Quote

We waste a lot of time and a lot of talent trying to write for the common reader, whom we will never meet. Instead we should be writing for our ideal reader.

Julia Cameron

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Julia Cameron
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: March 4
Film Director
Novelist
Poet
Screenwriter
Teacher
Writer
Libertyville
Illinois
Time
Reader
Instead
Talent
Common
Write
Ideal
Writing
Ideals
Trying
Waste
Never
Meet

More quotes by Julia Cameron

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when I talk about a writing life, I'm talking about a life in which writing is the dominant response to living.
Julia Cameron
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Serious art is born from serious play.
Julia Cameron
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When you feel yourself to be in critical condition, you must treat yourself as gently as you would a sick friend.
Julia Cameron
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I ask to be made beautiful like the trees are beautiful, each growing according to a unique plan. Lop off a limb and and the tree will accommodate it's loss, still growing and still beautiful. It is my hope to be able to flourish in a similar fashion, taking on the shape and dimensions that is intended for me.
Julia Cameron
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Writing is like breathing, it's possible to learn to do it well, but the point is to do it no matter what.
Julia Cameron
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No matter what your age or your life path, whether making art is your career or your hobby or your dream, it is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your creativity.
Julia Cameron
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Judging your early artistic efforts is artist abuse. . . Remember that in order to recover as an artist, you must be willing to be a bad artist. Give yourself permission to be a beginner. By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one
Julia Cameron
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Survival lies in sanity, and sanity lies in paying attention...the capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.
Julia Cameron
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Creativity makes life useful to us. It also makes us useful to life.
Julia Cameron
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The need to be a great artist makes it hard to be an artist. The need to produce a great work of art makes it hard to produce any art at all. . . Fear is what blocks an artist. The fear of not being good enough. The fear of not finishing. The fear of failure and of success. The fear of beginning at all.
Julia Cameron
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Artistic anorexia & sexual avoidance have the same root fears – fear of intimacy, fear of exposure, fear of failure”.
Julia Cameron
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We imagine that if we had time we would quiet our more shallow selves and listen to a deeper flow of inspiration. Again, this is a myth that lets us off the hook - if I wait for enough time to listen, I don't have to listen now, I don't have to take responsibility for being available to what is trying to bubble up today.
Julia Cameron
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Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.
Julia Cameron
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It is important to remember that at first blush, going sane feels just like going crazy.
Julia Cameron
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Writing is medicine. It is an appropriate antidote to injury. It is an appropriate companion for any difficult change.
Julia Cameron
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When we walk, the two halves of our brains converse.
Julia Cameron
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By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.
Julia Cameron
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There will be many times when we won't look good-to ourselves or anyone else. We need to stop demanding that we do. It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time.
Julia Cameron
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Practice being kind to yourself in small, concrete ways. Look at your refrigerator. Are you feeding yourself nicely? Do you have socdks? An extra set of sheets? What about a new house plant? A thermos for the long drive to work? Allow yourself to pitch out some of your ragged clothes. You don't have to keep everything.
Julia Cameron
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Agendas tend to drain the life out of relationships.
Julia Cameron