Julia Cameron

Letters To A Young Artist

In Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art Julia Cameron gives advice to aspiring artists on how to deal with some of the problems they may face.

The advice is essentially to get on with doing your art. Don't let the desire to look like at artist become more important that what you actually do. When you get an idea: carry it out. Don't decide that it has to be announced to the world first. Don't dwell on the problems you are having, and above all avoid associating with people who are persistently negative about things - those late night discussions putting the world to rights won't do your work any good.

Of course you shouldn't spend all your time on your art. The letters also recommend how you should spend the rest of your time. This was one point where I found the advice rather doubtful. There seemed to be lots of other things to do - morning writing, creative walks, maybe a part time job. I began to wonder whether there would be any time left - the odd quarter of an hour might be ok for an established artist, but I felt that one who was starting out would need to devote more time to their work.

But that's really a minor quibble, and I think that the book has some very useful advice, not just to those starting out as an artist, but also to anyone who needs to make time for what they wish to do.

Amazon.com info

Hardcover 176 pages
ISBN: 1585424099
Salesrank: 1202373
Weight:0.6 lbs

Published: 2005 Tarcher

Marketplace:New from $3.61:Used from $0.01

Buy from Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 192 pages
ISBN: 1844135594
Salesrank: 466069
Weight:0.26 lbs

Published: 2005 Rider & Co

Amazon price £7.19

Marketplace:New from £2.84:Used from £0.25

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca info

Hardcover 176 pages
ISBN: 1585424099
Salesrank: 316770
Weight:0.6 lbs

Published: 2005 Tarcher

Marketplace:New from CDN$ 13.47:Used from CDN$ 3.01

Buy from Amazon.ca

Product Description
In the tradition of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, an original and inspiring work from the bestselling author of The Artist's Way. Each month, Julia Cameron receives hundreds of letters and e-mails from people around the world who have read her classic work on developing creativity, The Artist's Way, and who long to engage in further dialogue with her. This book provides Julia's thousands of admirers with just that intimacy and illumination. Written in the form of correspondence from a wise, more experienced artist to a young artist who is full of turbulent self-doubt, Letters to a Young Artist echoes the many conversations Cameron has with all of the artists whose lives she has touched with The Artist's Way. In these haunting and eloquent letters, the writer answers questions that are central to the artist's journey: How do I know that I am truly an artist? How can I find encouragement? How can I keep moving despite my fear? A rare window into the heart of the creative process, Letters to a Young Artist is an inspiredvolume from this leading authority on creativity and art.

Product Description

In the tradition of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, an original and inspiring work from the bestselling author of The Artist's Way.

Each month, Julia Cameron receives hundreds of letters and e-mails from people around the world who have read her classic work on developing creativity, The Artist's Way, and who long to engage in further dialogue with her.

This book provides Julia's thousands of admirers with just that intimacy and illumination. Written in the form of correspondence from a wise, more experienced artist to a young artist who is full of turbulent self-doubt, Letters to a Young Artist echoes the many conversations Cameron has with all of the artists whose lives she has touched with The Artist's Way.

In these haunting and eloquent letters, the writer answers questions that are central to the artist's journey: How do I know that I am truly an artist? How can I find encouragement? How can I keep moving despite my fear? A rare window into the heart of the creative process, Letters to a Young Artist is an inspiredvolume from this leading authority on creativity and art.

Encouragement *****
The advice in this book is stellar. If you are a real artist, you will recognize your own voice, doubts and desires.

