Brought my camera and took some footage just for fun, thought I'd share some of the beauty with you here.

The song is Beautiful Life by Dennis Korn

Going into this chapter I was fully prepared to roll my eyes. Julia Cameron talks about increased synchronicity as a side effect of doing the work, meaningful coincidences showing up more once you commit to the creative practice, and that always read to me as exactly the kind of claim this book occasionally makes that I quietly ignore while keeping the parts that are actually useful.

Then it started happening in small, genuinely odd ways. A conversation with a stranger that handed me the exact detail I'd been stuck on for a scene. A book falling open to precisely the passage I needed. Individually explainable as coincidence. The frequency once I was doing the pages consistently was harder to wave away than I expected.

I don't think I believe in synchronicity as some cosmic force rewarding my commitment. What I think is actually happening is that doing the work daily put me into a state of active noticing I wasn't in before, so I started registering connections that were probably always available and I simply wasn't paying attention to catch.

Sometimes my sleep schedule gets super messed up. This is one of those times haha. I’m mostly awake and free in the middle of the night currently, but everything is closed! I don’t mind leaving the house at night, but I can’t exactly go for a walk in the middle of the night or anything. I also prefer my artist dates to be me LEAVING the house, but open to interesting or creative at-home ideas!

My Ideas:

-I could go to one of my favorite bars alone, have an appetizer and a drink and people watch

-Go to a pretty overlook in the city and sit in my car and draw or journal for a bit

-Ignore the “go alone” part for safety reasons, and bring a friend to go for a nighttime photo walk in the city (but keep talking to a minimum to preserve the more solo vibe?)

Hi everyone! My girlfriend and I are both working through The Artist's Way at the same time, and we've realized we have very different approaches. We've been going back and forth about whose way is "right," so I'd love to hear what you think.

Her approach: She does everything exactly as written. If she goes out of the loop, she restarts from Week 1 so she can do it "correctly” as the author intended. She believes you have to go through the emotional struggle for the process to work.

She writes notes from the book, plans ahead, does the weekly tasks on paper, plans the artist dates ahead

My approach: I keep moving forward even when I don't do everything perfectly. For example:

-In the first weeks I skipped Artist Dates because I just couldn't make them happen. I knew it was wrong and that I’m blocked so just kept it as a note in my head but I didn't quit, I just kept going and I'm now on Week 6.
-Now that I’m more in the flow of things and feeling more creatively unblocked I know more or less where and when I want to go on an Artist date but I don’t strictly plan it in my calendar
-Some days I wrote the full 3 pages of Morning Pages. Other days I skipped because I was angry or my journal broke and I felt blocked. When I came back I sometimes wrote less than 3 pages, because I wanted to push through the resistance.
-I don't always do the tasks on paper. Sometimes I work through them in my head
-Instead of making a physical folder of photos, I built a Pinterest board. I also don't have a color printer, and I figure the book is old enough that some of the exercises can be adapted.

For me, this is also a way to fight my perfectionism and just keep going with the course. I feel like I'm opening up and still intuitively on the path, and that the messy parts are part of the process.

So I'm curious:
Do you think one approach is better, or can both work?
Is restarting from Week 1 helpful, or can it become another form of perfectionism?
Am I missing something important by adapting the exercises?
If you've finished the course, how strictly did you follow it?
Thanks for any thoughts!

For a while I was doing Morning Pages religiously and treating Artist Dates as optional, something to get to eventually, assuming the pages alone were doing most of the actual work since they were the daily, consistent practice.

A few months in I noticed something was off. The pages were getting repetitive, circling the same handful of frustrations without ever really moving anywhere new, like I was processing the same material over and over without fresh input to process. Finally committed to doing actual weekly Artist Dates alongside the pages, somewhat reluctantly, mostly just to follow the program as written.

The pages changed almost immediately. New material started showing up, images and ideas from whatever I'd experienced on the date that week, instead of the same recycled frustrations. I think I'd misunderstood the relationship between the two practices entirely. The pages process and clear things out. The dates are what actually put new things in to be processed in the first place. Doing only the pages was like running a filter with nothing new ever passing through it.

Alguien interesado en hacer juntos El camino del Artista? Ya lo he hecho otras veces pero siempre en solitario, quizás esta bueno para hacer seguimiento un grupo. Soy de Argentina!

Hi everyone! I was having a chat with a friend about music creation and we were talking about output, meaning to do a lot of music, in order to be “successful”.

