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4.5
Known for her best selling book THE ARTIST's WAY...Julia Cameron is the author of 19 books both fiction and nonfiction. She bills this book as a sequel to THE ARTIST'S WAY...and says it is the 'nextstep in her course of discovering and recovering the creative self. She urges writers and all creatives to inhabit the world with a 'sense of wonder' -- to not just observe. By dividing the volume into 12 weekly 'chapters' she lets us 'rediscover' the wonder of her "morning pages-- a type of journaling --to get the juices flowing' and helps us map our interests. Each 'chapter' or week works on a different aspect of Discovering -- ranging from 1 -- A sense of origin, to 2 sense of proportion to 3 a sense of perspective 4) a sense of adventure 5) a sense of personal territory to 6) a sense of boundaries to 7) a sense of momentum, to 8 -- a sense of discernment and 9 a sense of resiliency and 10 a sensse of comraderie and 11) a sense of authenticity to 12) a sense of dignity. Julia explains in her intro that "walking and talking humanize her life...they draw it to an ancient and comforting scale...and it is on these walks that her best ideas come to her...and no you don't have to walk every day-- she suggests a weekly walk. In the afterword which follows a short epilogue she explains about her 'creative clusters guide"...she noes that there are no franchised or accredited Artist's Way Teachers...for "creative recovery' as she calls it is 'a nonhierarchial, peer-run, collective process"....something I too totally agree with...She also includes guidelines for a group....for many readers...this process could be much more productive than just a weekly book club...for others...the book is still a great guide to going solo--- to reawakening your creative spirit or just re-affirming that YES, you are creative...and that it's never too late to write that play, paint that canvas or sculpt that statue....We are all creative...we just need to recognize our styles and to encourage our innate ability to color outside of the lines and think outside of the box! THERE IS NO ENVELOPE....
