My second “week” of The Artist’s Way took longer than a week… Just like the first “week”.  It’s not that it took so long to do the exercises. It took me a while to do the check-in. Not this blog post, but the check-in exercise that’s part of the program.

I’m not sure why. I kept putting it off.

My second week was more focused than the first week. And I realized that I only skimmed through some of the exercises of the first week.  I didn’t do them exactly as intended.

For example, in the first week, Cameron lists some Basic Principles. It’s a list of ten concepts related to creativity. And they were to be reviewed once a day.

I didn’t. I read through them once and forgot about them.

In the second week, you’re supposed to review the Basic Principles three times a day. This time, I did it. I set three alarms on my phone and when they’d go off, I’d review the principles. Three times each day.

The principles verge on the “woo-woo”. There is a lot of reference to God and The Creator, which might rub people the wrong way. But I think Cameron wants us to shift our focus to outside of ourselves.

While in a state of recovery, it is helpful to think of a higher power.   Instead of dwelling on the inadequacies of the self. And spiraling inward.

I like to think of it as being able to tap into a well of creativity.  That is “out there”…  Instead of having to “manifest” ideas completely on my own. Out of nothing.

That’s why a blank page or screen can be so scary sometimes…

One of the principles that resonates with me is: Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.

There’s another list of ten things in the second week. The Rules of the Road. Ten things that we must do, to be an artist. Two of the items that resonate with me are:

Set small and gentle goals and meet them.

Remember that it is my job to do the work, not judge the work.

My morning pages continue to go well. Usually, I do them first thing in the morning. Although sometimes, timing is not on my side and I find time later in the day to do them.

I still seem to miss one day a week and that’s always on a day where I get up a bit late and the day is busier than anticipated.

It’s still taking me a bit longer than 30 minutes to get them done, as well. A couple of times, I started a stopwatch to time how long it took and to keep me focused on writing. Instead of thinking too much.

For my Artist Date, I went to see a show at the Hamilton Fringe by myself.

It’s fun to see a show by yourself and get immersed in the experience. The show was called Samca. It was provocative and provided lots of food for thought. It made me think about it long after the performance. So, kudos to the writers, creators, and performers!

I had been putting off writing this post for a few days. Finally, I set a timer to get started. And then set another timer later to keep going.  Small and gentle goals.

Like most things, it’s the overthinking that kills my desire to create anything. Don’t think about it. Just do it.

One of the exercises for the week was to write the following on a note where you could see it daily:

Great Creator, I will take care of the quantity. You take care of the quality.

I made the following and made it the background for my computer.

I’ve found myself thinking more and more about writing. Even though I haven’t done any. Besides the morning pages, that is. And an occasional blog post.

But the inkling is there… Maybe I’ll set a timer for 15 minutes and see what happens.

© 2022 Peter Gruner