Here we are! Almost to the last chapter!! You are all so dear to me — the kindred spirit-ness is off the charts. I feel lucky to be in each of your orbits, to hear your insights and see your growth.
The call recording to listen to on a drive, walk, or wherever you need it
My thoughts on Chapter 11
Quotes I’m saving
Exercise insights and thoughts from the group
Next steps and our next call link!
What I keep coming back to is where our credibility comes from. Julia Cameron’s argument that credibility lies with you, God, and your work. Not the market, or your Instagram followers, or the algorithm. This gives me a lot of freedom. My only job is to show up and make something, and my only audience is myself and God.
What has helped: create what wants to be created. That’s it!! There is no magic strategy or “10 tips” you might be missing. Every bit of fruit I’ve ever experienced in my work has come from just making something.
“As an artist, my self-respect comes from doing the work. One performance at a time, one gig at a time, one painting at a time.”
“As an artist, I do not need to be rich, but I do need to be richly supported.”
Being “richly supported” does not require a ton of money — it comes from the little choices of self-care and delight that are very accessible in our day-to-day lives. Taking a walk, putting our phones away, or buying some raspberries.
I also completely resonate with Julia when she says that if creatives don’t create, they get crabby. I personally become a nightmare person if I’m not making stuff. I never really understood why before reading this book. I couldn’t put language to the stuck feeling, but she says that cutting off creativity makes us savage — that we react as if we’re being choked. Creativity is oxygen for our souls.
She also says that the more she spoils her artist child, the more adult she appears. And it’s this backward thinking that really works. Treat the little kid artist inside of you well, and you can show up for everything else. Ignore the little kid, and you get the grinding depression she describes. Our inner child matters so much!! I never saw that before this book.
“Just when we get there, there disappears”
If the reward is the process, everything is a win, and we’ve already arrived. Our culture rewards the destination in theory and ignores the journey entirely, but the point of creativity is in the making.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.