Stop trying to be a great writer

This weekend I read Julia Cameron’s memoir, Floor Sample. 

If you don’t recognize the name at first glance, Julia Cameron is the author of The Artist’s Way and the Morning Pages technique. She is probably the most famous creativity teacher in the world. 

I was interested in how she got to be the guru she is today and has been for 30+ years.

The Amazon description says “Floor Sample is the story behind an artistic life―detailing Julia's years in New York, her time as a writer for Rolling Stone, her turbulent marriage to Martin Scorsese, and her painful struggle with alcohol, which ultimately led her to recovery and the methods that would form the backbone of The Artist’s Way,” and that pretty much sums it up.

The part of the book that kicked me in the stomach, though, was this sentence on page 85:

“Stop trying to be a great writer.”

At this point in the book, Julia is learning how to be sober and creative at the same time, and she is learning from her mentors and her experience that without sobriety, there will be no creativity. And further, to be creative, her task was to (hand)write three pages a day. 

She writes, “if it took all day to write three pages, I was to remain at my desk working until my quota was complete. More likely, the three pages would get accomplished quickly. When they were finished, I was done for the day. I was notto write more than three pages. The idea that writing could be something that didn’t require my whole day was a revelation to me…”

I am not a morning pages person. (Maybe I’ll give it a try.) But I am a person who wants and tries to be a great writer – and it prevents me from getting any writing done.

When I write this newsletter/blog post, I don’t set out to be a great writer. I just write – this is me, speaking to you. When I write, this is how it comes. It’s not great, it just is. Perhaps what I find useful from Julia Cameron’s memoir will be useful to you too: stop trying to be a great writer, and just write.