The Artist's Way check-in

How many days did you do your morning pages this week? How was the experience for you? 

The Artist's Way check-in: weeks ten-twelve

I've officially completed The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Just tonight I finished the last of my tasks, and signed my contract for the next ninety days.

At about week ten I got off track. That's the week Hubby, Bean, and I were visiting my family and I was still waiting to find out about the possible heart problems I was having. So I didn't do the morning pages or any tasks for a couple of weeks. But I used the last week or so to get caught up. I'm glad I did the last three weeks again instead of giving up or setting it aside for longer. It was definitely worth it to me. The last few weeks were particularly beneficial.

I'm optimistic about the next phase of my journey, my artist's way. There are specific things I'd like to accomplish during the next ninety days (and beyond), as well as continuing some things I've picked up during the process from the last three months. I'm excited about what's to come. Of course, I have some reservations about stepping away from the book and on my own way, but I know it's going to be good for me. I've learned a lot. I'm a new person, a new writer.

So here is my check in for the last few weeks. I will be continuing my weekly check-in for the next few months to help keep myself on track.

How many days did you do your morning pages this week? How was the experience for you? I averaged six days a week for the past few weeks. It was wonderful to get back into it. I didn't realize how badly I'd missed the daily writing until I came back to it. It's something I look forward to each day.


Did you do your artist date this week? What did you do? How did it feel?
I did my artist date this week; I met with my friend Kelly (online) to chat about writing, The Artist's Way, life, the universe, and everything. It was fun! We hadn't been able to meet the past couple of weeks, so it was great to catch up with her and talk again.

Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it?
I did! I had an appointment, and C--'s wife has gone through a similar situation I'm going through right now. Not only is he giving me good advice about it, but he told me about a great networking opportunity that I think will be very beneficial to me.

The Artist's Way check-in: week eight

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? (Have you been very tempted to abandon them?) How was the experience for you? I'm happy to say I did my morning pages every day this week!  Yay!  I haven't been tempted to abandon them.  In fact, I feel "off" if I don't do my morning pages.  It's always a good experience for me to do the morning pages.  And the more I do them, the more beneficial they seem to be to me.
2. Did you do your artist date this week? (Have you been allowing workaholism or other commitments to sabotage this practice?) What did you do? How did it feel? Once again, I skipped the artist's date.  I don't know why, but this is something that's very hard for me to do.
3. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? I didn't experience any synchronicity this week.
4. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant to your recovery? Describe them. The task about listing five things you aren't allowed to do (and then doing them on paper) was very helpful to me.  I was bottling up some unhappy emotions and holding onto some anger, and this task allowed me to vent what I was thinking/feeling, let go of it, and move on from it.  It was a great relief after that task.

The Artist's Way check-in: week seven

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? Have you allowed yourself to daydream a few creative risks? Are you coddling your artist child with childhood loves? I did my morning pages every day this week!  Yay!  In fact, today marks nineteen days in a row I've done my morning pages!  I'm so proud of myself!
2. Did you do your artist date this week? Did you use it to take any risks? What did you do? How did it feel? I didn't do an artist date this week.  (Oops.)  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a crazy week.
3. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? I didn't experience any synchronicity this week.
4. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them. This was a bit of a difficult week for me.  I think because most of the tasks were more abstract this week, and I'm really a paper-and-pen type of person.  Then again, even my morning pages seemed...off...this week.  I kept pushing through, though.  I trusted the process.

The Artist's Way check-in: week six

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? (Have you used them yet to think about creative luxury for yourself?) How was the experience for you? I did my morning pages every day this week! (Hoorah!)  Actually, I've done my morning pages for twelve days in a row!  I'm very proud of myself for that.  It was a good experience for me, and I've found the content in my morning pages is changing.  It's no longer quite so... complain-y.
2. Did you do your artist date this week? (Have you considered allowing yourself two?) What did you do? How did it feel? I did have an artist's date this week.  And I used it to take a much-needed nap!  It felt wonderful!
3. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? I did experience synchronicity this week.  And, once again, it has to do with something personal, so I'm not going to share here.  Sorry!
4. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them.  I had a breakthrough in terms of my writing this week.  I've discovered my fiction niche, which has really freed my creativity.  Not only am I making a lot of progress on the coffee house book, but I have ideas lined up for post-coffee house writing.  Yay!

The Artist's Way check-in: week five

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? Are you starting to like them--at all? How was the experience for you? Have you discovered the page-and-a-half truth point yet? Many of us find that pay dirt in our writing occurs after a page and a half of vamping. I did my morning pages five out of seven days this week. I do enjoy them, actually. And I'm finding that if I don't do the morning pages, I feel different and out of sorts for the day. I have discovered the page-and-a-half truth point, and it was weird. When I read this question, I looked back through my morning pages and found that many, many days included some sort of emotional/spiritual revelation or breakthrough about a page and a half into the morning pages.
2. Did you do your artist date this week? Have you had the experience of hearing answers during this leisure time? What did you do for your date? How did it feel? Have you taken an artist date yet that really felt adventurous? I had such a great artist date this week! I met with a friend who's also doing The Artist's Way for a late lunch. We talked about writing and life and everything, and it was wonderful to get away for a little while, to not worry about what I should have been doing and just enjoy being where I was for the moment.
3. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? Try inaugurating a conversation on synchronicity with your friends. I have experienced synchronicity. This week was a significant experience, actually, but it's of a private matter, so I won't share it here. I think, for some people, synchronicity is easier to see and believe than for others. I find it easy to see and believe.
4. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them. I'm beginning to learn who I am and what I want now, and I've realized I don't have to apologize for that or feel guilty for wanting to take care of myself or spoil myself every now and then. I think it's helping me realize that I am important, and that my creativity is important.

