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Julia Cameron and “The Artist’s Way”
By Steven Fales | June 30, 2010
I first met Julia Cameron after a matinee of Confessions of a Mormon Boy during the Off-Broadway run at the SoHo Playhouse. I greet the audience after every show so it’s usually pretty easy to meet people unless they dart right out of the theatre during the curtain call. Julia was one of the last to leave. She had a small entourage with her. Apparently she went to college with my director Jack Hofsiss, so she was lingering a bit more than usual. When I finally met her, I was struck by her piercing blue eyes and she was very complimentary. But not overly so. Her crystal-clear, deep-blue, bright eyes seemed to say, “This is good. But there is more in store for you.”
I had bought a copy of The Artist’s Way a long time ago. But I dismissed it as something that really f*cked up artists needed. I didn’t realize it was for me! As I look back at Confessions of a Mormon Boy, I think it was also a call for help to those who might understand what I’d been through, but also the perils of what could still lie ahead! Julia seemed to understand what I was trying to do. And where I wanted to go. Beyond glowing reviews. Past scathing reviews. She seemed to get the real me. And the ups and downs of the creative journey that lied ahead once the achievement du jour was over.
About a year later, through some other friends, Julia and I started becoming phone-patched. With almost daily phone chats, she encouraged me to go deeper and deeper into cleaning up my life so that my art and my life would grow. I remember calling her from L.A. to read the L.A. Times Review — Critic’s Pick, and she said, “Hot Dog!” The carrot she had dangled, “You can have a body of work” has also started to come to pass.
She has shared so many things with me that are too personal right now to share. Things I needed to hear when dramatic things happened or didn’t happen. When things went well or when things bombed in my creative or personal life, she has been there for me. It’s still hard to believe it when she says, “It’s good to hear your voice.” I have had cherished conversations, meetings, and have attended some wonderful parties at her home. I even got to do a reading of Missionary Position in her apartment in New York.
But above all the things I’ve gained from her, including friendship, is an increased sense of what I can become as I put aside the binging on sex and drugs, and put my faith in a Higher Power. I hope my kids appreciate meeting her last summer. Because who their daddy is becoming is a result of the compassion and service of a woman who was able to pierce through my fabulousness and help me know that I am neither disposable nor expendable. She and her family have become my adopted artistic/creative family.
So this is my plug to go buy The Artist’s Way. I have been doing Morning Pages (or MORMON PAGES!) for over three years now. It is transforming my life. Thank you, Julia. Much love.
Topics: Steven Fales | No Comments »