Back in 2002 when drifting in Kunming (oh, how great it was to escape the industrial complex of Western Europe) I met a young woman in LanBaiHong Cafe (where many foreign seekers were hanging out then) who had a book with her that caught my attention. It was Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I stroke up a conversation an learned about the objectives and methodology of that book: a 12 weeks course of discovering your creative self through different routine exercises like long hand writing or solo dates with this yet unknown part of yourself.
I intuitively knew that I had struck gold and asked Alexandra for a copy. Purchasing that book on amazon and delivering it to China was then and now a rather futile undertaking, so Alexandra gave me her copy to create a duplicate in a 印刷店， one of those street level printing shops, where entire libraries were recreated overnight. I still remember that I got those clips which were typically used by Chinese students to organize their lecture papers back then and started to work myself into this encounter with my creative self.
Back then I humbly taught English and German at a Kunming college, but had the luxury of lots of time for myself. I would go two our three times a week for two hour or longer runs into the mountains around still smallish Kunming, contemplating the red soil landscape and taking breaks deciphering the characters on wild gravestones. At the age of 26 I was still uncertain of what I should do with my life. Wang Shuo's novels made me consider becoming a professional translator of modern Chinese literature, but those things seemed to be too far off for somebody from a proletarian background like me.
The Artist's Way gave me confidence and practice to turn myself into a wordsmith. I have never translated a Chinese book. I have never written one myself. But I have found deep joy and purpose in writing long essays on different subjects. This blog and two others are the result of that encounter with Julia Cameron's work. More than 20 years later, with my own children already growing wings, I feel its once more time to dig for gold (and escape the Western industrial thread mill).
Julia has released two more books which are geared towards people of other age groups, well age might not be the most important factor, it is more about the outlook that you have on life and which of course is mostly connected to age. While The Artist's Way could work for people of any age, whether fresh out of university or high school, or in between jobs, The Artist's Way for Parents is clearly for those of us who have taken on the responsibility of raising the next generation of our species.
Then there is another tomb titled It's never too late to begin again, which is the artist's way for people who have passed their early adulthood and are mature adults or elders at some crossroad between giving up and starting over. I am not there yet, but I have recommended that book as personal coach to business executives who are on their way out of the corporate rat race and afraid of falling into a void.
Whatever title it is that you choose, it indeed is never to late to begin again.
I intuitively knew that I had struck gold and asked Alexandra for a copy. Purchasing that book on amazon and delivering it to China was then and now a rather futile undertaking, so Alexandra gave me her copy to create a duplicate in a 印刷店， one of those street level printing shops, where entire libraries were recreated overnight. I still remember that I got those clips which were typically used by Chinese students to organize their lecture papers back then and started to work myself into this encounter with my creative self.
Back then I humbly taught English and German at a Kunming college, but had the luxury of lots of time for myself. I would go two our three times a week for two hour or longer runs into the mountains around still smallish Kunming, contemplating the red soil landscape and taking breaks deciphering the characters on wild gravestones. At the age of 26 I was still uncertain of what I should do with my life. Wang Shuo's novels made me consider becoming a professional translator of modern Chinese literature, but those things seemed to be too far off for somebody from a proletarian background like me.
The Artist's Way gave me confidence and practice to turn myself into a wordsmith. I have never translated a Chinese book. I have never written one myself. But I have found deep joy and purpose in writing long essays on different subjects. This blog and two others are the result of that encounter with Julia Cameron's work. More than 20 years later, with my own children already growing wings, I feel its once more time to dig for gold (and escape the Western industrial thread mill).
Julia has released two more books which are geared towards people of other age groups, well age might not be the most important factor, it is more about the outlook that you have on life and which of course is mostly connected to age. While The Artist's Way could work for people of any age, whether fresh out of university or high school, or in between jobs, The Artist's Way for Parents is clearly for those of us who have taken on the responsibility of raising the next generation of our species.
Then there is another tomb titled It's never too late to begin again, which is the artist's way for people who have passed their early adulthood and are mature adults or elders at some crossroad between giving up and starting over. I am not there yet, but I have recommended that book as personal coach to business executives who are on their way out of the corporate rat race and afraid of falling into a void.
Whatever title it is that you choose, it indeed is never to late to begin again.