Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Creative Ways

I've read King's On Writing, Lamott's bird by bird, and Pressfield's The War of Art, and all of them have inspired and spurred me on to greater understanding of creativity and writing. But Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way is making much more impact on me.


Cameron's subtitle, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, speaks to the source of all creativity. Here are some of the basic principles she shares:
  • Creativity is the natural order of life.
  • Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
  • The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
  • It is safe to open ourselves to greater and greater creativity.
I have always understood creativity this way--God created us to be creators in his image. That's probably why The Artist's Way is clicking for me. The book outlines a twelve-week course of discovery and I'm only in week 2, but I see more joy and productivity in my writing already. ; )

Have you read The Artist's Way? What do you think about it?
What's your favorite book for inspiring creativity?


12 comments:

  1. I haven't read it but I'm putting it on the list. I hope you keep sharing things you've learned from it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah,
      I have a feeling I won't be able *not* to share. ; ) This book is like finding the perfect explanation for what you've always known and then taking it one more step into understanding on a level you didn't even know was there.

      Delete
  2. I don't necessarily share the same religious perspective on creativity, but I do agree with you that most women and men have a need to make things. Some express it through writing, others through procreation, and yet others through art of various forms. It's a way to activate the mind I suppose.

    But most creatures big and small also create things. Ants create dwellings, beavers build dams...who knows...maybe their thought processes also run to art. Maybe one dam is slightly better than another's. We would never know as we can't communicate with them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael,
      Cameron takes the differences in religious perspectives into consideration and looks at the innate need to create more than the name one uses for the cause of that need. Some of us use the name, God. Some don't. And that's okay.

      BTW, I think you're on to something with the beaver dams. The really messy ones just don't look as good to me. ; )

      Delete
  3. I haven't read it yet! But Tolkien used to talk about such creativity as well - subcreation he called it, creation inspired by and the gift of God.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the sound of this Zan. Better than Bird by Bird? Must be great!

    Denise

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Denise,
      For me at least TAW is better. I find step by step instructions more conducive to learning. The strange thing is that it's open ended, too. Just a lovely combination of insight, how-to, and flexiblity.

      Delete
  5. Well, I keep trying to download the darn thing to my kindle but it won't show up. :-(. Can't wait to figure it out so I can start reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Arnel,
      I have no clue why that's happening. I always buy paper copies of craft books so I can scribble in the margins...believe me, I have! ; )

      Delete
  6. ty for this reminder of a recommendation rcvd while in uk for this book..
    amazon has sooo many varieties of the book and add ons.. not sure yet which i'll choose , but looking fwd to an in hand copy... i'm a margin marker / hiliting reader too :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Faith,
    I got the book version, not workbook or any other. It's still amazing in Week 5. ; ) You won't be sorry if you purchase it.

    ReplyDelete

To use Facebook or Twitter sign in, select Name/URL. Add your name and the URL of your homepage for Facebook or Twitter...and comment. Thanks for coming by!