it's so weird, and such a huge part of the book! I'm overdue to peek back into Julia Cameron and see if she has that streak in her, too--probably?? I'm afraid to look, that book helped me a lot c. 2010
I mean, I love a good "buckle down and write, ass in chair method" smackdown as much as the next guy, but that advice comes with a whole boatload of caveats.
I've not read Julia Cameron's book but now I wanna look into it
I'd be so curious to see what you think of it! The Artist's Way is not specific to writing, it's a woo-woo motivational creativity book, but many many writers use it. Fifteen years later, I still do a few of the things she suggests, and they're some of my best tools. Yet there is utterly laughable and possibly offensive stuff in there as well. I read the chapters out loud, in a group, so we were able to laugh at it together and just take away the good stuff.
I have mixed feelings about craft books, but this one makes me rethink everything! I thought I my spectrum was “extremely helpful/insightful/useful to extremely harmful to the creative mind/stifling/shit”. Now I see it ends with “extremely harmful to mental health/vitriol/a bunch of strange and horrifying lies in guise of a book about creativity”.
What a world.
Loved this write up, though.
“Hiding behind question marks: bold!” is my favorite. A certain man exiled from his home news channel who has a gummy, punchable face came to the forefront, and I laughed really hard. Truly love your snark so much🧡
thanks for the love! <3 I'm glad you like my snark, I try to keep it on the leash but every once in a while it escapes and goes on the rampage
As for craft books...I truly love them with all their horrid flaws...there's something so optimistic about writing a craft book and trying to help people. At the same time it's also narcissistic and grandiose and naive and often just full of projection. So I'm fascinated by the phenom in general (and relate to it, obviously!!).
But what makes me want to write about them is that I'm really terrified, every time I hand one over to a student, that whatever weird ableism or homophobia or fatphobia or victim-blaming hides in these books (and somehow it always does!!) is going to trigger them and shut down their writing for a while. I probably am a bit oversensitive to these messages, but when has that ever stopped me from ranting about them? lol
It's nice you think about things like that and are willing to talk about the flaws and, yeah, rant sometimes too! I would totally have taken your class. <3
Ha! Yeah it’s not really worth the shelf space, even for a short book. That said, I’m glad I managed to extract one worthwhile nugget from it—the art-as-territory thing is really compelling to me, because it emphasizes just keeping a space to create, and roaming it daily, as part of your routine. I just hope if I ever write a craft book it will have more than 2 paragraphs of useful stuff in it to counterbalance all the inevitable bullshit >D
I absolutely agree! I couldn’t finish this book. I had gotten Nobody Wants to Read Your S**T and found it weirdly inspiring/terrifying. But WoA stretches the premise in unpalatable directions.
I hadn’t heard of that one! I think it’s more recent? It does sound a bit more palatable—but I still find it so odd that the message of “develop empathy for your reader” would have to be framed in such a harsh and punishing way. Who are these writers that need to be thrown on the ground and kicked in order to see things from the reader's point of view??
Absolutely loved this post - it made me giggle quite a few time! That book lives on my shelf and every time I pull it down, I get perplexed all over again. It’s the least coherent craft book I own and yet people recommend it!
Ahh, thanks for reading! Yeah, I am fascinated by the influence this book had at the time, and still has in many circles. I feel like it's basically The Secret for Dudes(TM). Laughing at it was so cathartic...
right??? I skimmed it over a decade ago and thought it was just annoying, but when I went back to read it with a fine tooth comb I couldn't believe it.
I was living in Berlin and couldn't leave my home in any direction without passing a memorial. I sincerely hope no one ever translated it into German...
Ha! Needed a good hate-laugh today.
happy to oblige!!
Dudeeeee I forgot how anti medicine and abelist that book was
it's so weird, and such a huge part of the book! I'm overdue to peek back into Julia Cameron and see if she has that streak in her, too--probably?? I'm afraid to look, that book helped me a lot c. 2010
I mean, I love a good "buckle down and write, ass in chair method" smackdown as much as the next guy, but that advice comes with a whole boatload of caveats.
