About 30 years ago, Julia Cameron published a book called The Artist’s Way. The point is to help people break through their creative blocks while following a twelve step program to creative recovery.
In other words,
How to Remain Persistent
and committed to your art.
One of her tips is
doing something fun by yourself once a week. It doesn’t have to be writing related (if you’re a writer), in fact it’s better if it isn’t. The point is just to have fun. How simple is that. Her idea is that as artists and writers we have so much output, there’s got to be a way to have some input - some sparks for creative ideas. She calls it The Artist Date.
I like it because
it gives me permission to be frivolous. Not that I need permission, like who is supervising me, but the negative inner voices (“shouldn’t you be cleaning out the freezer”) can be very powerful.
A few weeks ago,
my cousins were visiting Montreal and mentioned that a Robert Lepage show (SLAM!) was coming, and they were sorry to be missing it, but it looked good and I should go. I purposely didn’t look up anything about the show in advance because I was in the mood to be surprised, and that turned out to be a good thing because
It was about wrestling
which isn’t my normal cup of tea.
It was fun, though and
I liked going by myself, not having to compromise about which show and what time, not having to make sure we agreed on where to sit, and where to park and when to leave, and the minute the show was over I raced to my car - and was the first person out of the crowded parking lot (which was the real victory of the day).
Julia helps
me not be self-conscious at all. Of course I’m by myself - it’s an Artist Date. She gives me permission to try things I normally wouldn’t - like wrestling wtf. And permission to just sit there and enjoy - I don’t have to understand it 100%, I don’t have to analyze why wrestling and what metaphor. Just a bunch of people in colourful costumes bouncing up and down on a trampoline.
The goal
is not to come home and write something about wrestling, but rather to come home feeling refreshed and rejuvenated like you just did something amusing and agreeable.
If you
have been feeling down lately about your writing (and I’ve been noticing so many of us have) I suggest you take yourself on an Artist Date. Go do something fun. (I mean, I also went to an Auschwitz exhibit this week but that’s probably not the best example of enjoyable leisure. Maybe we’ll save that conversation for another week.)