My Introduction to Julia Cameron at Barnes and Noble

Morning pages. Morning pages are an activity I have done in the form of blogging in the morning, journaling, or scrapbooking while at FIT. To Julia Cameron, and the rest of the generations of Artist's Way enthusiasts, these are an integral part of releasing creative energy, or helping maintain a balance in the day. Perhaps in the way that Martha Stewart drinks a glass of hot lemon water on her way into New York every day (just learned this during a New York Times in-flight interview with her on Jet Blue) to cleanse and refreshen, these people have been purging their minds to make room for whispers of the next thoughts.

I was new to writer and thinker, Julia Cameron, until I went to listen to her for the Ladies Who Launch Speaker Series, which was held at Barnes and Noble at Lincoln Center. And what a great spot to host the event - surrounded by inspirational letters, book covers, stickers, scrapbooks, pens, wrapping paper - a paper lover's delight.

Listening to Julia Cameron was so peaceful. Her life has contained so much, and yet she has led it simply - by listening to her voice, her gut. She was there to promote her new book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size, which we all got copies of, each of which she signed on the spot. While walking (one of her most recommended activities to create sparks of forward motion), she had the most startling revelation: that people in her Artist's Way classes typically lost weight if they were overweight. They looked fresher and more healthy at the end of the class. She attributed this to writing, and to how Morning Pages purges people of clogging thoughts. In fact, after the event, my friend told me that in fact her Morning Pages led her to divorce her husband. When I leave a job I don't like, I have been known to go through a transformation. Twice this has happened, where I leave a terrible job, see my old co-workers, and I look like I've been on vacation. Now that I work for myself, I wonder what I look like... ;)

While she was signing my book, I confessed that I had not heard of her, and that I was so glad to finally be exposed. She just inspires truth. I couldn't not say it. Not a flicker of surprise or delight at a new reader passed through her eyes. She went to the heart of the matter, telling me that this book would help, but that The Artist's Way was the best place to start my teachings. I cannot wait to read her. I am so lucky to have started reading a classic writer in my own time.