It’s my first episode of 2022 and I’m talking about my summer project; completing ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. In this episode I debrief on Weeks 1-4 of ‘The Artist’s Way’ and speak about:
Using ‘The Artist’s Way’ as a reset between major writing projects.
How ‘The Artist Way’ works. It's 12 weeks worth of essays, journal prompts and assignments on a particular theme related to creativity.
Morning Pages
Committing to daily journaling for the full 12 weeks.
Using journaling as part of my writing practice.
How journaling helps me to be in conversation with the themes and narrative threads of my play.
Switching between my ‘Artistic Self’, ‘Personal Self’ or ‘The Voice of my Project’ as a way to focus my journaling.
Discipline to not letting my anxious thoughts hijack my journal sessions as a way to ‘stress out’ on the page.
Artist Dates
Committing to a weekly date with your artistic self.
Consider yourself in a long-term, romantic relationship with your inner artist. If this is true, how would you romance your artist, treasure your artist and listen to what they’re inspired by?
Week 1 | Safety
Exploring your creativity and the work you want to make less fearfully.
Creating your own affirmations using these steps: 1. Complete the sentence ‘I (name) am a brilliant and prolific (artform)’. 2. Notice what thoughts you use to shut yourself down after completing this sentence. 3. For each negative thought, write an alternative statement in defence of yourself.
Week 2 | Identity
Exploring your identity as an artist and how you define yourself and the work you make.
Taking baby steps in your artistic identity. Our ego wants grand gestures and to overhaul our identity before we try something new artistically.
The magic is in small steps, tiny progress and bare minimums.
Week 3 | Power
Creative scar tissue. There can be anger and pain and disappointment once you get some skin in the game. Sometimes this makes us less open-minded about what’s possible for ourselves and our work.
Creative detachment. Sometimes when we get closer to finishing projects we can pull away or detach emotionally from the work. Be suspicious of indifference about your own work. Reinvest!
Week 4 | Integrity
Having the integrity to take action on any new artistic self-awareness.
Playing the long game. Each decade can hold meaningful and significant artistic work for you to create.
Expanding your idea of what body of work you could create across a lifetime.
You can learn more about my work on my About page or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.