Synopses & Reviews
From the bestselling author of The Artist's Way, a revolutionary diet plan: Use art to take off the pounds!
Over the course of the past twenty-five years, Julia Cameron has taught thousands of artists and aspiring artists how to unblock wellsprings of creativity. And time and again she has noticed an interesting thing: Often, in uncovering their creative selves her students also undergo a surprising physical transformation-invigorated by their work, they slim down. In The Writing Diet, Cameron illuminates the relationship between creativity and eating to reveal a crucial equation: creativity can block overeating.
This inspiring weight-loss program, which can be used in conjunction with Cameron's groundbreaking book on the creative process, The Artist's Way, directs readers to count words instead of calories, to substitute their writing's "food for thought" for actual food. Using journaling to examine their relationship with food-and to ward off unhealthy overeating -readers will learn to treat food cravings as invitations to evaluate what they are truly craving in their emotional lives.
The Writing Diet presents a brilliant plan for using one of the soul's deepest and most abiding appetites-the desire to be creative-to lose weight and keep it off forever.
I'm a creativity expert, not a diet expert. So why am I writing a book about weight loss? Because I have accidentally stumbled upon a weight-loss secret that works. For twenty-five years I've taught creative unblocking, a twelve-week process based on my book The Artist's Way. From the front of the classroom I've seen lives transformed-and, to my astonishment, bodies transformed as well. It took me a while to recognize what was going on, but sure enough, students who began the course on the plump side ended up visibly leaner and more fit. What's going on here? I asked myself. Was it my imagination, or was there truly a "before" and an "after"? There was!
-from The Writing Diet
Review
Praise for THE ARTIST'S WAY...
“THE ARTISTS WAY by Julia Cameron is not exclusively about writing—it is about discovering and developing the artist within whether a painter, poet, screenwriter or musician—but it is a lot about writing. If you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, have always wanted to play and create with words or paints, this book will gently get you started and help you learn all kinds of paying-attention techniques; and that, after all, is what being an artist is all about. Its about learning to pay attention.”
--Anne Lamott, Mademoiselle
“The premise of the book is that creativity and spirituality are the same thing, they come from the same place. And we were created to use this life to express our individuality, and that over the course of a lifetime that gets beaten out of us. [THE ARTISTS WAY] helped me put aside my fear and not worry about whether the record would be commercial.”
--Grammy award-winning singer Kathy Mattea
“Julia Cameron brings creativity and spirituality together with the same kind of step-by-step wisdom that Edgar Cayce encouraged. The result is spiritual creativity as a consistent and nourishing part of daily life.”
--Venture Inward
“I never knew I was a visual artist until I read Julia Camerons THE ARTISTS WAY.”
--Jannene Behl in Artists Magazine
“Julia Camerons landmark book THE ARTISTS WAY helped me figure out who I really was as an adult, not so much as an artist but as a person. And award-winning journalist and poet, Camerons genius is that she doesnt tell readers what they should do to achieve or who they should be—instead she creates a map for readers to start exploring these questions themselves.”
--Michael F. Melcher, Law Practice magazine
“This is not a self-help book in the normative sense. It is simply a powerful book that can challenge one to move into an entirely different state of personal expression and growth.”
--Nick Maddox, Deland Beacon
“THE ARTISTS WAY (with its companion volume THE ARTISTS WAY MORNING PAGES JOURNAL) becomes a friend over time, not just a journal. Like a journal, it provokes spontaneous insights and solutions; beyond journaling, it establishes a process that is interactive and dynamic.”
--Theresa L. Crenshaw, M.D., San Diego Union-Tribune
“If you really want to supercharge your writing, I recommend that you get a copy of Julia Camerons book THE ARTISTS WAY. Im not a big fan of self-help books, but this book has changed my life for the better and restored my previously lagging creativity.”
--Jeffrey Bairstow, Laser Focus World
“Working with the principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Cameron developed a three month program to recover creativity. THE ARTISTS WAY shows how to tap into the higher power that connects human creativity and the creative energies of the universe.”
--Mike Gossie, Scottsdale Tribune
“THE ARTISTS WAY is the seminal book on the subject of creativity and an invaluable guide to living the artistic life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published in 1992, it is a provocative and inspiring work. Updated and expanded, it reframes THE ARTISTS WAY for a new century.”