The Artist's Way check-in: week four

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? (Tantrums often show up as skipping the morning pages.) How was the experience for you? I did my morning pages five days this week. The experience was good. The morning pages are very cathartic for me, and I'm able to think out problems and situations to find good solutions.
2. Did you do your artist date this week? (Does your artist get to do more than rent a movie?) What did you do? How did it feel? I did play, but I didn't have an official artist date.
3. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? I did experience it, but since it's of a more personal nature, I'm not going to share it here.  Sorry.
4. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant to your recovery? Describe them. Nothing comes to mind.

My week of reading deprivation is over!  Hurrah!

The Artist's Way check-in: week three

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? How was the experience for you? If you skipped a day, why did you skip it? I did my morning pages six out of seven days!  It was cathartic for me to write every day. I'm starting to learn where some of my creativity blockers are, and where some of my stress sources are.
2. Did you do your artist date this week? (Yes, yes, and it was awful.) What did you do? How did it feel? I did not, in fact, do my artist date this week. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?
3. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? I did not.
4. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them. See answer #1.

The Artist's Way check-in: week two

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? (We're hoping seven, remember.) How was the experience for you? How did the morning pages work for you? Describe them (for example, "They felt so stupid. I'd write all these itty-bitty disconnected things that didn't seem to have anything to do with one another or with anything..."). Remember, if you are writing morning pages, they are working for you. What were you surprised to find yourself writing about? Answer this question in full on your check-in page. This will be a weekly self-scan of your moods, not your progress. Don't worry if you pages are whiny and trite. Sometimes that's the very best thing for you. I did morning pages about half the mornings this week, but the mornings that I did them, I found them incredibly helpful.  Afterward, I feel more relaxed and that I've let go of things that have been bothering me.  Sometimes my morning pages are disjointed and they almost don't make sense, while other times they flow and feel more like traditional journaling.  I seem to write about some of the same things over and over, and so far I feel like I haven't gotten anywhere by writing about them.  I expected I'd write about writing in my morning pages, but usually I write about life things, and most often the things I write about are worries, problems, or frustrations I can't seem to let go of.  When I let myself write about my worries and frustrations, I always feel better afterward.
2. Did you do your artist date this week? Remember that artist dates are a necessary frivolity. What did you do? How did it feel? ::blushes:: I did not do my artist date this week.  Oops.
3. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them. I feel like I'm more connected to my creativity.  I think, through the morning pages and tasks I'm doing each week, I'm surrendering myself to being a "big double-u writer" so I'm feeling much less guilty about taking time for my writing.  The affirmations of "Creativity is the creator's will for me" and "Through the use of my creative, I serve God"* have helped me immensely this week.  I've felt guilty in the past for taking time to write because I always felt like I should be looking for a "real" job or that writing should only be a hobby.  But now I see the real purpose of creativity in my life, and I don't feel guilty about it anymore.

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*Julia Cameron uses the term "God" to tap into the spiritual journey of this process, but is not necessarily referring to the God of the Bible.  In her introduction she says:

Because The Artist's Way is, in essence, a spiritual path, initiated and practiced through creativity, this book uses the word God. This may be volatile for some of you--conjuring old, unworkable, unpleasant, or simply unbelievable ideas about God as you were raised to understand "him." Please be open-minded.

Remind yourself that to succeed in this course, no god concept is necessary. In fact, many of our commonly held god concepts get in the way. Do not allow semantics to become one more block for you.

When the word God is used in these pages, you may substitute the thought good orderly direction or flow. What we are talking about is a creative energy. God is useful shorthand for many of us, but so is Goddess, Mind, Universe, Source, and Higher Power.... The point is not what you name it. The point is that you try using it. For many of us, thinking of it as a form of spiritual electricity has been a very useful jumping-off place. (Cameron, xxi-xxii)

The Artist's Way check-in: week one

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? Seven out of seven, we always hope. How was the experience for you? Unfortunately, due to some crazy things going on in my personal life, I didn't do my morning pages every day.  That's something I'm going to work on for week two.  The act of writing the morning pages, though, was a very good one for me.  I've already learned some important things about myself, and I can see a change in how I'm approaching my writing life.
2. Did you do your artist's date this week?  Yes, of course, we always hope.  And yet artist dates can be remarkably difficult to allow yourself.  What did you do?  How did it feel? Yes, I did.  This week, I spent an hour and let my young, inner child artist "play."  It was wonderful to let myself relax and not worry about what I should have been doing for that hour.  I think it was a good first date with my artist.
3. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Working with the blurts and affirmations was good for me this week.  In dealing with blurts and my monster hall of fame, I realized that there are people in my monster hall of fame I didn't expect would be.  It's been good for me to see how certain people have been supportive (or not), and how to deal with that in my own self-confidence as a writer.