Wednesday 16 January 2013

The Artist's Way: A Dilemma

Last week saw the return of going to my Paid Job which requires getting up early to brave public transport. Going back to work was one of my concerns when it came to following my New Year resolutions. It's all very well having good intentions when you've got plenty of free time on your hands.  Rising at nine o'clock to do morning pages at a leisurely pace is a very different experience to waking up when it's still dark, with a morning commute ahead.

As a result I completely forgot to do my morning pages 1 on my work days this week. The last time I tackled The Artist's Way (TAW), it was in the middle of summer and light when I got up in the mornings. Also, my desk was in my bedroom and within eyesight of my bed so it was easy to remember to do the morning pages. So I decided to move my morning pages notebook to my bedside table where it jostles for space with my Five Year Diary and Random Sleep Thoughts notebooks.  Problem solved.

Alas, the next problem is a bit more pressing. I settled down to start working my way through Week One of the programme. On my last attempt, I gave up around Week Six - halfway through the twelve week schedule. It was hard to work on the Week One exercises without referring back to my previous attempts. One task includes writing a letter to a previous critic of your work and the same individual I wrote to last time kept swimming around in my thoughts (don't worry, I didn't post the letter). And that's what I'm worried about. Will I learn anything if I keep repeating the same information? Is it a cop out if I re-start the course at Week Six? Should I re-start the course from Week One and to hell with it if the same responses keep coming up?





1 Morning pages are an important feature of doing The Artist's Way. Julia Cameron instructs students to get up each morning and write three pages before they do anything else (although I'm sure you'd be allowed to pop to the toilet). The thinking behind this task is that this 'free' writing allows you to clear your head and let your creativity come more naturally.

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