A late night conversation with Julia Cameron
Emma Gannon
The iconic author of The Artist's Way on anxiety, writing for guidance and her brand new book which she describes as her most "woo-woo book yet". Spoiler alert: It's brilliant.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F69a3b18f-b1c3-4735-9978-560fe06e2fa3%2Ffavicon.ico
There are only a handful of people who will entice me onto Zoom in the evening (I still have residual Zoom-fatigue from the pandemic) away from the Celebrations tin so close to Christmas (we recorded on the 22nd) and at 9pm (Julia’s timezone is in New Mexico) and I usually go to bed at 10pm. She is one of those special people who I would drop absolutely anything for, be it night or day, for a chance to speak with her. I’m excited to share our conversation, in the lead-up to the publication of her brand new book Living The Artist’s Way which launches on January 4th, the perfect New Year read. It’s gentle, friendly and full of ways we can all get better at self-compassion.

For years now, Julia Cameron has been a mentor figure to me from afar. Earlier this year, I also had the absolute honour and pleasure of writing the introduction to the UK re-release of her memoir Floor Sample. A hard-hitting beautiful memoir all about early career as a writer for Rolling Stone, and her marriage to Martin Scorsese, and her experiences with alcohol, sobriety and life in Hollywood.

Like millions of others, she changed my life with her book The Artist’s Way (first published in 1992) for which she is probably best known. She brought conversations about creativity to the mainstream and built a dedicated following of fellow artist fans including Alicia Keyes, Reese Witherspoon, Elizabeth Gilbert and Kerry Washington.

Living The Artist’s Way is an easy, comforting read. It is not as intense as her other books, it doesn’t require weeks of dedicated work. This is for people who are even more curious about where creativity ‘comes from’ and who want to access a deep well of support in every day life. This is an intimate, open and vulnerable look at Julia’s life, now aged 75, living in New Mexico and how her tools play out in the big and small moments of life. If The Artist’s Way is about the work of creativity, this new book is about life itself — the bits in between the creative ‘work’. The creative life.

Julia said during our conversation that she felt she may have been ‘hiding’ from writing this book for years — worried it might be seen as a bit ‘out there’ to be writing about guidance, writing and speaking to higher forces. In her previous books she has written about the power of walking, seeking wisdom, listening, the power of prayer and the impact of Morning Pages, but this book feels different. It is not beating around the bush. She shows you that if you ask (for help/for wisdom/for next steps), you will be guided. By whom, exactly? I suppose we’ll never know, but it's amazing what happens when we write by hand. She believes deeply that we live in a kind, benevolent, responsive Universe — and it felt warm, comforting and safe reading her book about accessing some sort of inner or outer “source” of creativity or energy or whatever we want to call it. As Albert Einstein once said: “The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” Speaking to Julia, it certainly seems a lot more enjoyable, on a day to day basis, to believe it’s friendly.