Day 56:

Shit. I think I skipped my morning page today by accident. I didn’t even think about it until right now when I was typing up my blog for this week.

The time change was good in that I got some extra sleep (even better when combined with the exhaustion from last week). But it seems to have thrown me off in other places.

I ended up meeting with a friend tonight after completing my other errands and played some board games. I need to make sure I get home with enough time to do my readings and other pre-prep for the week.

This week may be a little lacking on content since I think the only real exercises involve going over my previous morning pages and combing them for insights. Maybe I’ll share some of the findings that come up.

Counting this week there are only 3 more weeks to go before I have “finished” the program for the first time.

On the plus side I think I booked an engagement shoot today. Still need to get the contract finalized and signed, but that puts some much needed work on my calendar before the end of the year.

Week 9 Goals:

Morning Pages x7
Artist Date x1
Complete as many additional tasks as possible.

Day 59:

I bought the damn iPad Pro.

Tasks:

Read your morning pages! Do not judge the pages or yourself.
1. Take Stock: What have you been constantly complaining about? What have you procrastinated on? What blessedly have you allowed yourself to change or accept?
2. Take Heart: Don’t be thrown by black and white thinking.
3. Acknowledge: Give yourself credit for undertaking them. Give them credit for the changes and growth they have fostered.
Visualizing: Fully imagine having your goal accomplished. Spend enough time filling in the juicy details that would really make the experience wonderful for you.
1. Name your goal: I am __________
2. In the present tense describe yourself doing it at the height of your powers! This is your ideal scene.
3. Read this aloud to yourself.
4. Post this above your work area.
5. Read this aloud, daily!
Priorities: List for yourself your creative goals for the year [2019]. List for yourself your creative goals for the month. List for yourself your creative goals for the week.
Creative U-Turns:
1. Name one of your creative U-turns.
2. Name three more.
3. Name the one that just kills you.
4. Forgive yourself. Devise a list of personal affirmations to help you do better in the future.
5. Choose one creative U-turn. Retrieve it. Mend it.
6. What creative dreams are lurching toward possibility? Admit that they frighten you.

Day 63:

Blake’s Note: Honestly, I didn’t get anything done for TAW this week. Between the new iPad launch (and my subsequent article being written and picked up), work, and Erin and Preston’s wedding I have been too busy to think of anything TAW related. I think this is the first week I have completely “Failed” all of my tasks for the week.

However I do consider it a success in many ways. I was able to creatively stretch my wings and do some writing that is making its way across the internet. And I was able to shoot and deliver some fantastic wedding photos for a wonderful couple. All while managing my regular responsibilities at my day job.

Check-In:

How many days this week did you do your morning pages? Regarding your U-Turns, have you allowed yourself a shift toward compassion, at least on the page? I completed most of my morning pages, except for this morning and last Sunday (Side note, I never know whether to count Sunday as the first or last day of my TAW Week). I think I have noticed a shift in my writings, and I’ve certainly noticed a shift in my overall mood for the most part. I still don’t give myself enough time for myself. But that is something that can still be worked on.

Did you do your artist date this week? Have you kept the emphasis on fun? What did you do? How did it feel? I didn’t really get a chance for a date this week, unless you count the time spent helping set up for Erin and Preston’s wedding, and then the subsequent shooting of it. Honestly this was the most fun wedding I have ever attended or worked. Everything went off mostly without a hitch, and I was able to get some great images in the process.

Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? In a way I kinda did. I consulted an online tarot card reading site I have used for years as to whether or not I should spend the money on the new iPad. The draw I received told me of two things: 1) New career changes are coming and 2) Don’t waste your money. Both of these are funny to me considering I bought the iPad, decided it wasn’t what I wanted, wrote a review of it, and that review was chosen to be reposted on two photography blogs.

Big things are coming I guess.

Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant to your recovery? Describe them. Being noticed as an artist (even if it’s for writing about technology and not photography) felt really good. I hope that I can continue creating content that people are interested in and maybe that will lead me closer to my end goals.

Also it was great to be looked up to at the wedding for the hard work I was putting in. The compliments I am hearing about my technique and the quality of the final images makes me feel wonderful as an artist. Several people came up asking if I was doing this full time, and a friend even made a suggestion that I should band together with some of my other friends/colleagues to offer a one stop wedding package service. As much as I am not a fan of working weddings, I wouldn’t be opposed if I had the support of a good team (and the money was right).

This is going to be a long one with a lot of text and no new content from me. I’ll get back to getting some pretty pictures up and running soon. Just bear with me for a little bit since this takes some time to set up.