--Branches of Light
“THE ARTISTS WAY has sold over 3 million copies since its publication in 1992. Cameron still teaches it because there is sustained demand for its thoughtful, spiritual approach to unblocking and nurturing creativity. It is, dare we say, timeless.”
--Nancy Colasurdo, FOXBusiness
Praise for VEIN OF GOLD, the second volume in the ARTISTS WAY trilogy
“For those seeking the wellspring of creativity, this book, like its predecessor, is a solid gold diving rod.”
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Praise for ARTISTS WAY EVERY DAY…
“Ive been a huge fan of Julia Camerons work since I first delved into THE ARTISTS WAY over a decade ago. Since then shes continued to create a series of inspirational books, the latest of which is THE ARTISTS WAY EVERY DAY, a wonderful collection of meditations and daily inspiration. A great addition to any collection of meditation and inspirational materials, Ms. Camerons new offering is sure to guide you in a new direction.”
--Dishmag.com
“Now, Camerons most vital work is accessible in a daily guide. Intended for study for the course of a year, THE ARTISTS WAY EVERY DAY extracts the essential teachings from Camerons groundbreaking work and assigns them to each of the 365 days.”
--Business Woman
Synopsis
In The Creative Life,
bestselling author of The Artist's Way Julia Cameron parts the curtain on her own life to reveal a world rich with creative possibility. According to Julia Cameron, when we allow our creative spirit to serve as our compass, we discover that the art we have always longed to create is suddenly within our grasp. In this book, she shows readers how to use their creative hearts and minds to cultivate lives that nourish and sustain their art. Through beautifully drawn scenes from her own life, as well as the lives of the many artists around her, Cameron reveals that creativity flourishes during the quiet pauses in our lives and that it is only when we allow ourselves to slow down and savor life that we uncover ways to depict it sensitively and poetically in our art.
"
Synopsis
What if everything we have been taught about learning to write was wrong? In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron's most revolutionary book, the author asserts that conventional writing wisdom would have you believe in a false doctrine that stifles creativity. With the techniques and anecdotes in The Right to Write, readers learn to make writing a natural, intensely personal part of life. Cameron's instruction and examples include the details of the writing processes she uses to create her own bestselling books. She makes writing a playful and realistic as well as a reflective event. Anyone jumping into the writing life for the first time and those already living it will discover the art of writing is never the same after reading The Right to Write.
Synopsis
The bestselling author of The Artist's Way draws on her many years of personal experience as both a writer and a teacher to uncover the difficult soul work that artists must do to find inspiration.
In The Sound of Paper, Julia Cameron delves deep into the heart of the personal struggles that all artists experience. What can we do when we face our keyboard or canvas with nothing but a cold emptiness? How can we begin to carve out our creation when our vision and drive are clouded by life's uncertainties? In other words, how can we begin the difficult work of being an artist? In this inspiring book, Cameron describes a process of constant renewal, of starting from the beginning. She writes, "When we are building a life from scratch, we must dig a little. We must be like that hen scratching beneath the soil. 'What goodness is hidden here, just below the surface?' we must ask."
With personal essays accompanied by exercises designed to develop the power to infuse one's art with a deeply informed knowledge of the soul, this book is an essential artist's companion from one of the foremost authorities on the creative process. Cameron's most illuminating book to date, The Sound of Paper provides readers with a spiritual path for creating the best work of their lives.
Synopsis
In The Creative Life, bestselling author of The Artist's Way Julia Cameron parts the curtain on her own life to reveal a world rich with creative possibility. According to Julia Cameron, when we allow our creative spirit to serve as our compass, we discover that the art we have always longed to create is suddenly within our grasp. In this book, she shows readers how to use their creative hearts and minds to cultivate lives that nourish and sustain their art. Through beautifully drawn scenes from her own life, as well as the lives of the many artists around her, Cameron reveals that creativity flourishes during the quiet pauses in our lives—and that it is only when we allow ourselves to slow down and savor life that we uncover ways to depict it sensitively and poetically in our art.
Synopsis
For the millions of people who have uncovered their creative selves through the
Artist's Way program-a workbook and companion to the international bestseller.
