The Artist's Way Changed My Life
My experience with the 12-week program
I feel like The Artist’s Way is one of those books that is on every writer’s radar. They may or may not read it, but it is something they have always considered doing. I became interested in morning pages (more about that later) back in 2021, but started learning about the The Artist’s Way in 2024. I was going through a lot in my personal life during that time. My health was deteriorating, and my stress and anxiety was through the roof. I was completely thrown off course in life. In an effort to restore any semblance of happiness, I thought maybe I should try reading the book.
I started The Artist’s Way in late 2024 and finished the program in early 2025.
Before I started The Artist’s Way, I heavily researched the book to figure out what it would require me to do. I watched videos, read articles but I never felt like I got a really good picture of what my experience would involve. While everything I saw was helpful, a few things surprised me.
So, I decided with my review that I wanted to go a little more in depth and give you a full rundown of what goes on in this book, only because it is a 12 week commitment and you'll have to spend at least an hour on it every day.
How is this post organized?
Before I share my experience, I want to give a rundown of the book and author. Like what it is? What does it entail? Who should read it? etc. I also picked up on who this book wouldn't really benefit — even if you are an artist — so I'll touch on that as well.
I actually talked about my experience with The Artist’s Way in my last podcast episode, which is also the only podcast episode that is available right now lol.
What is The Artist’s Way and what is it about?
The Artist’s Way is a book written by writer, director, and artist Julia Cameron.
I'm not going to go in depth about who Julia Cameron is but essentially she teaches the art of creative unblocking. What that means is basically teaching you the skills to be able to put aside your distractions, your vices, your unhelpful thinking patterns in order to heal your inner artist and be the artist you've always wanted to be.
Julia has taught this course at several schools and universities. However, when she first started, she sold Xerox copies of the book at a local bookstore before it was officially published in 1992.
A key idea of the book (which I totally forgot to mention and I am writing during the final edit) is that being creative is spiritual act. Julia asks readers to be open to the idea of source or a “Great Creator” leading you on your creative journey. It is extremely important to note that this “Great Creator” is not related to any religion nor is Julia asking you to become religious. She is talking from a more diverse, spiritual perspective of being open to a higher power guiding and assisting you on your creative journey.
While it is considered a book, I think it is actually more like a textbook. It contains a 12-week program, and then the end of each chapter, there “homework” for the reader to do.
Each week pertains to a chapter, and each chapter talks about some sort of creative block an artist might face — or has probably faced — and how to overcome it.
On top of reading each chapter per week, Julia asked you to do two very specific things. One is doing daily morning pages and the other is going on a weekly artist date.
Now if you heard anything about The Artist’s Way, you've probably heard about morning pages because that's the most common takeaway from those I have seen talking about the book.
Of course, while reading the book, Julia is going to go into detail of what the homework, chapters, morning pages, etc. but I'll give you a small blurb of them below so you kind of have an idea before you start.
Key Concepts of The Artist’s Way
The Artist Way Book — The actual book that contains the chapters, tasks, check-in, etc.
Weekly Tasks — Tasks or homework found at the end of every chapter in the book. Cameron asks that you choose half of the tasks to do. Do the ones you don’t want to do and do the ones you really want to do but leave the ones you feel neutral about.
Tasks range from writing prompts to actually physically doing something. Most chapters have about 10 tasks, with the number lessening the further you get in the book.
Weekly Artist Check-in — This is found at the end of each chapter in the book after the Weekly Tasks. The questions are the same every week and are a way to track your progress during the program.
It should be the last thing you do before starting a new chapter.
Morning Pages — Journaling three pages, every single morning, preferably right when you wake up.
This is the most time consuming task since it can take up to one hour each day and you have to do it everyday.
You are to use a notebook of your choice, and it does not come with the book (I’ll give your suggestions below).
Weekly Artist Date — Basically a solo date you have to do every week. Cameron gives you ideas one-in-a-while in the Weekly Task sections, otherwise it is up to you. The emphasis is on the solo so doing it alone is integral.
My Experience
I really enjoyed the program.
Like I said earlier, I wish I knew more detailed information about what the program involves because when I went into it, the only thing I thought I was going to have to do is the morning pages and the weekly artist date, just based on what other people were saying.
