Back in January, a very wise friend suggested that I read (and follow) The Artist’s Way. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this book (as I was in January), it’s a twelve-step program that helps you discover and recover your inner artist. Yes, it sounds New Age. Partly because it is. But I’m from a long line of alcoholics and we like our twelve-step programs, so I was willing to give it a try.
Eight months later, I’m a printmaker. I didn’t know at the time that this is where I’d end up, but here I am. And because of TAW, I learned that we all battle our own demons when we set out to create, but that we are just supposed to push through and do anyway.
I discovered this video of a talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote “Eat, Pray, Love.” I suspect she’s done TAW, too; I can spot my fellow TAW artists now – I visit their blogs, read their interviews, listen to their talks – and they all say that showing up and doing and being open to whatever inspiration they get are the keys to their success. Which, incidentally, sounds a lot easier than it really is because just getting started can be a very scary thing.
So, to make things easier, start here and watch this video.
I really enjoyed listening to that. Thanks for sharing.