Alife-changing twelve-week program, The Artist's Way has touched the lives of millions of people around the world. Now, for the first time, fans will have this elegantly designed and user-friendly volume for use in tandem with the book. The Artist's Way Workbook includes:
- more than 110 Artist's Way tasks;
- more than 50 Artist's Way check-ins;
- a fascinating introduction to the workbook in which Cameron shares new insights into the creative process that she has culled in the decade since The Artist's Way was originally published;
- new and original writings on Morning Page Journaling and the Artist's Date-two of the most vital tools set forth by Cameron in The Artist's Way.
The Artist's Way Workbook is an indispensable book for anyone following the spiritual path to higher creativity laid out in The Artist's Way.
Synopsis
For the millions of readers who have experienced the rich rewards of following any or all of Julia Cameron's three twelve-week programs for creative recovery, here is a gorgeous cloth-bound edition that includes
The Artist's Way,
Walking in This World, and
Finding Water. In her introduction, Cameron reflects on the artist's journey and provides deep insights into how readers may set about cultivating a more creative and spiritually rewarding existence by using the principles contained in these books.
Encompassing Cameron's most vital work from over the course of the last two decades, The Complete Artist's Way is an essential volume for Cameron's legions of fans.
This collector's edition features:
- a ribbon bookmark
- a cloth spine
- a printed case with debossing and foil
- elegant rough-front pages
Synopsis
In the Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart, Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, draws from her remarkable teaching experience to help readers reach out into ever-broadening creative horizons. As in The Artist's Way, she combines eloquent essays with playful and imaginative experiential exercises to make The Vein of Gold an extraordinary book of learning-through-doing. Inspiring essays on the creative process and more than one hundred engaging and energizing tasks involve the reader in "inner play," leading to authentic growth, renewal, and healing.
Synopsis
In her groundbreaking book The Right to Write, Julia Cameron dismantled the mythology surrounding the writing life in our culture. Tackling issues such as time, mood, inspiration, and support, she revealed that writing is in fact a natural-and crucial-part of life. Questions of how, when, and why yielded to the virtual tool kit of strategies, tips, and tools she provides in this extremely valuable book. With The Writer's Life, Cameron's pivotal insights and pointers are distilled in a tiny, portable companion that will help readers lead a writer's life more easily, joyfully, and powerfully.
Synopsis
Julia Cameron keeps row after row of journals on the wooden bookcase in her writing room, all containing Morning Pages from more than twelve years of her life. The journals, she says, listen to her. They have been company on travels, and she is indebted to them for consolation, advice, humor, sanity. Now the bestselling author of The Artist's Way offers readers the same companion, in which we may discover ourselves, our fears and aspirations, and our life's daily flow. Readers will find privacy, a portable writing room, where our opinions are for our own eyes. Morning Pages prioritize the day, providing clarity and comfort. With an introduction and instructions on how to use this journal, by Julia Cameron, readers will uncover the history of their spirits as they move their hands across the universe of their lives.
Synopsis
From the bestselling author of The Artist's Way, a revolutionary diet plan: Use art to take off the pounds!
Over the course of the past twenty-five years, Julia Cameron has taught thousands of artists and aspiring artists how to unblock wellsprings of creativity. And time and again she has noticed an interesting thing: Often, in uncovering their creative selves her students also undergo a surprising physical transformation-invigorated by their work, they slim down. In The Writing Diet, Cameron illuminates the relationship between creativity and eating to reveal a crucial equation: creativity can block overeating.
This inspiring weight-loss program, which can be used in conjunction with Cameron's groundbreaking book on the creative process, The Artist's Way, directs readers to count words instead of calories, to substitute their writing's "food for thought" for actual food. Using journaling to examine their relationship with food-and to ward off unhealthy overeating -readers will learn to treat food cravings as invitations to evaluate what they are truly craving in their emotional lives.
The Writing Diet presents a brilliant plan for using one of the soul's deepest and most abiding appetites-the desire to be creative-to lose weight and keep it off forever.
I'm a creativity expert, not a diet expert. So why am I writing a book about weight loss? Because I have accidentally stumbled upon a weight-loss secret that works. For twenty-five years I've taught creative unblocking, a twelve-week process based on my book The Artist's Way. From the front of the classroom I've seen lives transformed-and, to my astonishment, bodies transformed as well. It took me a while to recognize what was going on, but sure enough, students who began the course on the plump side ended up visibly leaner and more fit. What's going on here? I asked myself. Was it my imagination, or was there truly a "before" and an "after"? There was!
-from The Writing Diet
Synopsis
The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for a new century.