Introduction:

So here we are. I never thought for a minute I’d be in any position to be talking about self-help anything. Much less buckling down and following any sort of program or path. After hearing it come up on several Podcasts I listen to regularly (Shout out to Kyle from This is Rad and Anna from 12 Questions)

http://www.thisisradpodcast.com/uncategorized/self-help/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/12-questions/id1050716646?mt=2

I decided to finally break down and give it a shot.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a self help book (in case that wasn’t 100% obvious) which can best be easily described by the below Wikipedia entry:

“The book was written to help people with artistic creative recovery, which teaches techniques and exercises to assist people in gaining self-confidence in harnessing their creative talents and skills. Correlation and emphasis is used by the author to show a connection between artistic creativity and a spiritual connection with God.

The ideas in creative personal development outlined in the book, which were felt to be new at the time of the publication, are said to have become a phenomenon and spawned into many meet-ups and support groups throughout the world. The group meetings are based on a 12-week creativity course designed for people to work through and gain artistic inspiration, as outlined in the book. The program is focused on supporting relationships in removing artistic blocks and fostering confidence ”

— Wikipedia

The book provides a list of 10 Principals, 12 weeks of exercises, and on top of all two main excercises:

First, Write three freeform-longhand pages first thing upon waking up. This is used as a form of meditation and is meant to help get the creative gears turning by getting out ideas that are stuck inside. These Morning Pages are not to be shared with anyone but the person creating them during the course of the 12 weeks.

Second, Take yourself on one “artist date” per week to help “put gas in the tank”.

So if you know me at all you will likely have noticed a few glaring issues that need to be adjusted. I am in no way, shape, or form a “Godly” man, and really have no intentions to be. This direct verbiage and reference to God was something that really held me back from going through and working the steps presented.

After some googling I found a blogger named Tae Phoenix who some years ago broke down and re-wrote the 10 Principals to better focus inward instead of on the God aspect. That blog post can be found here:

https://taephoenix.com/2012/12/27/a-skeptics-guide-to-the-artists-way-core-principles/

If you are looking to try this for yourself along with me I probably also would recommend a free PDF that was created by Lianne Williams

https://liannewilliams.com/blog/my-free-the-artists-way-worksheets

I wish I had found these before spending a few hours longhand transferring Week 1’s Activities into my notebook. And who knows, I may end up printing off a copy anyway and using it anyway.

So with my notebook, and text in hand there was only one other thing that I needed. A partner.

Back when I first started talking about taking on this project, I brought it up to blog favorite Nikki Nuke’m at her Husband’s birthday party earlier this year.

Side note, aren’t they both just adorable

Being an artist (and going through some things) herself, I felt she would be a great “Battle Buddy” for me. We both decided to start the journey as soon as DragonCon was over. Which leads us pretty much up to the present. Nikki and I will be meeting together each Sunday for a check in, and in-between my plan is to share my thoughts in a roughly coherent fashion here as they come through.

I don’t plan to play-by-play each and every thought I have during this process, but hope to hit some highlights that maybe will help work through some insights on your end. It should become pretty clear as things go along. So without further ado:

Week 1 Tasks:

Complete Morning Pages (x7)
Complete Artist’s Date (x1)
Affirmations and Blurts Worksheet (read the book)
Complete at least 1 other exercise from week 1 readings

Day 0:

I spent the better part of an hour free-handing the updated Principals and Week 1’s Homework into my notebook. I already wish I had bought a bigger notebook. I have a feeling if I tried to complete every assignment that I’ll quickly run out of pages. I got a good start through on a couple of extra exercises. Looks like I’ll be completing at least 2 this week. In the future I probably shoot for 100% completion, but of course…notebook.

I took myself on my first “Artist Date”. As suggested I went over to the dollar store. Spent a few bucks on stickers, thank you cards, and a bath bomb. YOLO?

Day 1:

(I started tweeting my thoughts before I decided to actually make this a running blog post)

*“I can already tell that waking up early is going to be an issue. I was 12 minutes late getting out of the house today. In Atlanta traffic those 12 minutes put me almost 30 minutes late to work.”*

“Of course, I find a crazy-cool PDF of TAW assignments after I spend yesterday free-handing a bunch of stuff. Since I've already been spoiled that the entire process is to keep working the steps...maybe I'll use it for next time.”

I wonder how Nikki is doing. I sure hope these next 12 weeks aren’t a waste of time for either of us.

Day 2:

Man…the last few minutes of today are dragging along. OH! I have some exercises I can knock out.

Day 3:

Just found myself thinking on the drive home from work:

I’m a little ashamed that “I’ll go to the museum” came before “I’ll go to the Cat Cafe” as an artist date idea.

Day 6:

I went on a bonus artist date today, mostly because with business travel next week I don’t know how much time I’m going to have. But in doing so I found both a small art gallery just a few miles from my house AND came across the most on brand art exhibit I think I have ever been to

Ended up going to see the new Predator movie with a friend. And it likely may just be a placebo effect, but I really liked it. Unlike most movies that I go to where I pick them apart super harshly, this one actually made me laugh and I walked away feeling good about it.

The Artist's Way - Week 9

The Artist's Way - Introduction and Week 1 Update