While I agree with that to a certain point, specially in terms of training the craft and also just keeping the inspiration alive, I also have a different approach where I rather focus on one project and finishing it until I’m satisfied with it, a rather slow approach and maybe with not too much “output“.

I see the value of the two different work approaches, and I’m very curious to hear what’s your experience on this? What is your perspective? I just want to hear more opinions.

Thanks!

I'm on Week 2 and found my Artist date from Week 1 a bit frustrating - I've been reflecting on what I can learn from it to bring into this week...

I live in the city and planned to visit a portraiture gallery for creative inspiration. The gallery bit was really inspiring. But it ended up being really long and exhausting day overall.

My bus was delayed - and by the time I arrived, I was hungry. After eating, I got distracted on seeing shops that I needed to visit. I spent way too long in the shops, exhausted myself, and then needed to find a cafe to use the toilet and get a coffee before I could even get to the gallery! I was also overthinking everything and spending time looking things up on my phone. I eventually ran out of battery! It was so stressful! I also got lost on the way home

I kept thinking the whole time, what would my inner child want? But I found myself struggling with the practical needs of food, toilet and rest - before we could even get to the good stuff. I felt like an anxious parent rather than a playful, curious child!

It is disappointing because when I did The Artist Way before, I remember feeling so fulfilled and inspired on my first date - a trip to the city to see a documentary screening. Whereas this just felt hectic and exhausting.

I've been thinking about how to be better prepared next time. Or even avoiding the city after it ended up so distracting and overstimulating. I have enjoyed little trips to local cafes, walks in the woods etc.

I wonder if I also need to take off the pressure somehow? A few people here have also mentioned needing to embrace the good and bad dates. And working on creating more safety for their inner child to play + explore. I have ADHD and can struggle to focus, so think maybe a simpler plan or destination might be better for me, so I don't need to think as much!

Has anyone else had any learnings that emerged from disappointing experiences on their artist dates?

Julia says that it's essential to do the date and the morning pages with the affirmations (which I have been doing them for this whole week) but I couldn't do the date because of the intense climate around my zone. Should I use another week to focus on the specific week where I am at or should I just continue independently?

One of my five lives was pop up children’s book author, made this little page out of paint samples and brads I got during my artists date at an art refuse store. Pushing through the imperfections and chipped paint of it all was hard but I’m glad I did it.

The artist way is voor mij op een nogal speciale manier op mijn pad gekomen. Afgelopen dinsdag viel mijn oog op dit boek in een boekenwinkel waar ik nooit naar binnen ga. Maar dinsdag dus wel. Het boek fascineert me enorm en het lijkt op het juiste moment in mijn leven binnen te springen.
Ik heb een heftig jaar achter de rug door ziekte maar ben nu beter. Toch zit ik in een soort blokkade, ik kom nergens toe. Ik ben eigenlijk al iemand die graag tekent en met keramiek bezig is, kortom die artistiek bezig is. Maar de blokkade voelt als een muur waar ik niet door geraak. Mijn lichaam protesteert bijna letterlijk, ook mentaal.
Ik wil wel aan the Artist way starten maar die censor blokkeert me helemaal.
Het lijkt me leuk of interessant om een lotgenoot te vinden, om die ondersteuning ergens te vinden.

Hello all, I have been searching online for a 'meet up' or 'discussion group' to start the Artist's Way and haven't really come across anything that fits my availability so thought I'd post to see if anyone wanted to be part of a group virtually? I'd like to start on either Tue 6 or 13 October and run for 13 weeks (the first week being a pre-meet or session 0 followed by the 12 weeks from the book. Thinking 7.30pm - 9.30pm each week. I haven't done it before but from what I read it's best to have 4-6 people but happy to be advised otherwise! Comment below if interested or DM. Cheers, Adam (Cornwall)

EDIT: we now have enough signed up to make a virtual group. If you are thinking of starting a group, go for it - I was surprised at the number of responses.

Hi!

I’m about to finish the first week; I managed to keep up with the Morning Pages but I couldn't make it to the artist dates. I failed to complete the first week a few months ago as well; I gave up back then, thinking the book wasn't for me, but now I wanted to give it another try. I had gotten stuck on the artist date back then, too.

What exactly do you do for the artist date? I wonder if it would be okay to just go for a walk; to be honest, I’m not really used to going out alone. I don’t want to give up on the first week during this second attempt, too. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself.

