Write for Life: Creative Tools for Every Writer

With the 1992 publication of The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron began a movement to help people of all stripes tap into their creative vein. A writer since age 18, she generously shares more than 50 years of writing experience in Write for Life. She takes readers through a six-week writing project, with an abundance of accessible tools: "Consider it a companion on your journey from conception to completion."

Loyal followers will recognize some of Cameron's foundational centerpieces--Morning Pages and the Artist's Date--as well as a few others, such as "media deprivation" (updated from "reading deprivation" in The Artist's Way) and affirmations, tools to fill the well with words and ideas, and to get past the critic in one's head (she names hers Nigel). Here Cameron points out that, just as three pages a day clears the mind with Morning Pages, so do three daily pages on a writing project get the job done. "Easy does it," she coaxes. Steady writers will have 126 pages (3 pages x 7 days x 6 weeks) by book's end, and be well on their way. "Grabbing Time," another useful tool, acknowledges that ideas often come on the fly; it battles procrastination and perfectionism by saying just "find twenty minutes." Week six discusses editing and polishing the draft, dividing it into thirds, and addressing the book's structure--then trusting that you will sense when it's complete ("Knowing when your draft is done calls for intuition").

"It is my hope that you will look back to the essays in this handbook as you need them going forward, using this book as a support kit to write for life." Cameron offers plenty of tools for a lifelong writing practice. --Jennifer M. Brown, senior editor, Shelf Awareness

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