Encouragement *****

The advice in this book is stellar. If you are a real artist, you will recognize your own voice, doubts and desires.

julia is still julia--i recommend her heartily ***
another distillation of the salient points of julia cameron's The Artist's Way, this is a good book for anyone who's not going to read any of the others. a primer of sorts, this rilke rip off is inspirational in it's "teachy" way...julia is still julia, and the poetry and accidental wisdom of the rilke "letters to a young poet" is far superior. still, they are two different things, books, texts and neither benefits from any confusing comparison. cameron continues, predictably, to hold up the morning pages, artist's date and weekly walk as tenants of her faith. she continues to offer insight from her personal and professional experience. there is not much that is new here--but there is plenty of support in this book for her original teaching, which continues to be supportive of artists of all kinds in a kinds in her companionable way. she supposes an actual correspondence with a penitent male artist--handling in her letters to him the issues of relationships vs. art, sex vs. art, talking about art vs. art, high art vs. making art, addiction vs. art, sobriety vs. art, slow and steady vs. indulgent moods and art making, etc. in her answers, which are all we, as readers, are privy too, she encapsulates the artist's way with a practiced expertise. as i read all things cameron, i felt a bit of a let down for the lack of new revelations. i was annoyed with the whiny artist correspondent, and found him predictably arrogant, angry, indulgent and useless. i wished she had supposed a woman art maker--or a colleague or peer. but that is where the new possibilities lie, i suppose. while tempted by the brilliance of rilke's original text, cameron strives to re-iterate her how-to knowledge in a form that disappoints. it seems a rote response to the questions one knows she's been asked a million times. it seems a surface diagnosis. it seems a skimming of the cliches of artmaking. still, i love her. i read her every word. i collect each new encapsulation of the franchise and recommend her heartily.

julia is still julia--i recommend her heartily ***

another distillation of the salient points of julia cameron's The Artist's Way, this is a good book for anyone who's not going to read any of the others. a primer of sorts, this rilke rip off is inspirational in it's "teachy" way...julia is still julia, and the poetry and accidental wisdom of the rilke "letters to a young poet" is far superior. still, they are two different things, books, texts and neither benefits from any confusing comparison.

cameron continues, predictably, to hold up the morning pages, artist's date and weekly walk as tenants of her faith. she continues to offer insight from her personal and professional experience. there is not much that is new here--but there is plenty of support in this book for her original teaching, which continues to be supportive of artists of all kinds in a kinds in her companionable way.

she supposes an actual correspondence with a penitent male artist--handling in her letters to him the issues of relationships vs. art, sex vs. art, talking about art vs. art, high art vs. making art, addiction vs. art, sobriety vs. art, slow and steady vs. indulgent moods and art making, etc. in her answers, which are all we, as readers, are privy too, she encapsulates the artist's way with a practiced expertise.

as i read all things cameron, i felt a bit of a let down for the lack of new revelations. i was annoyed with the whiny artist correspondent, and found him predictably arrogant, angry, indulgent and useless. i wished she had supposed a woman art maker--or a colleague or peer. but that is where the new possibilities lie, i suppose.

while tempted by the brilliance of rilke's original text, cameron strives to re-iterate her how-to knowledge in a form that disappoints. it seems a rote response to the questions one knows she's been asked a million times. it seems a surface diagnosis. it seems a skimming of the cliches of artmaking.

still, i love her. i read her every word. i collect each new encapsulation of the franchise and recommend her heartily.

Letters Best Left Unwritten **
I can hardly see the author (or her letter-writing character), perched on so high a post, talking down to the lowly young artist. "Letters to a Young Artist" may serve well to discourage if not batter the fledgling artist before he or she has even had a chance to find their own voice and style. Those less fledgling may simply toss it with some degree of disgust at the arrogance and cliche treatment of the artistic process. It's not so much that there isn't the occasional grain of truth in the advice given, as that the occasional grain is lost in its tone and cavalier treatment. This collection of letters is too obviously constructed for a book and is not an authentic exchange with an authentic questioner. Indeed, author Julia Cameron makes it clear these letters are a hodge podge of those she says she receives from fans, a conglomerate of questions and wonderings, seeking guidance and inspiration. "Dear X" is the salutation heading up this collection of fabricated letters. That alone rather puts one off as lacking in authenticity (or semblence of), abundant only in added chill. How much better to give a letter writer a name, a voice, a persona that would come alive for the book reader. More often than not, the letters begin with a weakly disguised "you write that..." as segue for the missing letter in the exchange. It would have been far more fascinating to have been able to read both sides to this conversation. Cameron's style (she takes on the voice of an elderly male writer, which in itself lacks authenticity and leaves me wondering - why?) is brash and bullying. Her advice, what there is of it, is so obvious that it offers little value. Mostly, it reads like one long brag perhaps constructed only of hot air (only the dissatisfied are bullies?). Here and there, inexplicably interspersed with literary advice, is advice for the lovelorn. Again, why? This effort pales in comparison to similar efforts to offer beginning writers a hand up, done brilliantly, and I suggest those searching for such will find much more satisfaction, advice, and encouragement in Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life," Rainer Marie Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet," Joyce Carol Oates' "The Faith of a Writer," Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," Stephen King's "On Writing," or a long list of others.

