The Artist’s Way Challenge

Are you an artist who has lost all your creative mojo? Do you wake your muse up to ask her a question and she kicks you in the head and runs away laughing hysterically? Do you want to write more than anything, but just cannot get past that block?

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a book that has helped thousands of artists fill their empty creative wells and get back on track.

For 12 weeks, beginning September 12, 2011 the Book-in-a-Week (BIW) community will be hosting an Artist’s Way Challenge for its BIW members. Guest author, Lori Soard will work through The Artist’s Way with participants and provide additional tips and techniques that will help you get past your blocks. Tell your muse you are not going to take her abuse anymore.

Duration: 12 weeks, from September 12 to December 6, 2011.

Cost: It is free to BIW members. If you are not a BIW member please see the join page to see how to become one.

Recommended Tools: The Artist’s Way book (If you cannot purchase check your local library. You can take the course without the book, but you will not get the full benefit.), a 8 1/2″ x 11″ notebook, and a good pen.

The Artist’s Way Challenge Course Outline: Below is a little about what participants will study each week. The titles do not correspond to the titles in Cameron’s book, but the concepts will tie in perfectly.

• Week 1: Beginning Elements — This week we will talk about the basic tools we will be using for the next twelve weeks, creativity steals and how to recover your creative safety.
• Week 2: Who Am I Really? — Begin to discover yourself as an artist (yes writers are artist’s too). What are crazymakers? Learn how to handle them.
• Week 3: Gain Power as a Creative — Learn how to deal with things like shame, anger, criticism from self and others. We will also discuss synchronicity.
• Week 4: Dig Up Buried Dreams — If there are dreams you have set aside, we will be looking at those. We will talk about things that you may need to change to be successful as a writer and you will face one of the biggest challenges of the course, reading deprivation.
• Week 5: Possibilities — Accepting where we are led even if it is unexpected. Trusting the creative process. Taking the time an artist needs to withdraw from the rest of the world and refill the creative well.
• Week 6: The Root of All Evil is Not Money — This week we will look at abundance and if our attitudes are preventing it in our lives. This is a tough week, but well worth the effort.
• Week 7: Connection — Instead of worrying about what others have or how they are better, this week is about focusing on our strengths. This week explores whether we need to be absolutely perfect to be effective and what your goal is as a writer. Do you want to reach people with a message? Make money? We will look at all of this.
• Week 8: Creative Muscle — This week we will look at becoming stronger than ever. We will talk about what happens when things do not go your way. What if you are blocked, how do you keep going, etc.
• Week 9: Life’s Little U-Turns — Learn how to overcome fear and gain enthusiasm in all you do. Who are you really working for? More work on overcoming writing blocks and how to handle life’s u-turns.
• Week 10: The Writer’s Bubble — This week we are going to look at how to protect yourself as a writer. There is a balance to everything. How do you handle writing droughts? How do you handle fame? What about the competition out there?
• Week 11: No Steps Back — This week we focus on how to continue forward even after the 12 weeks are over. How do we continue to improve creatively?
• Week 12: Renewal — This final week, we focus on avoiding last-minute sabotage of ourselves as artists. We will talk about where creativity comes from and learning to trust the process. Although this is the final formal week of lectures, we will meet one more week for wrap-up and open discussion. The 13th week will be more of a gathering/discussion where everyone can share what they have gained from the course and thoughts they have.

A Little About Lori Soard: Lori has been writing professionally for about sixteen years, although she has always been a writer. She has a Ph.D. in Journalism and Creative Writing. She helped found and served as the first president of From the Heart, co-founded World Romance Writers, and served on the national board of Romance Writers of America. She has run promotional sites for authors for many years, but now only does a little web design work on the side for a handful of authors. She teaches both adults (college correspondence courses) and high school students about writing, American Literature, British Literature, and language arts. Now that her girls are both teenagers, she is working as a full-time writer and editor.

Lori Soard’s latest book is Dear Viking, available from Amber Quill Press and there is a new book coming out next spring. She has sold first foreign rights. Finding Ms. Right will come out in Japanese sometime next year and may be turned into a serial manga comic as well.

On a personal level, she has two beautiful daughters (Caitlin–17; and Hailey–14) and lives in southern Indiana. She loves to read just about anything but romance has always been her favorite. She is tough as nails on the outside, but on the inside she is a marshmallow. You can learn more about Lori Soard at her official website.

Signing Up for the Artist’s Way Challenge: Please bear in mind that this program requires active participation both online and independently. The full session will run about 13 weeks with wrap up. It will run on an Eastern Standard Time line but because each session is over a week can include other timelines. There is already a private space set up for The Artist’s Way challenge in the BIW community under the challenge area called “Morning Pages”. If you are a BIW member and are interested in participating email me and let me know or use the contact page in the header above and I will add you to the Morning Pages challenge area. No one will be added after the September 12th start date so express your interest early. If you are not a BIW member please consider joining by visiting the BIW join page.