Writing Tips and Quips From Julia Cameron

These writing quips and tips from Julia Cameron are about avoiding writing, creating, producing, or otherwise evolving into the artist you’re meant to be.

“Art is not about thinking something up,” said Cameron “It is the opposite – getting something down.”

She wrote this funky little book called How to Avoid Making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy). It’s a quick read, with drawings that illustrate her point that there are millions of things we could be doing instead of pursuing our writing goals or freelance career….or being a successful writer.

Click How to Avoid Making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy) for more information, and read on for Cameron’s writing quips and tips…

“I have learned, as a rule of thumb,” said Cameron, “never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.”

Julia Cameron’s Writing Quips and Tips

These are suggestions of what NOT to do if you want to be a freelancer or novelist, from her quirky book. Cameron’s quips double as great writing advice…and you may see yourself in her words.

• “Write long emails to your friends, instead of writing your novel.”
• “Focus on how much is left, not how much is done.”
• “Compare your work to the masterworks of the great masters.”
• “Surround yourself with jealous, blocked, negative companions.”
• “Invite houseguests for an extended stay.”
• “Rather than make art, read about art.”
• “Answer the phone every time it rings.”
• “Let the fear of freelance health care costs drive you back to corporate life.”

Writing tip: Putting your writing ahead of everything else is the only way you’ll be  truly successful writer (depending, of course, on your definition of “successful writer”). I believe in balancing work with friends, family, playing, responsibilities, and breathing fresh air – but I also know that the only way to succeed as a freelance writer, novelist, poet – whatever – is to prioritize.

For me, prioritizing means not talking to friends during my working hours and forcing myself to write even when I’m bored or tired or bloated. Prioritizing means learning about how to be a better writer, and actually applying what I’ve learned to my work. Prioritizing means digging in with both heels, and knowing that I’m in control of my writing career. It doesn’t control me; I control it.

To be successful writers, we need to figure out what prioritizing means, and dig in. Soon it’ll become natural to avoid those jealous blocked companions in Cameron’s quips, and stop surfing Facebook or news sites or refdesk.com. 

Soon, you’ll be energized by your progress. And thus begins your upward spiral….

“What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do,” said Julia Cameron. “When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.”

What’s your best writing quip or tip for success? I think mine would be to create a hunger for writing. If you have to write to pay the bills or save up for a vacation, then you’ll be more likely to reach your writing goals! You don’t necessarily need to earn money to reward yourself — you can write enough words to buy you the freedom to take trips or indulge in expensive coffees (eg, 7,000 words towards your novel counts as a special dinner out).

Category: Books, Non-Fiction Writing, The Writer's Life