Letters Best Left Unwritten **

I can hardly see the author (or her letter-writing character), perched on so high a post, talking down to the lowly young artist. "Letters to a Young Artist" may serve well to discourage if not batter the fledgling artist before he or she has even had a chance to find their own voice and style. Those less fledgling may simply toss it with some degree of disgust at the arrogance and cliche treatment of the artistic process. It's not so much that there isn't the occasional grain of truth in the advice given, as that the occasional grain is lost in its tone and cavalier treatment.

This collection of letters is too obviously constructed for a book and is not an authentic exchange with an authentic questioner. Indeed, author Julia Cameron makes it clear these letters are a hodge podge of those she says she receives from fans, a conglomerate of questions and wonderings, seeking guidance and inspiration.

"Dear X" is the salutation heading up this collection of fabricated letters. That alone rather puts one off as lacking in authenticity (or semblence of), abundant only in added chill. How much better to give a letter writer a name, a voice, a persona that would come alive for the book reader. More often than not, the letters begin with a weakly disguised "you write that..." as segue for the missing letter in the exchange. It would have been far more fascinating to have been able to read both sides to this conversation.

Cameron's style (she takes on the voice of an elderly male writer, which in itself lacks authenticity and leaves me wondering - why?) is brash and bullying. Her advice, what there is of it, is so obvious that it offers little value. Mostly, it reads like one long brag perhaps constructed only of hot air (only the dissatisfied are bullies?). Here and there, inexplicably interspersed with literary advice, is advice for the lovelorn. Again, why?

This effort pales in comparison to similar efforts to offer beginning writers a hand up, done brilliantly, and I suggest those searching for such will find much more satisfaction, advice, and encouragement in Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life," Rainer Marie Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet," Joyce Carol Oates' "The Faith of a Writer," Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," Stephen King's "On Writing," or a long list of others.

Superb In It's Simplicity ****
This little book is wonderful. It's tone isn't especially coddling (though if you are familiar with the Author's work, that should be no surprise), though it is plenty gentle, and actually quite replete with encouragement. It is the perfect summarization of what Cameron has presented us with over the years, and an excellent reminder that our climb up one hill inevitably brings us to the foot of another, that the reward for living our truth is indeed in the journey itself. A fantastic treat.

Superb In It's Simplicity ****

This little book is wonderful. It's tone isn't especially coddling (though if you are familiar with the Author's work, that should be no surprise), though it is plenty gentle, and actually quite replete with encouragement. It is the perfect summarization of what Cameron has presented us with over the years, and an excellent reminder that our climb up one hill inevitably brings us to the foot of another, that the reward for living our truth is indeed in the journey itself. A fantastic treat.

Terrible *
This writer (I'd never even heard of her) belittles and demoralizes her imaginary correspondant to the point that any useful or inspiring energy is lost (if it's there at all, it's hard to tell). I pray no actual student of writing or art ever has this woman as a teacher. Cameron is interested in Cameron, asserting her aggressive will, shoving her hideous personality down the reader's throat. She sounds like one of these barking dogs from a cable news debate.

Terrible *

This writer (I'd never even heard of her) belittles and demoralizes her imaginary correspondant to the point that any useful or inspiring energy is lost (if it's there at all, it's hard to tell). I pray no actual student of writing or art ever has this woman as a teacher. Cameron is interested in Cameron, asserting her aggressive will, shoving her hideous personality down the reader's throat. She sounds like one of these barking dogs from a cable news debate.