"Why me?" vs. "What's Next?"

Reflecting on creative recovery

I’ve been reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I’ve been on a creative block for a few weeks now, and I felt like I needed a pick-me-up read to get me going again. I find the premise of the book to be based more on what I like to call “creative recovery”, which is exactly what I might have needed.

I’m still reading the book and am nearing the end. But I have reached a section that I found that caught my eye. In one of the later chapters—or weeks, as she likes to divide them—Cameron mentions the idea of “why me?” vs. “what’s next?” She constantly mentions the idea of the blocked creative. In short, many of us are creatives but can be blocked by external circumstances and influences. However, Cameron tends to call them excuses, arguing that a creative would move forward with their creativity no matter what. Which leads to the idea of “why me?” vs “what’s next?”

The “why me?” is the argument that things just don’t work out, and we are left to question why. According to Cameron, it’s self-pity. Why won’t agents accept my novel? Why won’t producers film my script? Why me? That’s the idea here.

As opposed to that, we have the “what’s next?”, a more active philosophy. Essentially, it doesn’t matter what your past work had/ hadn’t achieved for you. You move on to the next thing? Your first novel didn’t work out? Nobody liked your current script? Who cares? What’s next?

Like any book/ argument, there are things in The Artist’s Way I can agree with and others I don’t, and I’ll have a clearer opinion when I’m done reading it. That said, I do find nuggets of wisdom here, and the two aforementioned questions are something to consider.

My career is still budding. Despite years of writing, I am arguably still coming into my own space. I have had only one short film produced. Four of my short plays have been performed. I have one self-published book of poetry. And my novel remains incomplete.

I could always wallow in self-pity. And sometimes it’s valid. The money can run out. You need to find a new place to live. A break-up could be a little too much for you to bear. Or you’re just not there today. You’re emotionally distant and sad, and could just use a day of rest.

That said, you can get addicted to a certain kind of apathy. As Cameron argues, it’s easy to be a blocked creative, and feeling frustrated is natural. I could get jealous over the success of others, and I could give up and focus on a career that makes me more money.

Or I can keep going. I can move past my previous project and work on something else. A creative creates what they want, and that’s a powerful epiphany when you reach it. It feels good to create, and you don’t have to share it all with the world. It’s your art and creativity, not yours.

Unbeknownst to me, I have adopted the “what’s next?” lifestyle long before reading Cameron’s book. It’s just something I’ve always done. I have never stuck to one project, one genre, one idea. I’ve always thought of the next thing, whether I had finished the previous idea or not. That’s why I have all the projects I mentioned above. I just went for it. No excuses, even when they were easy to make.

So, yeah. One could have a very different take on The Artist’s Way; not everyone needs to like it or agree with it. But I was admittedly a blocked creative for a myriad of reasons. And I don’t want that for myself. I want to recover my creativity and keep going with what I come up with. I don’t have to wallow in “why me?” Just keep moving forward with “what’s next?”

Just a thought.