Beginning The Artist's Way
I don't remember when I first heard about The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. It must have been over a decade ago, but I never felt the urge to try out the program until a few days ago. It's just not my style, not what I really needed. I was pretty confident about my creative direction and the work I was doing. I was writing novels, revising them, sending them out, getting rejections, and starting the whole process over and over again.
The accumulation of rejections, without a single expression of interest in my fiction writing, was moderately discouraging, but not unusual. I was prepared for it. I kept going, knowing that persistence was the key to success. I could have kept going like that, but since our return to the US almost three months ago, I just can't find the time. You might think that with all the other adults around to entertain Nova, I should have more time to write than I had in Galway, but it doesn't work out that way. There, I could write while she napped, or find a quiet moment in the early mornings or evenings. Here, there's just too much to do, and too many people around all the time. I need my own space to write. I need a house or a cafe table to myself, where I know I won't be dragged off into conversation or into doing some minor housekeeping task for just a minute.
That's just not possible around here, not these days. I can beg a few hours here or there to write a newspaper article or go to a writers' group, but to write fiction? Forget about it. Not the kind of time I'd need to create anything substantial. I know what I need: To write or revise a novel, I need at least 1-2 hours/day, at least five days a week, for three or four months. And I can't get it. I've asked for it, and I can't get it, can't afford it, can't find it. I'm really frustrated. I have to figure what I can do, and how to deal with my stalled novel-writing career, my lost momentum.
I went down to the Bunch of Grapes on Tuesday and picked up The Artist's Way, hoping that it would help somehow. I don't know if it will or not, but I'm going to give it a half-baked try. The first chapter advises setting aside 7-10 hours a week to work through the program. If I had 7-10 hours a week, 7-10 solid hours, d'y'know what I'd be doing? Writing!!! Real writing, not just self-help journalizing! But the book also promises creative and spiritual renewal, which would be nice. So I'm going to give it a shot, at a rate of about a half-hour a day, half the recommended time, because that's all I can find in my current situation.
We'll see how it goes. Meanwhile, I hope to keep blogging about the miscellany of life around here.
The accumulation of rejections, without a single expression of interest in my fiction writing, was moderately discouraging, but not unusual. I was prepared for it. I kept going, knowing that persistence was the key to success. I could have kept going like that, but since our return to the US almost three months ago, I just can't find the time. You might think that with all the other adults around to entertain Nova, I should have more time to write than I had in Galway, but it doesn't work out that way. There, I could write while she napped, or find a quiet moment in the early mornings or evenings. Here, there's just too much to do, and too many people around all the time. I need my own space to write. I need a house or a cafe table to myself, where I know I won't be dragged off into conversation or into doing some minor housekeeping task for just a minute.
That's just not possible around here, not these days. I can beg a few hours here or there to write a newspaper article or go to a writers' group, but to write fiction? Forget about it. Not the kind of time I'd need to create anything substantial. I know what I need: To write or revise a novel, I need at least 1-2 hours/day, at least five days a week, for three or four months. And I can't get it. I've asked for it, and I can't get it, can't afford it, can't find it. I'm really frustrated. I have to figure what I can do, and how to deal with my stalled novel-writing career, my lost momentum.
I went down to the Bunch of Grapes on Tuesday and picked up The Artist's Way, hoping that it would help somehow. I don't know if it will or not, but I'm going to give it a half-baked try. The first chapter advises setting aside 7-10 hours a week to work through the program. If I had 7-10 hours a week, 7-10 solid hours, d'y'know what I'd be doing? Writing!!! Real writing, not just self-help journalizing! But the book also promises creative and spiritual renewal, which would be nice. So I'm going to give it a shot, at a rate of about a half-hour a day, half the recommended time, because that's all I can find in my current situation.
We'll see how it goes. Meanwhile, I hope to keep blogging about the miscellany of life around here.
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