Marriage proposals, quitting jobs and ecstatic dancing
What happens when you actually finish The Artist's Way - want to join us?
I first heard about The Artist’s Way when I was 21. I had just finished university and had gone to Italy to stay with a friend who was studying there. As I tend to do when I go away for a week, I ended up staying two months, working in a hostel in Rome.
I loved working in the hostel. The people you meet from around the world… the nights out with total strangers and the instant acceptance that anyone could be a close friend for 24 hours or the rest of your life… and when you are 21 and abroad, 24 hours is the rest of your life.
I met a man who left our place every morning spray painted in gold head to toe. He was one of those human statues that stood outside the Colosseum. He was travelling the world doing it and making a small fortune but he reckoned he needed to. The gold spray cost a bomb. I think he was from Arkansas.
I met another guy who was in Rome for just one night before flying back to Australia. We ended up walking around the city all night and we kissed on the steps of a church as the sun rose. One of the most romantic moments of my life – until a nun wearing Nike trainers appeared and my inner Catholic schoolgirl put a stop to it.
At that point Spider, who owned the hostel, had helped me set up my first Yahoo email address. I gave it to the Australian on a piece of paper but realised afterwards I’d written down the wrong address. Back then – 1999 – emails were still alien to me. I didn’t have a mobile phone.
After the Australian left, I checked in a serious Canadian who had quit a big corporate job to play the saxophone around Europe. He told me a book called The Artist’s Way had made him do it. I had no idea what he was talking about or why a book would make you quit a job.
👉 [We start a new Artist’s Way group on 16 September – all the details and booking here.]
I came home to London at 22, got a job for a fashion company where a gross boss would comment on my bum while walking up behind me on the stairs. I left that for a job in a headhunting company where a rich American ran the show. She was an amazing networker apparently but she wouldn’t talk to any of her staff – instead she would leave us handwritten notes on our desk, alerting us to what we had done wrong and right.
Fortunately her PA, a glorious woman, took a shine to me and got me out of there, via a job at a big PR company on their graduate scheme. It was a good job and I hated it. Around that time I read Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. I felt the fear and quit anyway.
I got my first newspaper job. A friend of a friend was working at the Femail section of the Daily Mail and I kept calling until they let me come in and make teas. Two weeks later they offered me a job. I was 24 and working for a national newspaper.
Someone gave me a copy of The Artist’s Way around this point. I didn’t like it. There was talk of God and creativity and lots of inspirational quotes in the margin. Urgh. I was too tough for all that. I had working and drinking to do. Ladders to climb!
But I kept the book. It moved with me through several flats, along with my growing stash of self-help books, which I would hide under my bed. The ladder climbing business wasn’t making me so happy.
Then, at some point in my late twenties I read it cover to cover. By then I’d burnt out, been diagnosed with depression and had quit my newspaper job. It felt a bit woo and I didn’t love the God talk, but it was very comforting.
MORNING PAGES
One of the main exercises Cameron recommends is Morning Pages – three A4 pages, first thing each morning, stream of consciousness. She calls them the “trail we follow into our interior.”
Until then I’d only written professionally – about lipsticks, fashion and then more serious health stories. My writing was always to get information across and ideally to make a self-deprecating joke or two. It was not about me. I had not written in a diary since I was a teenager.
But I started writing in the mornings and I was amazed by how much there was that wanted to be said, how my pen kept going and going. I was quite scared and ashamed of some of the dark stuff that was appearing, but it felt good to get it out.
That was the beginning of the kind of writing I do now — the stream-of-consciousness, “what’s it all about” writing that led to my two books, a TED talk, and now a TV script.
12 WEEK PROGRAMME
I never did the full 12-week programme until I led a group and about fifteen of us did it together. The changes in people week on week were amazing to witness.
On our last course Fiona found herself writing “Ask him” in her Morning Pages, and realised she wanted to propose to her boyfriend. She did. He said yes. She also quit her government job and retrained as a yoga teacher. Sandy started the book she wanted to write and got 20,000 words in. Michelle found herself at ecstatic dance (!).
👉 [Join the next group here – we start 16 September.]
THE ARTIST DATE
She took to The Artist Date part of the book with gusto - every week reporting back from whatever new thing she’d done that week: outdoor swimming, art classes, something called pickleball.
The Artist Date is a once-weekly solo outing to do something that enchants or interests you. It can be as simple as visiting a pet shop, a fabric department, or an art gallery.
It’s about fun, joy, and play, filling up your creative well. Weirdly, it’s the hardest bit for many people (me included). I did my Morning Pages religiously but often skipped the Artist Date. This time I’m going to go for it.
Cameron says: “We understand working on our creativity. We don’t realise that the phrase ‘the play of ideas’ is actually a prescription: play, and you will get ideas.”
Come do The Artist’s Way with me
For years The Artist’s Way sat on my shelf unfinished. It was only when I did it in a group that I made it to the end and I got so much from it. So now I’m starting a new group, and I’d love you to be part of it.
We start on Tuesday 16 September and will have 12 weekly zooms from 7-8.30pm.
👉Find all the details and book here.