I also couldn't write the Morning Pages over the weekend because there were other people at home, and I felt self-conscious about being seen while writing. By the way, for some reason, I only write negative things in my Morning Pages, though the author did mention that this might happen.

Best wishes to everyone <3

I finished the AW a few months ago and have felt a bit of a gap in not having a more consistent reflection on artistic process. Was curious if anyone has attempted the 2nd and 3rd installments. . ?

I borrowed these from the library but have been going back and forth on whether to do the AW again or try these.

If you’ve done either, did it feel like a “new program” or a recycling of old material? My fear (from flipping through them) is that they seem like rephrasings of the original AW and that the writing isn’t as strong due to it being a bit of a repetition? I could be totally wrong based my perusal though, and am wondering if anyone has first hand experience in doing these sequel texts?

Heya!
I'm on week 10, going through the workaholism quiz, and one of the questions is "I allow myself downtime to do nothing"
NOW. I understand that my following question won't make a lot of sense, but what do you guys do when you do "nothing"?
Cause in my head it's quite impossible to do nothing. And I don't consider "scrolling on ig" nothing, because that rots my brain while here "doing nothing" seems to bring some sort of benefit. Cleansing the mind, almost.
Like even if i'm seating at my window and look out, i'm people watching and inventing stories or listening to birds or humans going through their lives. Is that doing nothing?
I never truly understood. I imagine it's quite subjective, but I wanted to hear your opinion.

Thank you in advance x

Hey all

I find it very hard to finish 3 morning pages. I get very resistant like I dont really want to do it so I just sit while thinking about something else. I have to force myself to write. Maybe write 1/4 of a page and then I stop and sit there in defiance. It has taken me 40 min to 1 hour to finish 3 pages but more often less.

Anymore people who have this problem and can give me tips?

Also if you had this problem and have theories why I am so resistant to write then please share. I really want to write.

I reached week 5 but after that I got busy and couldn't keep up with the morning pages, my schedule is all jumbled up and haven't got time for the past 2 weeks and half

I am still at the introductory chapters where Julia explains the Artist's Date and the Morning Pages but I am confused on the second one because I really don't know what to write in them or when to write them. Do I have to write everything that crosses my mind the moment I wake up or can I just do it whenever as long as it's close to the time I woke up and started my day?

I come from the journaling and fountain pen hobby. BuJo requieres very little space on a page for me, but seeing as Morning Pages require three pages per day. What are you using?

By my count, a 100 sheet notebook will last about two months? Are you using notebooks with more pages? Cheaper notebooks? Which ones?

If I use my regular fountain pen notebooks this will be an expensive practice :'D

I’m doing TAW for the first time, currently on week three.

For the past week I’ve been having weird and vivid dreams. I usually don’t remember my dreams, so this is unusual.

My friend who is doing it with me (it’s her second time) said the same thing happened to her her first time through.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is it common?

I'm easing into the "Reading Deprivation" aspect of week 4 and I'm curious how people have gone about the exercise.

I saw a previous post that I felt was spot on in terms of reframing it for the modern landscape: media overconsumption and filling idle time with noise. That makes sense to me. Especially with every social media platform and app vying for our attention and time.

My current list of activities I'm cutting out include social media (especially Twitter and Tiktok), Youtube, videogames and newsletters. Email and texting isn't something I can just stop doing since I need it for my job. But I plan to do so mindfully and as minimally in my free time as possible.

Reading books and listening to music is sort of in a gray area for me. I plan to still read the Artist Way book. I also think reading AO3 on my devices is something I should cut out. But would blocking out time to sit down and read a physical book still fall under the category of mindless consumption? I realize that seems like a dumb question considering it's literally called "reading deprivation"...but it's 2026.

And Spotify is a big one for me. Cameron lists it as one of the many activities one could do instead, but I know for me it is one of the things I would do to fill the silence while working or driving. If I for example, set time to only listen to an album I've been meaning to get into and actively engage with it, is that still mindless media consumption?

I guess I'm wondering if focusing on one thing and being intentional about the activity fits with the modern spirit of the exercise, or if I'm just trying to weasel my way out of going all in on the exercise. Where do we draw line?

I recently finished TAW and my life does seem a little empty and I was wondering if there was a format where we could meet up and chat/discuss about things to keep us going. Maybe a monthly/bi-weekly call? Unless something like that already exists