However, when I learned I had to read a chapter every week, I had these tasks to complete every week, and then I had to do like a Weekly Artist Check-in on top of the artist date and the morning pages — I was overwhelmed.
I went out of my way to make time and fell off a few times, but I did finish the program.
Reading Each Chapter
My favorite part of the the program has to be actually reading each chapter.
I have been writing and doing beauty and artsy stuff since I was like a little kid and failed a lot, so I have gone through every emotional trial that Julia talked about in the book. As an artist, writer, etc. I found each chapter very helpful.
I recommend buying a hard copy of the book so you can highlight and write in it. That alone allowed me to interact with the book, and in the future if I want to like flip through it, I already had so much valuable information highlighted that I can skim.
I didn't write any of my tasks or a weekly artist check-in in the book. I had to do that in a separate book, which I'll talk about in a little bit.
It took me about an hour once a week just to leisurely read through. Again, I was trying to be very present with highlighting, annotating, etc.
Weekly Tasks
I think the weekly tasks were probably my least favorite part of the entire program. I just found it annoying to have to do at the end of every chapter. I wasn't eager to do them, and I also found them to be very irritating because I had to do them.
Another element about this is that I already had to dedicate a lot of time in my week to this program and the weekly tasks were just an extra thing that I just found tedious and bothersome.
Julia recommends doing the tasks after reading each chapter just to get it out of the way but I didn't really like that because I would read a new chapter every Sunday evening, and I just didn't feel like doing the tasks right after that.
Now, initially for the weekly tasks, I actually bought the official workbook for The Artist’s Way from Amazon. However, I regret it because it's really big (picture below) and be sometimes the task number and name doesn't actually line up with the workbook, which I found very annoying.
Towards the end of the program, what I would do (and recommend) is actually highlight the tasks that can become journal prompts and I would do them throughout the week during my morning pages. Then for tasks that were actually tasks, I would put them in my agenda to do some point during the week.
The more physical tasks were very annoying as well because I had such a difficult time scheduling them during the week. You are supposed to complete them before you do your artist check-in and start the following chapter.
You honestly might find them enjoyable but I didn't really find them that great. There are a few prompts I enjoyed, but overall I didn't find a lot of value out of the tasks, other than potential journal prompts.
Weekly Artist Check In
Again, the way I feel about the hardest way tasks or the chapter task is the same way I feel about the Weekly Artist Check-in. It was just like a bothersome, extra thing to do that I didn't find a lot of value in.
Since I read My Artist’s Way chapter every Sunday evening, I ended up starting to do my artist check-in every Sunday morning in my morning pages, which made it a lot easier for me.
Granted, it's basically the same questions every week and there's like only four or five questions but like it's still that extra annoying thing to do.
Morning Pages
All right then notorious morning pages: the three pages of stream of consciousness writing that you preferably do right when you wake up.
If I wake up really early, I'll just do it when I wake up. However, if I wake up at a normal time, I actually like to eat breakfast, grab my coffee, and then do it.
Julia Cameron says in the book there's no right or wrong way to do morning pages, so I am not a perfectionist about it.
I do my morning pages in my A5 dotted spiral notebook.
Prior to this, I journaled every morning in my Leuchtturm1917 dotted A5 notebook for several years. So as you can see I'm a big fan of A5 in notebooks for journaling.
However, for the past like year I would say before starting morning pages or The Artist’s Way, I really wasn't vibing with my daily one-page journal only because I felt like I wasn't really getting much benefit out of it. I only ever did it to just keep the habit alive.
That is one of the reasons why I started The Artist’s Way because I liked the Morning Pages concept and wanted to see if doing Morning Pages, or the extra two pages, would benefit me in any way.
A few years ago, I used to do the three pages of stream of consciousness writing in my DayOne app for 40 minutes or until I hit 750 words- apparently that is the equivalent of three pages. I liked it but it took up too much time and wanted to return to handwritten journals.
I am happy to say I actually really enjoyed doing the three pages every day. I'll have days where I'm like I don't want to do this right now or I rather do something else but I've been really sticking to it.
Julia says the first 1.5 pages is just like a brain dump and you really start to see a shift in your thinking and writing after that for the last half.
I struggled initially when I started the program but now I've been doing it every single day since and I have made pretty good progress.
I think the morning page have really reignited my passion for handwritten journal entries. I remember before I started I was really nervous that my hand would cramp while I was doing it and it would annoy me, but honestly, my hand has not cramped at all since starting (knock on wood).