Clarissa, who joined last year, said:
*“Before I write anything else... I want to make a point that maybe a book called ‘Artist’s Way’ might put some people off — you may be thinking ‘Oh this isn’t for me... I’m not an artist!’ I think absolutely anyone can benefit from the wisdom in this book. It should, in my opinion, just be called ‘All People’s Way’ (hmmm... maybe not!).
As a self-development book enthusiast, The Artist’s Way sat on my shelf for years. I’d heard Liz Gilbert credit it with writing Eat Pray Love, but I never got past the first couple of chapters. I failed at the first hurdle of actually doing it.
When I saw Marianne was running a group, I signed up. Working in a group was invaluable — I needed the accountability to stick to the routine (which is challenging at times) and the encouragement of others to reflect each week. Marianne couldn’t have been a more kind, gentle and non-judgmental facilitator, openly sharing her journey alongside us.
Morning Pages have since become the most incredible tool, helping me in everything from navigating family bust-ups to finding direction with my business. I’m honestly tempted to do the course again. It is the single most powerful ‘self help’ book I’ve read — so packed with insights that you could finish it and start again immediately, still discovering more about yourself.”*
Click here for more testimonials.
Many people start The Artist’s Way and give up around week three. Doing it in a group is game-changing. We cheer each other on, share our irritations, and ultimately discover that what we struggle with, others do too. The connections last for years.
DO I NEED TO BE AN ARTIST?
No, you don’t need to be an ‘Artist’, or even want to be. This is for all humans who are curious about themselves and creativity.
As entrepreneur and podcaster Tim Ferris puts it, Morning Pages are: “The most cost-effective therapy I’ve ever found.”
Oliver Burkeman, author of Meditation for Mortals says: “Of all the self-help tools I’ve tested through the years, one has proved more enduring than the rest: Morning Pages.”
That said, if you know there is creative in you wanting to come out, this is what some cool people have said about the process:
“Without The Artist’s Way, there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love.” — Elizabeth Gilbert
“For those who will use it, it is a valuable tool for getting in touch with their own creativity.” — Martin Scorsese
“The Artist’s Way is great… the moment I did that, that’s when [the music] started to flow.” — Ed O’Brien (Radiohead)
OVER THE 12 WEEKS YOU WILL GET
Clarity on who you are and what you actually want – The stuff that turns up in Morning Pages can be really surprising. They often become the most honest conversation you have each day, a way of getting in touch with the deepest part of you.
Momentum in your writing – Morning Pages aren’t just therapy on the page; they also loosen you up creatively. They get you past perfectionism and into the habit of putting words down. Many people find they become the jumping-off point for articles, books, poems, or ideas they didn’t even know they had.
The courage to make changes you've been putting off for years - Julia reckons that when you find yourself moaning about the same stuff day after day in your Morning Pages, you get so fed up you finally do something.
Fun! When we do it right The Artist’s Way is about fun and play and lightening the fuck up!
A supportive community of lovely people who are also writing and playing and lightening the fuck up!
THIS IS FOR YOU IF
You feel stuck and don’t know what’s next
You want to write but don’t know to start
You want more creativity and joy in your life
💫 The details:
12 x weekly live Zooms (90 minutes each)
Starts Tuesday 16 September 2025 7-8.30pm until 2 December 2025
Safe, supportive, non-judgemental space (share as much or as little as you like)
Guided step by step through the course
💷 The investment:
Early Bird (until 9 September): £350
Standard: £395
Premium: £495 – includes a private 45-min 1:1 check-in with me during the course
👉 You can find all the details and reserve your spot here.
A note on price
In the past I ran these workshops on a ‘pay what you can’ basis. That was wonderful but not sustainable. This time I’m charging properly so I can give the course my full energy and run it in a way that lasts. A few reduced-price places are available – please email me.
From money to God…
So Julia mentions God quite a lot in the book and it puts people off. It put me off at first but I got used to it and now even like it. Julia Cameron writes a lot about God but it is not the kind of religious God many of us grew up with. It’s a kind of Higher Power, Nature, Life Force idea. To quote Julia: “I learned to turn my creativity over to the only god I could believe in, the god of creativity, the life force Dylan Thomas called “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” This is not the God who will banish you to hell if you don’t get down on your knees and pray. Unless of course that’s your kind of thing, in which case go for it…
👉 [Join the next group here – we start 16 September.]
And this is me. Thank you very much Teri Pengilley for the picture. It was taken for an article I wrote for the inews.co.uk. Her daughter Nyssa came as her assistant. ‘You look beautiful!’ she said when I smiled. Then, when I put a blazer on: ‘You look like a real writer! Professional!’ She is nine. And a STAR.
I’ve yet to find something more impactful on my creativity, outlook, general life than The Artist’s Way. And I think I’m in the minority of people who find Artist Dates a bit like Pringles — once I pop I really can’t stop! Last time I did it I also used a star sticker system in my notebook: I would put one on the front page of my notebook every time I did one — and going to Smiths to choose some also doubled as an artist date (they don’t have to be complicated!) Highly recommend TAW to anyone and everyone (even if you don’t finish it, which I’ve only done one out of four times) it can be life altering.
Ah yes, the Morning Pages. A young friend in the desert told me about that recently. Ps love your Rome hostal past!