The Artist's Way: 25th Anniversary Edition

But what exactly is an artist date? An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers. You do not take anyone on this ar

Above all, learn to listen to what your artist child has to say on, and about, these joint expeditions. For example, “Oh, I hate this serious stuff,” your artist may exclaim if you persist in taking it only to grown-up places that are culturally edifying and good for it.

Boredom is just “What’s the use?” in disguise. And “What’s the use?” is fear, and fear means you are secretly in despair.

doing the work. By not asking the Great Creator’s help with our creativity, and by not seeing the Great Creator’s hand in our creativity, we could proceed to righteously ignore our creativity and never have to take the risks of fulfilling it.

It always comes back to the same necessity: go deep enough and there is a bedrock of truth, however hard.

Those who speak in spiritual terms routinely refer to God as the creator but seldom see creator as the literal term for artist. I am suggesting you take the term creator quite literally.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. PABLO PICASSO

And you shouldn’t even read them yourself for the first eight weeks or so. Just write three pages, and stick them into an envelope.

It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

for years over the fact that they have not acted on their dreams.