Results tagged “Julia Cameron” from Percival Perspectives

Every creative needs their own private guru. But I share mine with countless thousands around the world: Julia Cameron, creator of ‘The Artist’s Way’ and ‘The Vein of Gold’.

 Her CV is pretty intimidating: ex-wife of Martin Scorsese, reformed alcoholic, Film Director, Composer of Musicals, mother of a Hollywood actress.

She is a guide through the myriad pitfalls of a creative journey, gently encouraging and cajoling, but not in an annoying New Age way. Rather your favourite friend, she’s sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, but always there for you.

She controversially (not everyone likes Julia, as Google will reveal) urges you to sidestep the toxic advice of those close to you – even your loved ones may hate the change that a creative journey brings. She encourages a calm and regular work ethic, and tells you how to avoid the negative energy of ‘CrazyMakers’ – and jeez there are a few of those in our business.

Suddenly, when I read her I realised how jaundiced and blocked were many of the Big Agency Creative Directors that bossed my early career. Instead of encouraging the good stuff and letting the bad fall away, they’d hone in on little errors in consistency or kill great creative ideas with petty criticism. (I love that quote : ‘consistency is the hobgoblin of tiny minds’. Unless you’re talking about tennis!)

As she takes you on a journey, she describes exquisitely where she is in her own life (this is through a dozen or more books, all of which I read), and uses the environment around her to illustrate her stories. She writes of a gorgeous retreat in Taos New Mexico, and how toxic critics are like the rattlesnakes that lie in the sagebrush around her home. New York City is another frequent backdrop.

She gives you tools – Morning Pages (3 pages of handwritten notes about how you are, what you feel, every morning – I’ve never found the discipline to do this.) and Artist’s Dates (weekly solo visits to galleries or any kind of new creative experience - this I do!)

Creativity is often closely aligned with madness, and in her autobiography, the most honest you’ll ever read, she describes in literally painful words her experience of long-term mental illness. It’s strange to hear your guru be so frail, but it has not diminished my opinion of her one scintilla.

My manuscript, half written and unsold, but an achievement nonetheless, would not be there without her.

If you have a creative dream, or know someone who does, Julia really is an incredible gift.