Starting The Artist's Way
Introduction to healing yourself
What does it take to go from feeling like you’re “no artist” to launching a blog, learning to draw, and writing a thriller? For me, the answer was finally committing to Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. This series details that journey—the very thing that revived my creativity. I’ll share the program’s basics and my experience overcoming its challenges. For a general overview, check out my earlier post.
Why this series?
In a general sense, I’m no artist. Or at least, I wasn’t. I was just someone who wrote once in a while. I let my 10th-standard school board exams disrupt my writing first, and then I let my 12th-standard exams do the same. I thought I was helpless, and in a way, that was true. Breaks are necessary, but breaks built on the idea of ‘Just study now so you can enjoy later’ are what kill our innate creativity.
That’s what led me to ‘The Artist’s Way’ back in 2018. Oh yeah, this is a journey I’ve tried and failed at many times before finally getting it right. So, this series will share what the program is about, along with my experience going through it, especially overcoming challenges.
The Basics
The Artist’s Way program begins with a powerful idea: you are already creative.
“Are you right-brained or left-brained?” is something I’ve been asked a lot. I always say left-brained, the analytical side; my passion for computer science makes it the obvious choice. But the real secret no one tells you is that you don’t have to choose. You don’t get to choose. You use both sides. You can’t just switch off half your brain. It’s not like light switches. We aren’t in the Severance universe with innies and outies (P.S. I highly recommend the show. It’s brilliant).
And this program understands that. It isn’t a quick fix. I know I kept waiting to wake up one day feeling officially “creative.” Then I looked back after 5 weeks and realized the change had already happened. I had already created:
This Blog: I built this space to share it all.
Writing: I outlined a thriller and started writing it.
Digital Art: I learned to draw on my iPad.
Music: I started humming songs again.
It’s a slow process, but it’s worth it. Julia Cameron calls creativity a spiritual process. I see it as a fundamental human one.
Cameron refers to God a lot, but I’ll keep this series focused on the practical and personal. Creativity is our superpower as humans. You may or may not feel closer to your God; feel free to embrace that. Your spiritual experience is personal, but there’s no pressure to experience it in order to complete this series.
You can be creative. It’s okay to be creative. You owe it to yourself to see what you’re really capable of.
So, does starting this journey interest you? You can support my work by leaving a tip on my Ko-fi. Most importantly, if this post spoke to you, please like and share it. You never know who else in your life needs to hear this message.
I have worked through The Artist's Way too, not very diligently, but enough to reset my creative senses when I quit my job and began writing fiction in earnest. I enjoyed it. One can read it multiple times, and still gain a new perspective.
Love this post, Bhavana. Reassuring and motivating. I look forward to your snippets from this book.