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aliciaking3's review against another edition
3.0
Finished the 12 week series, and I got a lot out of it. Not as compelling and strong as the first two books, but it's about the slog. The slog isn't compelling. It's necessary. Some really good habits taken away from this book.
bookfairy99's review against another edition
3.0
Having read and loved Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY, I wanted to see what else she had to say on the subject. Unfortunately, I found FINDING WATER challenging to slog through. While the lessons contained within are relevant and helpful, the book was quite repetitive. As well, the constant commentary on New York's weather patterns seemed excessive. I started skimming the beginning of each essay, knowing I was only going to miss a weather report.
I also found the tone of this book to be quite self-absorbed, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY. So much misery around not getting the response she wanted to her musicals and her novels. There was a feeling of self-pity that permeated everything, which also soured me on the book.
I made a handful of notes and used a few of Cameron's exercises to serve as prompts for some of my Morning Pages sessions. Still, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY, this will not be a book I return to again and again.
I also found the tone of this book to be quite self-absorbed, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY. So much misery around not getting the response she wanted to her musicals and her novels. There was a feeling of self-pity that permeated everything, which also soured me on the book.
I made a handful of notes and used a few of Cameron's exercises to serve as prompts for some of my Morning Pages sessions. Still, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY, this will not be a book I return to again and again.
arezooa's review against another edition
4.0
"The grace to be again—one more time—a beginner is the most useful position an artist can take."
If you're a Julia Cameron child you know. If you're not, there is no explaining it for you.
If you're a Julia Cameron child you know. If you're not, there is no explaining it for you.
ecooper99's review against another edition
3.0
Having read and loved Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY, I wanted to see what else she had to say on the subject. Unfortunately, I found FINDING WATER challenging to slog through. While the lessons contained within are relevant and helpful, the book was quite repetitive. As well, the constant commentary on New York's weather patterns seemed excessive. I started skimming the beginning of each essay, knowing I was only going to miss a weather report.
I also found the tone of this book to be quite self-absorbed, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY. So much misery around not getting the response she wanted to her musicals and her novels. There was a feeling of self-pity that permeated everything, which also soured me on the book.
I made a handful of notes and used a few of Cameron's exercises to serve as prompts for some of my Morning Pages sessions. Still, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY, this will not be a book I return to again and again.
I also found the tone of this book to be quite self-absorbed, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY. So much misery around not getting the response she wanted to her musicals and her novels. There was a feeling of self-pity that permeated everything, which also soured me on the book.
I made a handful of notes and used a few of Cameron's exercises to serve as prompts for some of my Morning Pages sessions. Still, unlike THE ARTIST'S WAY, this will not be a book I return to again and again.
sockielady's review against another edition
2.0
Several years ago, I tried to do Julia Cameron's Artist's Way program. I never got past the first week. I simply could not get into the habit of writing Morning Pages. I am a visual artist; as much as I read, writing does not come naturally to me. I would much rather make pretty pictures on (or with) paper, or sew whimsical creatures out of fabric. And so I abandoned it.
I picked up this book, which is the third in the Artist's Way series, a few years later, and it had been languishing on my shelf ever since. Finally I decided to read it. However, being the stubborn individual that I am, I decided to simply treat it as a book of essays. I did not do the exercises, I did not agonize over writing Morning Pages every day, I simply read through the essays. I must agree with some of the other reviewers that many of the essays in this book are rather depressing, but I guess that one would not need to read (or, for that matter, write) a book about perseverance if everything was going well. I know these lessons are meant to apply to artists and creative people of all types, but it really annoyed me that the visual arts were hardly ever touched upon. Cameron is a writer of fiction, non-fiction, and scripts for film, TV, and theater, and a musician as well, and these were the arts that her lessons seemed to focus upon. Visual arts generally only came up when she mentioned her sister, who is a visual artist. I guess it's an example of writing what one knows. Anyway, I'm intending now to go back to the original Artist's Way book, and read just the essays there. I hope that one has a bit more meaning for me than this one.
I picked up this book, which is the third in the Artist's Way series, a few years later, and it had been languishing on my shelf ever since. Finally I decided to read it. However, being the stubborn individual that I am, I decided to simply treat it as a book of essays. I did not do the exercises, I did not agonize over writing Morning Pages every day, I simply read through the essays. I must agree with some of the other reviewers that many of the essays in this book are rather depressing, but I guess that one would not need to read (or, for that matter, write) a book about perseverance if everything was going well. I know these lessons are meant to apply to artists and creative people of all types, but it really annoyed me that the visual arts were hardly ever touched upon. Cameron is a writer of fiction, non-fiction, and scripts for film, TV, and theater, and a musician as well, and these were the arts that her lessons seemed to focus upon. Visual arts generally only came up when she mentioned her sister, who is a visual artist. I guess it's an example of writing what one knows. Anyway, I'm intending now to go back to the original Artist's Way book, and read just the essays there. I hope that one has a bit more meaning for me than this one.
nilchance's review
4.0
Julia Cameron's core principles have some issues (for example, there's no advice for those of us who can't do daily walks due to disability or bad neighborhoods or low spoons) but her writing about writing lights a fire under me like no one else, except Natalie Goldberg.
Also, this book presents a very powerful and intimate view of someone struggling with depression.
Also, this book presents a very powerful and intimate view of someone struggling with depression.
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