Synopsis
Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, offers a revolutionary diet plan: Use writing to take off the pounds!
Over the course of the past twenty-five years, Julia Cameron has taught thousands of artists and aspiring artists how to unblock wellsprings of creativity. And time and again she has noticed an interesting thing: Often when her students uncover their creative selves they also undergo a surprising physical transformation— invigorated by their work, they slim down. In The Writing Diet, Cameron illuminates the relationship between creativity and eating to reveal a crucial equation: Creativity can block overeating.
This inspiring weight-loss program directs readers to count words instead of calories, to substitute their writing’s “food for thought” for actual food. The Writing Diet presents a brilliant plan for using one of the soul’s deepest and most abiding appetites—the desire to be creative—to lose weight and keep it off forever.
About the Author
Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years, with fifteen books (including bestsellers
The Artist's Way 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 which featured Miles Davis, 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.
She is an award-winning playwright, whose work has appeared on such well-known stages as the McCarter Theater at Princeton University and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
From the popular workshops on unlocking creativity and living from the creative center she has taught for two decades, came her book, The Artist's Way (Tarcher/Putnam), which has become an international bestseller, published in a dozen languages with worldwide sales of over one million copies. In the United States, The Artist's Way has appeared on many bestseller lists, including Publishers Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, The Denver Post, and many others.
She has taught The Artist's Way workshops to such places as The Smithsonian, The New York Times, Omega Institute, Esalen, The Open Center, Interface, Wisdom House, and many others. As a result of her workshops and book, The Artist's Way, creativity groups have formed across America, and throughout the world, from the jungles of Panama to the Outback of Australia.
Her work on the artist's soul includes The Right to Write (Tarcher/Putnam), which was published in January 1999, and appeared on such bestseller lists as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, and The Denver Post. Other works include The Vein of Gold (Tarcher/Putnam), an amazing book of tools expressly for the healing and rehabilitation of the artist's soul in us all. This fall, Tarcher/Putnam will publish three new humor/spirituality titles, God Is No Laughing Matter, Supplies, and Dog is God Spelled Backwards.
Cameron has had an accomplished, distinguished, and extensive journalism career, and her credits include writing on the arts for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. At age 23, Cameron was already writing features and book criticism for The Washington Post and later covered arts as a special correspondent for The Chicago Tribune.
She wrote for Rolling Stone and New York magazines during their most influential years, and was cited in Time magazine for her Watergate coverage in Rolling Stone. Hand-picked by legendary editor Jim Bellows, she wrote an OpEd column for Vogue magazine. Cameron has been a frequent columnist and contributor for American Film magazine for more than a decade. Her newspaper and magazine articles, essays and reviews on the arts number well into the hundreds. She won the prestigious Maggie Award for Best Editorial Writing for a story in American Film magazine on the danger of the intersection of sex and violence in movies.
She is a published poet, novelist and essayist. Her essays have been collected in several anthologies, including The Rolling Stone Reader and The Dark Room (Carroll and Graf), a novel about violence and child abuse. This fall, Cameron will also release Popcorn: Hollywood Stories (Really Great Books), inspired by her days in The Business.
In addition to writing words, Cameron writes music. She has taught at the National Songwriter's Association in Nashville. After being a lyricist for others for several decades, Cameron recently began writing her own compositions. A main focus for her in the last three years has been music and sound healing, including writing Avalon, a musical based on the Arthurian legend and set in modern times.
Table of Contents
The Vein of Gold Acknowledgments
Setting Out
In Your Backpack: The Basic Tools
Morning Pages
Why by Hand?
Task: Morning Pages
Artist Dates
Task: Do a Weekly Artist Date
Clusters: Your Traveling Companions
Task: Cluster List
Your Mode of Transportation: Walking
Task: Walk Daily
Task: Walk an Hour-Long Walk Weekly
Task: Walk Prayerfully
The Gateway: Entering the Imagic-Nation
Task: ManifestingEnter Your Imagic-Nation
Creativity Commitment
The Kingdom of Story
The Narrative Time Line
Task: Filling in Notes
Task: Post a Sign on Your Mirror
Task: Contact Someone and Commit
Task: Do Your Narrative Time Line
Task: Filling in Blanks
"Cups": The Key to Self-Disclosure
Task: List Five Secrets
Task: Make a Narrative Time Line Photo Album for Yourself
Words Do It
Task: AlchemyConverting Dross to Gold
Task: Post Your Golden Words Where You Can See Them
Task: Kill a Creative Monster
Task: Celebrate a Creative Champion
The Wizard of Words
Secret Selves
Task: Name Five Secret Selves
Task: What's in Those Closets?
