Read a Girl #33: "The Artist's Way", Julia Cameron

Hello, friends!

This month’s book is a bit different from what you are used to seeing in this little book club of ours. It’s not fiction but it’s also not non-fiction. It borderlines self-help, but hear me out: it will take you on an interesting journey.

Earlier this year I decided to do the 12-week program in Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” and, well, it didn’t necessarily change my life as I heard from so many other people who have done it before but it sure taught me a lot about myself.

If you are unfamiliar with the book, here’s the gist of it: this is a method created by Julia herself to unlock creativity and get you in touch with the artist inside you. Throughout the program, every week you read a chapter and do some of the exercises outlined in it. It’s also important that you work on your morning pages, a stream-of-consciousness journaling habit done first thing every morning on a daily basis, and go on weekly artist dates - I documented my own journey on Twitter and Instagram if you’re curious.

As I mentioned above, this was not a life-changing experience for me, but it made me reflect more on my own choices and where they got me so far. It also brought back the joy of doing something just for the sake of it, a common feeling on all of the artist dates I went on with myself.

I understand this is not for everyone, but if you are open and give it a go, I am pretty confident you will get something good out of it. And if you do decide to go on this journey, drop me a line to tell me how it’s going :)

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My first book, “a spectacularly sad ending”, is a collection of poetry and prose about heartbreak, loss and survival. It chronicles experiences of love, loss, abuse and grief, and is for anyone who is or ever had to mend a broken heart. It's available as a paperback and also on Kindle. You can get it here.

🎵 This newsletter was written to the sounds of “Song on the Beach”, by Arcade Fire & Owen Pallett.

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My name is Renata and I am the Founder and Editor of Read a Girl, a platform aimed at promoting the work of women writers. My background is in journalism and I spent most of my career covering foreign affairs and travelling around looking for good stories to tell. I love reading and my favourite authors are Elena Ferrante, J.D. Salinger, Julian Barnes and Sylvia Plath.

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