Bliss Habits Book Club : Artist’s Way (preview post)

Welcome to Tuesdays with Chel.

“Wherever you are is always the right place. There is never a need to fix anything, to hitch up the bootstraps of the soul and start at some higher place. Start right where you are.”
– Julia Cameron

I’ve been getting a few questions about the Bliss Habits Book Club, so I thought I might take a few minutes to just talk about it.

The first book we are doing is “The Artist’s Way”, by Julia Cameron. I have read through it, but I have not *committed* to it. It’s often heralded as THE book for creative people to read, and I’ve had it on my bookshelf for several years, have participated in several reading groups for it. But I could never just “lock in” and make it work. I finally realized it was because I needed to go about it in a more methodical way.

I know that a few readers have voiced that Cameron’s approach can be super-formal and rigid. I have heard this from many people who have read the book and “followed the program”.

However, I am not rigid, and I am *not* formal. Therefore, I am hoping the Bliss habits approach to “Artist’s Way” will be more about finding what works for YOU. Meaning: If you can follow Cameron’s advice and information to a “tee”, that’s fabulous. But if you can’t, or something doesn’t sit well with you, or if you have to “adjust” the information to get it to work for you, that’s fine. I’m serious. My goal with this is that we all find things in this book that resonate with us, that influence us, that affect us, that we can make happen. It’s not good if it’s “all or nothing” and you wind up with nothing because you just can’t make “all” happen, do you know what I’m saying?

This is not a typical approach to this book- in fact, some believe that it’s of the utmost importance to follow the practices in the book EXACTLY as Cameron prescribes them. And that’s fine. But for me, I need some flexibility for anything to work. That may not be the case for you.

Regardless of how you want to approach it, I truly hope you will join in. Each week, starting from next Tuesday, October 2nd, all of us as a group will be reading one chapter per week. The only thing you need to do right now is a get a copy of the book so you can start reading with us on Tuesday.

Each week, I’ll be posting a bit of a summary of the chapter, as well as sharing some ideas and ways of practicing the different information in each chapter. I’ll try and post some questions that you can answer in the comments, on the Bliss Habist Facebook page, or as a meme on your own blog. I’m hoping you all will chime in with YOUR take on the chapter, as well as any experiences you have had with the material, the ideas, the practices, etc. We’ll be chatting here and on the Bliss habits facebook page, every single day, from the start of the bookclub until we wrap up the book.

My main goal is to do this as a community. I don’t know if the community will be a bunch of people or just me, but I am hoping that you all will feel free to post questions, ideas suggestions, discussion topics, challenges, frustrations, etc. as they arise, as often as you like. I will be tuned in. I hope you’ll join me.

Chel Micheline is a mixed-media artist, curator, writer, and avid gardener/reader/swimmer who lives in Southwest Florida with her husband and daughter. When Chel’s not making art or pondering the Bliss Habits, she’s blogging at gingerblue.com (come say hi!) or posting new things in the gingerblue etsy shop.