How I Began Artist Dates

Sometime in the past, I mentioned that I do “Morning Pages.” I’ve done so—off and on—for twenty-seven years. This writing exercise is from the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

Cameron wrote the book to free those of us who felt “blocked” in our creativity. That is, we’d lost the impetus to create in our own way. It was meant for anyone who had a passion for something, be it planting a garden, photographing birds, crocheting, baking bread, enjoying sunsets, writing a short story, quilting, visiting all the baseball stadiums in the United States, painting watercolors, etc.

Cameron asked readers to commit to twelve weeks in which they’d do the following: write, in longhand, three stream-of-consciousness pages each morning; enjoy an artist’s date each week; and read one chapter of her book each week.

Then—if this appealed to the reader and helped her or him renew the passion that gave renewed meaning to life—Cameron encouraged readers to continue the Morning Pages for as long as possible.

So for twenty-seven years, I’ve done them. I get up, feed the cats, scoop the litter, brew my tea, and then sit down at the kitchen table to write. The stream-of-consciousness writing usually takes about forty-five minutes and helps me clarify my thoughts, make decisions, and come to resolution on things that are niggling my mind.

As I think back over all these years, several important decisions with which I’ve grappled stand out:

·      quitting the writing of religious curriculum

·      ending a friendship that was dysfunctional

·      getting a home-equity loan to do a remodeling of my Stillwater kitchen and bathroom

·      writing a cat-fantasy trilogy

·      moving from Minnesota to Missouri

·      ceasing to compare the two states to the detriment of Missouri

·      deciding to stay here

·      writing a convent memoir

·      building a screened-in porch here in Missouri

·      deciding to self-publish

·      staying positive about my health and vision.  

Each time I grappled with one of these concerns, the Morning Pages helped me make a decision. So I am committed to them.

Back in 1992-93, I did the Artist Date only for the first twelve weeks of my reading of The Artist’s Way. After that, all I did was the Morning Pages. For the Artist Date, Cameron wanted the reader to do something creative, interesting, entertaining, life enhancing once a week. Her belief seemed to be that we spend most of our time with other people. She wanted her readers to take time for themselves—about an hour each week—so as to discover once again the wellspring of child-like delight within ourselves.

That first year, I had twelve artist dates in Minnesota. Of those, I remember the following:

·      I treated myself to an English tea with scones, clotted cream, strawberry jam, and several types of tea at a “shoppe” in Stillwater.

·      I visited a 5-and-10-cent store and browsed all the many items available there.

·      I played miniature golf.

·      I visited the Art Institute.

·      I sat on the bank of the St. Croix River and watched sailboats.

I’m telling you all of this because I recently bought Cameron’s latest book. It’s for those of us who have retired: It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again. She still recommends the Morning Pages and the Artist Date. To that she has added two 20-minute walks a week + the writing of a few pages of memoir that will help us look back over our lives. She provides stimulating questions to get us started.

In the next few weeks/months, I’ll occasionally share an Artist Date with you. Next week, it will be Date #1: a visit to the $ Store!

Peace.

Photographs of St. Croix waterfront in Stillwater, Minnesota, and St. Croix River from Wikipedia.