Hagintha Woods

This book has been on my to-reads for a while.

I’m a voracious reader that often will read even the ingredient list on shampoo bottles when I’m in the toilet longer than expected. I am a writer that always seeks to improve their craft.

As such, books on writing and creativity and the perfect overlap of interests that easily subsume my attention.

Even in the chaos of the world where everything clamours for my attention, I will have a few of these titles on my ever-growing to-read list at all times, and related titles will still pull at my attention when I stride past.

With the fame, the glowing reviews online and their stellar promises, it was no surprise, then, that the Artist’s Way would be upon my list as well. It had been there for quite a while, actually, but given how it was a book with exercises and tasks to toil through, it didn’t quite lend itself to a digital reading experience for me.

As such, when I could not find the physical copy in the library and only saw online versions, it occupied a dusty corner of the mind. It was the corner where one assured themselves that they would get to with time, and yet at the same point accepted that said time wasn’t particularly soon.

I was fine with that. After all, in the meantime, I had a life to live.

And then, a serendipitous thing.

I was in limbo in Paris with a few hours to kill and nothing to kill it on. Food was either what I would classify as a snack or something too expensive for its simplicity. (at one point I spotted pasta for 30 euros, which might have been the norm for Paris but it was certainly not the norm for my wallet) After trying to stretch two crepes to fill both the time and my stomach, I started searching for something to fill the mind.

Shakespeare & Co. A famous bookstore in Paris, and one tha thad housed quite a few literary big names with their tumbleweeds program. (a program that allowed you to stay in the bookstore for a short while) The bait was set, the line cast. I was reeled in.

Walking in, I was determined not to buy anything. Courtesy of the things I had collected in my travels, my luggage was teetering upon the weight limit for this flight.

In fact, I’d spent a whole day in a vain attempt to pack everything and somehow make it lighter, but in the end had to leave more than a few things behind, much to my own chagrin. As such, to do all of that just to pick up more weight when I was about to set off would be unwise.

So I ignored the classics. I added multiple new fiction titles to my ever-expanding to-read list, and I forced my hands to put books back down, no matter how many times they seemed to jump right back into my fingers. I walked very quickly past the manga section. I lingered only for a moment at the occult, stared adoringly at some old favourites in darling new covers.

I struck a perfect balance of staying just long enough for each room to peer around the shelves and tomes with wonder, but kept moving before any of those feelings concretised into need.

But then, I spotted the Artist’s Way, and from that dusty corner in my mind, it stretched, called my name.

A physical copy.

I reached up, moving on nostalgic recognition, and took it down. It was heavy.

There was only a gap left behind, empty space where there once was the promise of creativity. This was the last copy.

My fingers cradled the book, flipped through the pages. I read the summary, the first page. I opened a random page and started reading.

I was still reading when I walked out the store with it.

I was still reading it on the way home, starting the morning pages (one of the two core exercises) that day.

Upon my return, unsure if I could finish the whole exercise, I told my friend about it. In a fortuitous turn, she’d gotten her hands on a copy a while ago, and had been thinking the same. We immediately made plans to embark on this journey together.

This was the start of what I would come to know as synchronicity.

For it was a journey. The Artist’s Way is a twelve week long course that requires the reader to put in the work of at least a few hours each week-not a lot, but not nothing either. It requires the reader to show up, to prioritise the exercises, and to hold themselves responsible for their own creative journey.

And as I did, I couldn’t help but notice things lining up in my favour, things coincidentally working out or beautiful scenes that had never caught my eye before. Whether they were always there and I’d just started noticing, or they were coming anew into my life, I did not know. But I was grateful nonetheless. I was humming more often, adding little pops of colour into my life.

At its core, this book believes in the innate creative energy of people. The message is that we are all creatives, that creativity is both a birthright and a path through which we all learn to live more closely with who we want to be.

There was a pretty strong focus on God, which made it a little difficult for me to relate at first, but the author did recommend that the reader could replace it with whatever gave them comfort. With that advice (and permission) I just mentally substituted the word for the Universe instead, and that made it a little more accessible for myself.

There are two core exercises that run through the 12 week course, the Morning Pages and the Artist Dates. Both have their roles in encouraging consistency and feeding your well, and I will cover them both in greater detail in later reflections.

Within the 12 weeks, however, each week is designed around a specific blockage around being an artist, with exercises to encourage self-reflection, visualisation, understanding and goal setting. They deal with self-doubt, societal perceptions of creativity, and they meet you where you are at. It does not matter where you are in your personal journey, or if you feel that you aren’t an artist-the main ways in which the exercises work are through journaling and facilitating your ability to meet yourself.

Engaging with the book in good faith, the book fades away, leading you to who you were, where you are and what you’d like to be.

This does mean that it has the potential to bring up some heavy blockages, and sometimes I did have to sit at my desk and slowly try to process the revelations I had. As such, if I have any advice about how to tackle the book, perhaps do the exercises when you have time to devote your attention more wholly to the experience.

Do I feel changed after this experience? Surprisingly, yes. I feel more secure about my creativity, more comfortable presenting to the world just as myself. I afford more importance to my art. I found that I was treating others unfairly because of steps I hadn’t been able to take myself. I sat with myself, thought about what that could mean, and I took the steps I could now.

Did anything change physically? Strangely, also yes. After years of wanting to but not getting to it, I finally started this blog. I started writing creative non-fiction, and I am making bolder leaps, hoping that the universe and people that witness me will catch me.

I’m not saying that all readers would quit their job and become an artist (unless they wanted to) but they certainly would find themselves getting curious about new hobbies, finding a new style or gaining a new certainty that eluded them in the past, and I do think every person does need that.

However, I am a writer. Journaling and words have long been my medium of choice. Would it be as effective if I were unused to it?

The book says yes, that writers often actually get in their own way, especially when it comes to the morning pages. I would like to say yes. I do believe that reflection only puts yourself unto the page, helps you visualise where you are. Therefore, I do think it is accessible to everyone. But I do have to admit that I don’t know for sure.

Do I recommend it? Yes. After finishing it, I immediately bundled it up and sent it to a friend. (and not just because the last exercise told me to share it)

12 weeks is a long time, but many people go years and decades without recognising the feel of their own soul. What is 12 weeks against that?

At the end of the day, I believe creativity and play are fundamental parts to living and wellbeing, and I find this book an accessible and flexible way of trying that.

So do pick it up if you have the opportunity, and do let me know how the experience was for you!