Author: Julia Cameron
Publisher: St. Martin’s Essentials
Date Published: January 14, 2025
The Artist’s Way Toolkit is a readily accessible “how to” guide for releasing the creative process. It is based on four tools: Morning Pages (extended journaling), Artist Dates (something you do by yourself, for yourself), Walks (minimum 20 minutes, no earphones or companions – not even dogs!), and guidance.
Guidance might be the hardest concept to grasp, as it involves writing down the problem you need guidance on, then trusting that “inner voice”. However, there is a whole process to understanding what true guidance is.
There are a great number of tools to help a creator implement the process – affirmations, a 12-week checklist, guidance for teaching the process to others, ideas for artist’s dates, inspirational quotes, poems by Julia (“The Queen of Change”), and keywords and phrases. I like the term “fuse lighter” – “a person who sparks our creativity”.
I skipped over a lot of the spirituality parts of the guide, and may not be able to commit to all of the steps (3 pages each day not including dreams!), though I suspect a lot of that will come with practice. But for anyone who would like a quick overview of Julia Cameron’s very popular Living the Artist’s Way and Write for Life, the Artist’s Way Toolkit, this is a great way to jumpstart self-growth and creativity.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Essentials for both an eArc and physical copy.
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