Customer Reviews

Walking in This World

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As usual Julia Cameron has rocked my world again.
I enjoyed her book The Artists Way so much, did the full course, and
truly it changed my life. Mr SON recommended the book to me. Then I found
out my friend had taken the course too.
I have started doing the course...Walking in This World...now and I am
loving it.
I am a better person and happy to be seeing the world through different
eyes and being easier on myself. I really think Julia shows us how to
have more fun in life, it's working for me. My creative self is coming
back out of hiding.
Try it you will love it.

At first I thought my ears were "off". I had listened to Julia on "the Right to Write" and loved her voice. Then I plugged into Walking In This World and the pitch of the voice was not right. Had no idea that it was someone else reading her material. Should have checked that out before buying the product. I don't like it.

I could not get inspired by this book. I consider myself a fairly creative person, but this was just a bit too spiritual for me. I thought her anecdotes were average, and I thought the exercies were trite. If you are seriously one dimensional, I think this book might help, but if you are accustomed to keeping a journal, belong to a writing group, visit museums on your own, you will be way past this book.

I bought the "Walking in the World" CD and was very disappointed that Julia Cameron is not the narrator. I own an "Artist's Way" tape and have grown to love to listen to Julia's own soothing voice. The narrator of the "Walking" CD reads it like she is reading a storybook to a kindergarten class. It is very annoying.

For those who are new to the creative life or who need to get unblocked pronto, The Artist's Way is still the ultimate companion and guide. For those entrenched in the creative life, this mature sequel is excellent. Even those of us who seem to have creative careers can easily start spinning our wheels, getting stale, etc. That's where I was at when I started this book. I did the Artist's Way a couple of times and it was very helpful. The first sequel, The Vein of Gold, was fun to read but I didn't resonate with the exercises and examples. In Walking in this World, I feel that every chapter is a refreshing wake-up call of a different sort. Julia Cameron truly understands every nuance of the creative life. The tasks are simple, fun, but very revealing. I am mid-way through the course and already have found a renewed sense of energy and optimism, a very welcome respite during this horrible war with Iraq. The arts are and always will be important, for they define a culture. Without the arts and creative expression, we have no civilization. Thank you, Julia, for helping so many of us make this a more positive world through the creative arts.

As a professional writer and workshop leader who has lived by her words and her wit for twenty-five years, I approached this book with some degree of skepticism. (In the past, I found Cameron's books interesting, but not relevant to my concerns.)

Walking in this World, not only touched my spirit, it sparked my desire to write again after winning a book award left me termporarily burned out and off kilter.

Cameron's sections on how to overcome the internal and outside perils of success are sensitive and practical. I especially liked how she drew on examples from her own life and the lives of professional writers, musicians and artists to illustrate her points.

The most important thing I carried away from this book was the confirmation that there's nothing wrong with being versatile and multi-talented. Building a career, making a name in one genre or art form isn't the only option. If I'm called to write a novel or take up visual art, I can choose to do it and I'm not a quitter or crazy no matter what my upbringing or my agent say. I needed to hear that.

Art, music and writing schools don't teach this material. They should.

This is an excellent, matured addition to the path of the Artist's Way. I'm using it extensively and have started a Yahoo group for people who are on this path. Come join us ...It really is a nice book, and is available for a good price , even though it's still hardcover! Grab it and get started, you won't regret it. Even if you haven't done The Artis't Way yet, you can start this one.

-d

Once again Julia Cameron has written a book that will inspire and comfort anyone in pursuit of a dream, creative or not.

I say that because I know that her books are often targetted to artists, however, I find them just as useful for anyone undertaking a new endeavor, for instance, an entreprenuer would greatly appreciate what she has to say about perserverance and moving forward despite fear or obstacles.

The book is broken into weekly 'sessions' which each have a focus or theme. In each section are guided excercises meant to help you explore the idea and used in conjunction with her famous 'Morning Pages' the book can be a great service to helping one focus and get to work on accomplishing a goal.

Highly recommended.

I am loving this book. I've "done" the Artist's Way several times, and each time I feel like I want to continue the journey. Finally, along comes the sequel, and so far so good. It has the same general feel as The Artist's Way, but with the benefit of more years teaching the principles. This is my favorite Julia Cameron title since The Right to Write. She has added many new exercises, and another basic task in addition to the Morning Pages and the Artist's Date. Overall, I'm finding this book is having a profound impact on my creative life, and I'm so glad to have another 12 weeks of Artist's Way experience. Highly recommended for everyone who loved The Artist's Way, and wants to continue the journey.

First a caveat: I did not finish the book. So anyone who did and dismisses this critique may well be right to for that reason alone. Still, I have read several other Cameron books to the end, and I feel confident stating that most of her points in this book are simply reworked albeit very poetic descriptions of the ones in her books on living the writing life.

Those who have already incorporated such techniques as the Morning Pages, Artists' Dates, etc. into their life and found them to be beneficial, do not really need to read this new book, unless it is simply to enjoy Cameron's writing style, (though it's not for everybody). Those who are die hard atheists or agnostics may find her ideas about God hard to bypass in order to consider the others. Those who believe that the craft of writing is like any other craft, requiring serious effort AND innate talent in order to consistently do it well, may be insulted by Cameron's belief that virtually everyone can write well given time alone.

Anyway. Read the first chapter, and if it sounds familiar, put the book back on the shelf. If it sounds intriguing, by all means give it a try.