Unclog Your Creativity

Super Mentor Julia Cameron brings The Artist’s Way to the desert

Mona de Crinis Attractions

the next time you sit with your fingers frozen above a keyboard or watch a block of clay dry before your eyes as you ponder the meaning of life and mentally rearrange the sock drawer, ask yourself, “What would Julia do?”
Award-winning author Julia Cameron masterfully penetrates creative barriers. Her books (The Artist’s Way, Vein of Gold, and The Right to Write) and workshops have helped countless individuals unleash their imaginative selves. The Artist’s Way alone sold more than two million copies worldwide, giving birth to a human potential movement that has spread like inspired wildfire from metropolitan penthouses to the jungles of Panama.

On Oct. 8, Cameron joins other creative professionals as the featured guest speaker in a day-long workshop at Doral Desert Princess Hotel in Cathedral City. Presented by Creative Change Conferences, “Creative Myths and Monsters” promises to ignite your artistic desires and reawaken your inner muse. Attendees are encouraged to bring a journal and the willingness to explore.

We chatted briefly with Cameron about her process and passions.

You are most widely known for The Artist’s Way, but you are also a poet, playwright, and filmmaker. What attracts you to these other genres?
Each art form is unique. Working with varying art forms allows me to fulfill differing aspects of my own creativity.

How do you write? Are you systematic and organized, or do you work in unplanned whirlwinds of creativity?
I write “morning pages” daily. Morning pages are three pages of longhand morning writing — about anything. There is no wrong way to do morning pages, and they are to be shown to no one. After that, I turn my attention to whatever project I am writing on. I tend to work rapidly. This means that I do not put in long stints.

In your bio, you write, “I am the floor sample of my own tool kit.” What are some of your favorite tools?
I have to say that morning pages, artist dates, and walks are all favorite tools of mine. An artist date is a once-a-week, solo expedition to do something festive. Walking is deceptively simple, but taking a solitary 20-minute walk can be revelatory. Often, we walk out with a problem and return with a solution. I find that when I use the tools together, they give me an inflow of creativity that is steady and reliable.

In your mid 40s, you added music to your vast artistic repertoire. What do you tell someone who claims he or she is too old to pursue creative dreams, such as writing a first novel at 60?
I think that the phrase “I’m too old” is never an authentic block. What we are really saying is “I don’t want to be a beginner.” Once we are willing to be a beginner, age becomes irrelevant.

What do you hope people will walk away with after attending your session during the “Creative Myths and Monsters” workshop?

It would be my hope that my talk would galvanize people into using the basic tools of The Artist’s Way. They are very powerful.

October 8, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (lunch included)

★     Lecture by keynote speaker  Julia Cameron
★     Drum and movement session by  dancer, drummer, and therapist  Mary Mc Graw Gordon
★    “Spirit Deck” workshop with artist and writer Kimberly Nichols
★    “Playback Theater”  with Dr. Cindy Carter
★    “Connecting Creativity with Your Next Calling” session with life coaches Leslie Gebhart, M.A. and Carolyn Ingram, Ed.D
For tickets, call 1-760-346-4606 or e-mail [email protected]. For more information on Creative Change Conferences visit creativechangeconferences.com.