Just wondering... I ordered it after seeing Velma's mention of it in another thread and looking at the reviews on amazon.com. I am just on week one; the hardest part for me has been finding the time to do any of it with a two-year-old on the loose! I've done the morning pages for the last two mornings and discovered yesterday that if I do it right when I pop out of bed - at 4:45 a.m., even earlier than I normally have to be up, to accomodate the writing time - I am so tired that the whole three pages is just me grumping because I'm tired, and trying to keep my eyes open. Today, I got ready for work first, and then spent half an hour with the morning pages before leaving. Works much better for me that way - I'm awake, I can think, and I'm not so grouchy about it. Anyway, just curious about if / how this book has worked out for others...

I've read and re-read The Artists Way several times. I have NEVER done all the exercises. The book is still amazing and, in my opinion, changed my life. Even if you just read it ... or read it and highlight your favorite parts it will enliven your creative life. /:)

The two parts I did the most were the morning pages and the artist's date.

There is special dispensation for people with two year olds!!!! :doh: You're already busy by deifinition!!!! [Mother = Busy!]

Definitely!

I thought TAW was terrific, it did me a lot of good. If you keep plugging away and do as much as you can, I think you'll get a lot of benefit from it.

I have started The Artist's Way several times, and when my brain gets cranky, I go back to the morning pages. It's the week when you're not supposed to read that causes me to seize up.

Me?

Not read?

Right.

Tell me not to breathe, why don't you? That might be easier.

The morning pages and the artist's date, though, are really useful exercises/practices/disciplines, and if you get into a blocked state, starting or restarting them has been very productive for me.

I have two more of Cameron's books, The Vein of Gold, and Walking in This World. I find her writing style and many of her sentiments too wifty for my tastes, but some of her observations are spot-on. (The section in The Artist's Way about crazymakers, for example, gave me words to identify a pattern of behavior that I kept falling into (trying to help the crazymakers at the expense of my own art), and gave me tools for getting out of that pattern.)

I haven't done it but have heard that her book, "The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life" is also pretty essential. And may I add that you are doing something really noble. My kids are 8 and 4 and I remember when they were 2 and it's exhausting but it does get easier - so don't be too hard on yourself. As Erica Jong says, "It's nothing short of a miracle every time a woman with a child finishes a book." Carol Shields had 4 kids and she wasn't able to really start writing until they were in school. Toni Morrison kept farmer's hours and got up whe the house was still quiet while her two boys were still sleeping. It's tough anyway you slice it. Hang in there and perservere

I have a dissenting opinion :ph34r: I started to read one of the Cameron books...could have been the Right to Write. After reading a few chapters, I couldn`t write for weeks. I have no idea what it was, but I spoke to another writer who also had the same experience.

Any ideas?

I haven't read either of these books, but I have been "seized up" by ideas that made me start to think too much and act too little. (I'm not accusing any authors of advocating this - it's just something that was triggered in me.)

Anyone read Take Joy by Jane Yolen? Here's a quote from it.

You are...the very first reader of what you write. Please that reader. You may not have any other.

And another.

"Do you believe that writing keeps you young?" she asks. "Believe it," she answers.

I loved it when it first came out -- but don't think I made it past (or through) the don't read week. I went back to it a couple years ago and, like Velma, felt it was wifty, mostly in the style rather than the ideas.

Never found the "first thing on waking" worked for me, and found that writing the 3 pages took much more time than Cameron allotted, but kept trying, being then too much a rules follower when it comes to these magic regimens. At least until the don't read week. I think her later book, Walking in This World, elaborated on the artist's date idea, which clarified them, and walking is always good. Good for you that you found the routine that works for you!

Last year I came across this book while browsing: Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within. It is restricted to writing, but I thought the approach of finding just 15-minutes at a time to write a sensible and non-doctrinaire one. Didn't end up buying, thank goodness. My bookshelf is way too full of writing books...

Thank you all for your input, encouragement, and advice. Yeah, I don't know if I'm going to make it through this one. The two-year-old has just gotten a whole lot more... two-ish. Like, taking off dirty diapers and making a mess (to put it nicely), spewing milk all over the dry-clean only pillows, throwing everything he can get his hands on, etc. etc. Being a single mom (for all intents and purposes) four nights a week doesn't help. He's my crazymaker! When exactly does it get easier, Kelly? I need a date to look forward to. I am trying to get over the guilt for just not having time to do anything creative or for other people (like snails). I don't know why I feel so guilty about that, but I do.

Anyway. I only made it through three morning page sessions, and then I got to Friday morning and couldn't force myself out of bed. There's something ungodly (to me) about getting up before 5:00! No artist date, because I have no alone time for that. I'm trying to be better this week about the morning pages... I managed it today, although I only had time for two pages (but they're large pages!).

I have that Pen On Fire book. I tried the first couple of exercises, and it wasn't bad, but I just didn't feel very engaged by that one. If I can't keep up with TAW, though, that might be the way to go... at least I know from what little I've read thus far and the mostly positive reviews here, that even if I can't handle it at this particular time in my life, I should keep it on my shelves and try again when I can.