I officially completed The Artist's Way. At least...I think. If you're unfamilia
By Emilyhuffer · October 15, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
I officially completed The Artist's Way. At least...I think.
If you're unfamiliar, The Artist's Way is a 12-week course written by Julia Cameron to help unlock and foster your creativity. Each week you complete these four main items:
1️⃣ Morning pages (daily)
3 pages each morning. No prompts, just a stream of consciousness to help unblock your creativity for the day
2️⃣ A solo artist date (weekly)
This can be anything from going to a museum, trying a new hobby, spending a morning writing your first substack article, etc., but the whole point is to have intentional time doing something for YOU.
3️⃣ Weekly chapter
Each week you read a new chapter within the book that is titled “recovering a sense of ____.”
4️⃣ Weekly tasks
At the end of each chapter, there are a number of tasks to complete that mainly involve additional writing like “make a list of 20 things you enjoy” and digging deeper into some larger issues.
It took me years to commit to the 12-week course because the morning pages are essentially half of the journey, but I couldn't ever convince myself to wake up 30 minutes earlier to jot down my thoughts before hopping in the pool for my morning workout.
When my work-life balance started to take a drastic turn, I gave myself permission to move the morning pages to "afternoon pages" so that they could serve as a buffer between shutting off my work brain and help me transition to my "life" brain.
And guess what y'all, it worked 💡
I went on my artists dates, tried new mediums, spent time with myself, and explored places in Phoenix I have never been. Sure, there are many pros and cons to the course (probably the biggest being that this book was written in 1992), but it was worth my time.
HOWEVER, part of me wonders if I *really* completed it because I skipped some tasks, missed a couple days of journaling, and completely shifted the morning pages. But it's what I needed in my life at the time, and I stand by that decision.
No, I don't think you need to be an "artist" to complete the course. But I do think you need an idea of what "art" is for you. Is it starting that new account? Going all in on content creation? Figuring out how you want to market yourself? Or maybe it truly is picking up a paint brush more often.
Regardless if I completed it by the books, I'm proud that I gave myself permission to adapt it in a way that was meaningful to me.
If you've done the course yourself, would loveeee to hear about it! More thoughts on it in my Substack article which I'll link below 🫶