Weekly Artist Date
The Weekly Artist Date was something I struggled with at the beginning because I really didn't know what to do. Granted, the whole purpose is to do a solo date, but I already spent a lot of time by myself so I was having trouble trying to determine what to do.
I actually skipped it for the first few weeks until I figured out what would benefit me the most. But basically the Weekly Artist Date which can be anything. It is more about carving out personal time for yourself - away from people, work, other responsibilities, etc. - and just giving yourself time to do something without feeling guilty.
I was like: “okay, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to work on my weekly sketching class that I brought on Udemy last year.” I would carve out one hour per week and that will be my weekly artist date.
I have bought other art courses on Udemy but I've always struggled with a perfectionism and feeling resistance. However, going through The Artist’s Way program has helped me dismantle the perfectionism bit by bit, be more aware of the resistance, and actually give myself the initiative to do it.
Even last week, I changed it. I was like I'm not going to do my sketch class. Instead I'm going to study languages and study some art, which I used to do a lot. I did both and it was actually really enjoyable that I was like you know what maybe I can do this a little more throughout the week. Now, after work I carve out like an hour to do like a random study hobby.
Supplies I Used
I wanted to do a link dump of all my favorite supplies. You by no means need any of these things (except the book lol), but if you are confused on what to buy, this section should be helpful.
The Artist's Way: 30th Anniversary Edition Book ($12, Amazon) — The only specific thing you need to start this program…The Artist’s Way book!
AHGXG Dotted Spiral A5 Notebook ($16, Amazon, 3-Pack) — This is the notebook I use every morning for the morning pages ritual. I like them and will repurchase.
What to look for — I would suggest getting a notebook you are very comfortable with. I prefer spiral so I do not have to deal with the notebook trying to close while writing. Also, A5 has been the perfect journaling size for me for years and I did not want to change that. Dotted grid pages are my favorite because they provide a way to write in a straight line without being distracting.
Another thing is page quantity. I like the 3-pack because I do not have to deal with constantly buying new notebooks. Also, each notebook has 80 pages, which is technically 160 pages if you are using the back of each page as well. So each notebook would last about 2-ish months, or 53 days to be exact.
Something, I might consider now is buying a notebook that has numbered pages only because I find myself flipping through my notebook every few days trying to find some note, idea, thought I wrote down. Having numbered pages for a table of contents to keep track of everything would be very helpful for me. However, they tend to be more expensive.
Again, I would suggest getting a notebook you are very comfortable with. If you want to buy like 10 of those 50 cent back-to-school, college-ruled notebooks, then do it! There is no right or wrong way!
Pilot Juice .38mm Pen ($1.75, JetPens) — This pen has been my go-to pen for years! I buy these in bulk every six months because I fly through them. The pen is narrow so it fits in my hand very well and the gel ink is extremely opaque and smooth. It makes the journaling process much more enjoyable for me.
I think I learned about this pen from a studyblr youtube channel (studying + tumblr) and what enticed me to buy it was how fast it dried down.
What to look for — I would honestly take this opportunity to find your favorite pen. I would buy a few single ones from JetPens, or a local stationary store, and try them out. If you do not like a pen, give it to a friend. Then of course, if you like a pen, buy more!
I say local stationary store because good pens from commercial stores like Walmart or Staples can be very expensive and low in options. Local stationary stores offer a wider variety and most likely come in singles rather than packs.
You can experiment with gel, felt, retractable, different millimeters, and more. If you need a good starting pen, I would suggest the Muji Gel Ink Ballpoint Pen in .38mm black!!
Things to ask yourself when discerning between pens:
Do I like felt tip or ballpoint pens?
Do I like the pen tip size? Do I want to go bigger or smaller?
Do I like having a cap or it being retractable?
Does the pen fit comfortably in my hand?
How well does the pen write? How smooth is the ink?
Does ink bleeding through the page bother me?
Supplies I Used + But Don’t Recommend
The Artist's Way Workbook ($12, Amazon) — Like I mentioned earlier, I ended up buying this because I thought it would make my life easier and supplement my Artist’s Way journey but I actually ended up hating it.
It got really good reviews, so I was a bit disappointed when I found it unnecessary for my program.
