I'm Loving This Book...

I stumbled onto a book that I’ve really been enjoying lately. It’s not fiction- and it’s not my usual choice of non-fiction, either. It’s called “The Book of Alchemy.”  I thought I had seen it featured on SDA’s website, but I learned last week it was actually on Find What Feels Good, a yoga site I follow (and highly recommend).

“The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life” by Suleika Jaouad is along the lines of Cameron’s morning pages, that so many have been inspired by, and Suleika does mention the importance of that book to her in the introduction. 

This is not the type of book I would normally be interested in. For some reason, “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron never struck the chord with me that it has in so many others. But THIS book does.

I think it’s because when I was younger, a teenager, I was that girl that kept a special diary. I loved writing in it. It felt private and my own. Until my mother read it. Pretty much killed any form of  “diary” for me after that.

But this is different because it’s a series of prompts - 100 divided into sections of 10 with themes like beginning, memory, fear… with intros and prompts by other writers. If you’re a reader, you may recognize a lot of the names. I’m not that far into the book, but reading how so many other writers kept that diary practice their whole lives does stir up a little twinge of envy in me.

I’m not being rigid about it, but I’ve - as I said- really been enjoying it. I first checked it out from the library and after the beautifully written introduction I was hooked and ordered my own copy the next day. 

One of my favorites is “Just Ten Images” by Ash Parsons Story. It’s brilliant! A practice she began when she didn’t have much time to write. Think of 10 images from the past 24 hours and write about each one. What a great practice for memory alone. But also for “seeing.”

My list of authors to read is growing as a result of this book.

I think I might even re-visit some of Julia Cameron’s work, too.