I thought I'd do some posts on books to do with writing. Books that I've found useful over the years. Some I've purchased are in e-Book form, but to be honest, I think print is still the best, so that you can make notes and underline and so on. I know you can make notes on a Kindle but I'm at the stage where I've spent so much of my adult life looking at a screen, it does my eyes in. I think print is great, when you can.
The Artists Way books by Julia Cameron are books I highly recommend. Not a craft book or a How to, its more a book on being a writer, or an artist, or any kind of creative person, whether you are writing a lot or thinking about writing, or painting or sculpting or any kind of creativity. Its about finding out what is holding you back, if that is the problem. Its about being more creative.
I first read this book twenty plus years ago and it changed my thinking on writing as being a hobby of not much importance, to the possibility of it being a legitimate career path. You know, as in being a nurse or an accountant or digging drains is more important then writing a book, that kind of thinking. Which is nuts, because where would we be if people did not create?
The book is set out as a 12-week programme filled with readings, exercises, and spending every morning writing three pages of your own thoughts down. That in itself is a useful exercise because to me it is much like the premise of brainstorming: you get the obvious stuff out of the way, and are forced to dig deeper to find the gold. Its like you're mining your own mind and when you have to write three pages, you get there.
I would suggest, if you haven't read it, to borrow a copy from the library and give it a go. The programme suited me as I like material with a spiritual edge to it, and I love concepts like serendipity/synchronicity. Also, I did the course again during the Covid, after some years of not having picked up the book, and found it fabulous. Its the sort of thing you could do every year I reckon. It would also be great to do with writer friends, although I've never done that, but I'd like to, just to see what others get out of it.
If you buy it, places like Book Depository have it and even better, shout out to Book Depository, they have free shipping.
Even now just talking abouit, I'm thinking I might embark on another reading of it. There are other books in the Artists Way series, but The Artists Way is the first one. Highly recommended!
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