For starters, it is huge. It is probably 2x the size of the official Artist’s Way book, which is not what I expected. Granted, it is my fault since I did not read the dimensions but again, I was not expecting it to be that big.
So what the workbook contains is just the weekly tasks and weekly artist check in. Two things already found in the original book. Except, the workbook has a lot of extra space to complete the tasks. However, the tasks were could either fall into the categories of either a physical task or journal prompt. Honestly, I did not like writing in the huge book, and like I mentioned above, I preferred doing the journal prompt-esque tasks in my morning pages.
However, I recommend doing the tasks the way Julia recommends in the book. To do the tasks on loose-leaf paper and keep them all together in like a manila folder. I have a few of my tasks in my morning pages journal (and I don’t know which is where) and some in the workbook. It just keeps it all together so you can reference it later.
Another issue I had with the workbook is that the tasks would not line up correctly in the workbook. Some of the weekly tasks were misnumbered or missing (?). Later on, I noticed some tasks would show up in small boxes as footnotes, hence why I missed them.
As the for the sections such as introductions and epilogues, they are pretty much the same in both books.
How The Artist’s Way changed me + who I recommend it it to-
To wrap up this section, I wanted to talk about how exactly my life changed doing The Artist’s Way program. I am writing this a few months after I wrote the previous sections. I really wanted to see if it really changed me.
First and foremost, I found that I only keep up with what I learned if I am doing the morning pages, dates, and reviewing the book.
I have been keeping up with the morning pages but decided to switch up my morning routine in spring for fun. I realized I find a lot of benefit doing the morning pages so I bought it back in.
However, I did change my process though. I set a timer for 35 minutes to journal. Before, it would take me an hour to complete my pages. However, with 35 minutes, I can get to 2.5 pages done? so I do not know what is up with that.
Morning pages, and just committing to journaling more than one page, helps me cleanse my brain. It is basically a brain dump and organizing my thoughts and processes.
Like today, I was writing about anxious stuff on my mind and eventually I started writing about how hard I am on myself, which leads me to artistically block myself.
Another thing I like is seeing how my mind jumps from one thought to another. When you write down every random thought in your head on paper in succession, you will be surprised how your thoughts are just thoughts. Like one minute you think your world is ending, the next, you are planning your next exciting vacation. I found that really healing, especially in conjunction with therapy.
Doing the morning pages encourages me to do my hobbies and go after what truly gives me a spark. When I was doing the morning pages consistently, it gave me the motivation and clarity to pursue my substack and make time for my weekly hobbies.
Another thing! It was so helpful for me when I have a million ideas and need to start organizing them and grounding them into reality. It helped me reflect and plan my weeks and stay on track.
I found when I stopped doing them or did not consistently do them — I lacked clarity, organization, and just like overall, sense of self.
I haven’t skimmed through my Artist’s Way book in a bit but the book is a good reminder of the connection between creativity and spirituality, especially if you are meant to be creative. There is like this humility and calmness that comes with expressing yourself creatively, which ultimately makes room for happiness and fulfillment.
Anyways, those are the two things I really found value in and remember.
This leads us to who I would recommend The Artist’s Way to
First and foremost, people who have the time or can make the time to commit to The Artist’s Way. At the beginning, I had a hard time committing because I did not know about The Artist’s Way tasks. If I had known that, I think my experience would be much more smooth.
A big part of this program is making the intention to make the time. It is really hard, especially if you have other responsibilities, BUT I think making the intention to take time to do this program is a great first step for making time for yourself.
Next, I think this would be extremely helpful if you already started your creative journey; and for reasons stopped, gave up, or just got in your head. I do not think this book will really speak to you if you just starting because I think you might have not gone through the rough patches that are dealing with self-criticism, doubt, or comparison you feel when you are on your creative journey. I think once you start and hit mental road blocks, I would recommend trying this.
However, if you want to read it and have not started your creative journey, then I would! The most important thing you should know is what is involved and that maybe concepts of the book won’t connect with you in the moment. With that being said, I do think there are like 2-3 chapters you might relate to.
All-in-all, I think this is a great book for those in creative fields, who have pushed their passion to side due to internal or external circumstances.
This post is at almost 4,000 words so I am going to stop here.
If you have any questions, recommendations, or have tried The Artist’s Way program, let me know in the comments below!
Until next time, bye!
—Laila