I've not read Julia Cameron's book but now I wanna look into it
I'd be so curious to see what you think of it! The Artist's Way is not specific to writing, it's a woo-woo motivational creativity book, but many many writers use it. Fifteen years later, I still do a few of the things she suggests, and they're some of my best tools. Yet there is utterly laughable and possibly offensive stuff in there as well. I read the chapters out loud, in a group, so we were able to laugh at it together and just take away the good stuff.
Thank you for this valuable public service.
every time I keep someone from buying this book an angel gets its wings
I laughed so, so hard. Thank you. "Page numbers are for pussies!"
such a bold choice!!! haha
Jfc.
I have mixed feelings about craft books, but this one makes me rethink everything! I thought I my spectrum was “extremely helpful/insightful/useful to extremely harmful to the creative mind/stifling/shit”. Now I see it ends with “extremely harmful to mental health/vitriol/a bunch of strange and horrifying lies in guise of a book about creativity”.
What a world.
Loved this write up, though.
“Hiding behind question marks: bold!” is my favorite. A certain man exiled from his home news channel who has a gummy, punchable face came to the forefront, and I laughed really hard. Truly love your snark so much🧡
thanks for the love! <3 I'm glad you like my snark, I try to keep it on the leash but every once in a while it escapes and goes on the rampage
As for craft books...I truly love them with all their horrid flaws...there's something so optimistic about writing a craft book and trying to help people. At the same time it's also narcissistic and grandiose and naive and often just full of projection. So I'm fascinated by the phenom in general (and relate to it, obviously!!).
But what makes me want to write about them is that I'm really terrified, every time I hand one over to a student, that whatever weird ableism or homophobia or fatphobia or victim-blaming hides in these books (and somehow it always does!!) is going to trigger them and shut down their writing for a while. I probably am a bit oversensitive to these messages, but when has that ever stopped me from ranting about them? lol
I can get behind a rampage, though. Truly.
It's nice you think about things like that and are willing to talk about the flaws and, yeah, rant sometimes too! I would totally have taken your class. <3
Loved this whole post.
Thanks Carolyn!
I…had…no…idea. I own a full bookcase of craft books and hasn’t bought this one. And now I definitely won’t.
Ha! Yeah it’s not really worth the shelf space, even for a short book. That said, I’m glad I managed to extract one worthwhile nugget from it—the art-as-territory thing is really compelling to me, because it emphasizes just keeping a space to create, and roaming it daily, as part of your routine. I just hope if I ever write a craft book it will have more than 2 paragraphs of useful stuff in it to counterbalance all the inevitable bullshit >D
I absolutely agree! I couldn’t finish this book. I had gotten Nobody Wants to Read Your S**T and found it weirdly inspiring/terrifying. But WoA stretches the premise in unpalatable directions.
I hadn’t heard of that one! I think it’s more recent? It does sound a bit more palatable—but I still find it so odd that the message of “develop empathy for your reader” would have to be framed in such a harsh and punishing way. Who are these writers that need to be thrown on the ground and kicked in order to see things from the reader's point of view??
As I recall it was his follow up book, advice mixed with a bit of memoir about how he became a screen writer.
I agree! We hardly need to be kicked by advice—the industry will provide that, thank you very much!
Absolutely loved this post - it made me giggle quite a few time! That book lives on my shelf and every time I pull it down, I get perplexed all over again. It’s the least coherent craft book I own and yet people recommend it!
Ahh, thanks for reading! Yeah, I am fascinated by the influence this book had at the time, and still has in many circles. I feel like it's basically The Secret for Dudes(TM). Laughing at it was so cathartic...
A coach recommended it to me. I got to the bit about Hitler and threw it across the room. Nope.
right??? I skimmed it over a decade ago and thought it was just annoying, but when I went back to read it with a fine tooth comb I couldn't believe it.
I was living in Berlin and couldn't leave my home in any direction without passing a memorial. I sincerely hope no one ever translated it into German...