally thought that couldn't be the case, being a deeply spiritual person of non-traditional variant for any decades—but, alas, she was right.
I think this will work well for people who enjoyed her book on prayer and that it's rather religious leaning rather than spiritual leaning. I do think it would work better in the workbook format, as it's harder in the audio to work through things or reference back to them.
Julia Cameron's latest version of her cult-classic, "The Artist's Way," narrated by Eliza Foss, offers a deep dive into the realms of creativity, intuition, and the transformative power of prayer. As a longtime follower of Cameron's insightful guides, I found this rendition to be both familiar and, at times, surprisingly revealing.
Cameron's ability to connect with her audience is evident as she shares not only her wisdom, but also her vulnerabilities. In "Living the Artist's Way, An Intuitive Path To Greater Creativity," she is very relatable as she doesn't shy away from disclosing her worries and insecurities. Despite her celebrated status as an author and screenplay writer, Cameron unveils the commonality of human experience. She waits anxiously for calls and emails, faces the woes of a malfunctioning HVAC unit in the sweltering July heat, and navigates the uncertainties brought on by the pandemic.
What sets this book apart is Cameron's emphasis on the role of prayer as a guide to source. And as a tool for unlocking creativity. She weaves her personal anecdotes into practical advice, offering listeners a roadmap to connect with their higher power. The special prompts at the end of each chapter serve as valuable tools for introspection and application.
I found some elements of the book redundant, but the essence of the message is clear: Practice patience, talk to your high power, listen and then take action. Cameron's sincerity and transparency shine through, reminding us that even accomplished individuals grapple with the same uncertainties and challenges that we do.
Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced listener copy of this audiobook via the NetGalley app.
I am a fan of the original Artist's Way, and still practice morning pages and artist dates, so I was looking forward to this one. Honestly, though, it doesn't add much beyond the author's previous works in terms of process. It's more of a memoir (with some name dropping that was kind of unsavory) and talk about writing "for guidance"--maybe you have to be a bit more woo-woo than I am these days to access that.
I'll keep recommending the original flavor and the journal to anyone, but this book is just for Cameron superfans, I think.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
I love Julia Cameron's book 'The Artist's Way'. Also, I love this book. It shows so many ways to unlock creativity, including guidance and stories. Thanks to St Martin Press and NetGalley for this ARC.
Although an overall good and well written book, it felt like reading someone’s diary, with too many repetitive lines, and all the tips offered could be encompassed in one instagram post or twitter’s thread. For me, the contents this book offers would work better in a different format (podcast, youtube video, … ).
The author invites individuals to embrace creativity, trust their intuition, and cultivate a deeper connection with themselves and the world around them. Over the course of six weeks, you’re given weekly assignments and prompts designed to unlock your creative potential. The primary emphasis throughout these six weeks is seeking guidance by writing specific questions and trusting the answers you are provided with. This process is focused on inviting optimism and self-forgiveness, as well as embracing commitment and perseverance. By praying, taking walks, and writing Morning Pages, individuals learn to trust in their inner guidance and surrender to the creative process with faith and acceptance. With the support of a nurturing network and a commitment to authenticity, you can discover the power of self-discovery, honesty, and connection. Living the Artist’s Way is about embarking on a journey of creative fulfillment and personal growth.
3.5/4. I really liked the Guidance practice + found it useful but the chapters seemed a bit bland in my opinion. I feel there should be a limit to the amount of time you reference a piñon tree. Regardless, big fan of Julia + her work.
This book is perfect for fans of Julia Cameron who already identify with her writing style and framework for practicing the craft of writing. In this book she uses an almost diary narrative to teach about the power of a higher power which she refers to as “guidance” in the writing life. She is sensitive to people’s unique beliefs in powers beyond the known, and I absolutely love that about her. Not sure I’d recommend it to beginners of Julia, though.
I picked up Living the Artist’s Way expecting a fresh take on creativity, but instead, I found a book that felt more like a loosely structured memoir than a guide. While Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way is widely praised, this follow-up leans heavily on the success of its predecessor without offering much new… if any at all… insight.
Rather than providing meaningful creative reflections, exercises, the book mostly consists of daily observations—installing an AC, walking the dog, phone calls with friends talking about weather—punctuated by empty reminders to write. The idea behind the prompts at the end of each chapter is nice but as chapters are empty of content, prompts also felt tacked on, lacking the depth or context.
If you’re looking for actionable advice or fresh inspiration, this book is unlikely to deliver. While devoted Cameron fans might appreciate the personal anecdotes, newcomers hoping for a structured creative journey may find it dull, repetitive, and ultimately disappointing.
I love Julia Cameron, but this book was a real disappointment. I will go back to my bookshelf and pick up one of her other books to find my inspiration.
She has been such a gift to me, but this book just didn’t work.