Task: What Would Your Life be Like?
Cinema Self
Task: Cinema Self
The Vein of Gold
Technique One: Favorite Films
Task: The Vein of Gold Quiz
Task: Binge Reading
Task: Grab-Bag Collage
Task: Matching
Task: Write Up Your Findings
Robert's Field Report
Breaking Camp
The Kingdom of Sight
Sight
Task: Time Capsule Collage
Task: Create a Treasure Map
Color
Task: "Fabricate" a More Colorful Life
Task: Speculate on a Different Spectrum: Try On Colors You "Never" Wear
Doll
Task: Make a Creativity Doll
Task: Make a Creativity Monster
Basic Black: The Mystiqueand Mistakeof the Suffering Artist
Task: Dress as a Serious Artist
Task: Dress Like You Might Be Having Fun
Cracking
Task: Look at It This WayOn the One Hand . . . On the Other . . .
Task: Mirror, Mirror: Apply a Facial Mask
Task: Face It: Make a Power Mask
Breaking Camp
The Kingdom of Sound
Sound
Task: Sing a Spirit Song
Task: Lullaby
Task: Washing with Sound
Task: Forming a Sound Round
Task: Songlines
Silence
Task: Silence
Safety
Task: Building a Sound Shield
Task: A Sense of Safety
Task: Playing It Safe
Task: Expanding Your Light Through Sound
Breaking Camp
The Kingdom of Attitude
The Paydirt in Pay-tience
Task: Patience
Task: Use "Just a Little" Patience
Courage
Task: Dance a Power Dance
Baby Steps
Task: Playing House
Task: List Every Place You Have Ever Lived
Boredom
Task: Do Something That Has Been Done Before
Task: Oh, All Right! Make Something Unique
Time
Task: I Never Have Time to . . .
Task: I Never Take Time to . . .
Task: Stay Up Late and Read a Book
Task: A Stitch in Time
Containment
Task: Creative Snipers
Task: Believing Mirrors
Getting Current
Task: Getting Current
Task: Get Current in Your Household
Task: Get Current in Your Spiritual House
Breaking Camp
The Kingdom of Relationship
Equality
Task: Write a Positive Prayer
Task: Illuminate Your Prayer
Task: The Blame Game, Round OneEvents
The Voluntary Victim
Task: The Blame Game, Round TwoPeople
Task: Play a Little
Where Does It Hurt?
Task: Taking Back Your Power
Task: Relationship Collage
Task: Abundance Collage
Task: Counting Coup
Task: Who's Got the Gold?
Batteries
Task: Assault on Being a Battery
Task: Write Your "Shadow Résumé"
Obsession
Task: Obsessions (Past Tense)
Task: Obsessions (Present Tense)
Task: Snap Out of It
Task: Get On with It
Breaking Camp
The Kingdom of Spirituality
Name That God
Task: Recall Your Childhood God
Task: Invent a Creativity God
Task: Invent a Creativity Totem
Guidance
Task: Clearing a Clearing
Task: Spend One Evening in Silenceof All Kinds
Task: Write a Spirituality Cup
Task: Create a Deck of Spirituality Cards
Spiritual Experience
Task: Open the Door
Task: It's a Wide World After All
Saying "Thank You"
Task: Accepting Gifts
Task: Synchronicity Notepad
Task: The God jar
Task: Accepting Help
Task: Watch Your Tongue
Task: Walk Prayerfully Daily
Breaking Camp
The Kingdom of Possibility
Passion
Task: Valentine to Your Past
Task: Valentine to Your Present
Task: List 100 Things That You, Personally, LOVE
Risk
Task: Taking Your Life into Your Own Hands
Ceilings
Task: Remembering the Possible Dreams
Task: Playing at Dreams
Task: I Trust Myself Dance
Breaking Camp
Tribal Rules
Artist's Tribal Rules
A Guide for Starting Creative Clusters
Artist's Way and Vein of Gold Glossary of Tools
Discography
"Pop"ography
Filmography
Bibliography
"Avalon"
Index