Anyone who has felt blocked creatively should know the name Julia Cameron. Her The Artist’s Way has been helping writers, filmmakers, photographers, painters, musicians, and so many others find their voice again after it’s been silenced. Since then, she has continued to write. She had written plays and novels, screenplays and music, and she’s also written more books to help artists find their way out of silence into success. Her latest book, Write for Life, is for the writers.
When Cameron says this book is for the writers, she means it’s primarily for those who want to write. But she also believes that everyone has the ability to be a writer. It’s just a matter of putting pen to paper and getting started. So for anyone who wants to start writing, or for blocked writers, or for those who don’t really believe they can writer, this book is for you. And for the record, Cameron believes in you, even if you don’t yet.
Anyone familiar with her work on creativity will have heard all about her tools—the Morning Pages, Artist Dates, and daily walks. In this book she talks about them all in depth, emphasizing how the Morning Pages (3 pages of freehand stream-of-consciousness writing done every morning) will help you figure out what you want to say and how you want to say it. The weekly Artist Date and daily walk help refill the well, so when you sit to write there is plenty there to draw from. In this book, she adds a daily page quota, one that’s low enough to be achievable (2-3 pages, depending on the project, is what she recommends), offering steady progress without too much pressure.
But mostly, Write for Life is a book about writing, page by page, essay by essay. It’s a six week course where you can learn to begin where you are, to lay track (that’s the process of putting words on the page, to get from point A to point B), to learn the best way to deal with your inner critic, to trust the process, to protect yourself and your art, to take on perfectionism, and to celebrate when you reach a milestone. Because she’s not interested in teaching you how to write a screenplay in 30 days or how to publish your novel in 6 months. Cameron wants you to focus on the process and to face all the obstacles that stand in our way of a creative life, whether that be anger, fear, jealousy, competition, ago, or toxic friendships.
While a lot of Cameron’s works are written for artists in general and can help anyone wanting to tackle a creative project or wanting to become a full-time artist, Write for Life is crafted in a way that is specific to writers. A lot of her advice will apply to any artist, the nature of this writing is different. It’s very repetitive. She talks a lot about the weather that happens outside her Santa Fe house. She talks about humility over and over, about dealing with perfectionism and ego, about how her dog tries to bite her pen.
These essays are about the moment she is experiencing and how that translates into her writing, word by word, sentence by sentence. I think writers would be helped by this sort of writing, to see the way she circles back to her main ideas through the small moments of each day, to see how she uses her feelings and her doubts and her fears on the page. Although, now that I think about it more, these lessons would probably be good for any artist, for anyone wanting to get more grounded in their life, for anyone wanting to express their authentic voice.
I have been a fan of Julia Cameron for a very long time. And while I love her writing and find it warm and moving, I think it should also come with a warning label. She makes you believe in possibilities. She makes you want to write a novel. Or a movie. Or a play. And she makes you think you could do it. (Actually, you can. I have written long projects based on her tools). But she makes you—okay, I’m talking about myself here. She makes me think that I could start writing a novel tonight, and that I should get started right away, because she makes it seem so achievable. But I’m tired tonight, so I can’t. But then, there’s always tomorrow.
If you know anyone who you think should get inspired to start writing, or if you yourself are struggling to find the motivation, then pick up some good pens, fresh notebooks, and a copy of Write for Life, and then just wait for the magic. Because that’s what Julia Cameron brings to the page—pure magic.
Egalleys for Write for Life were provided by St Martin’s Essentials through NetGalley, with many thanks.
