The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life (Artist's Way)

Cameron's The Right to Write will help you commit yourself to writing. She guides you along as if you are in one of her classes with short invitations into her world as a writer and initiations to help get you writing. Her easy-going style and real-life examples make this book a must read. She advises that we are all writers, real writers, we have just been stymied by a system that taught us writers have to suffer to create. The information she provides will help anyone be a better, happier, and more productive writer. She asks us to join her, just for a bit, and learn. This book shows us that what we learned in school about writing is not necessarily true, that as adults we have so much to offer if we can just get it down on paper. Writing can be easy; Cameron shows us just how easy.

I have complete Cameron's Artist Way and I am now going through this book. The sections are very short and give you something to think about and something to do. It is not as directive as her Artit's Way book ... but it is a good balance and you can easily take what she is giving you and apply it to your way of internal focusing ... great words of wisdom, and very practical tasks to try out. 5-stars

This is a terrific book. So many people say, "I'm not a writer," because they are not "published". This book is so encouraging as the author points out that everyone has the "right" to write. If you write letters, you are a writer. If you keep a journal or diary, you are a writer! There are no rules that determine who is a writer and who isn't. I really enjoyed this book. And...I am a writer!

About four and a half years ago now, my best friend gave me a copy of Julia Cameron's The Complete Artist's Way. To say that was a life changing book would be an understatement. So perhaps it was no surprise that I sought out another book by Cameron almost as soon as I'd finished that one. And yet, the Right To Write has been sitting unread since then. Perhaps I was waiting for the right moment to read it as, in the midst of trying to finish my first commissioned non-fiction book, I finally pulled it off the shelf and began to read it. I'm glad I did. If you've read The Artist's Way or other Cameron works, you'll likely recognize the territory she goes into with this book. The heart of it is that everyone is creative, even if we don't realize it. Cameron takes on the myths around writers and writing from the need to be solitary, starving artists, the need to be perfect the first time around (something I was struggling with as I read the book), and writing just for the market among a host of topics. To illustrate, Cameron draws on her life and career and offers the reader/writer tools to help themselves. As that may suggest, this isn't a standard writing guide. Indeed, Cameron herself is quite clear at the front of the volume that she won't be talking about grammar and the like here. Cameron is interested in getting you to the page, to get you to write, and to help you deal with the issues keeping you from writing. Cameron is a firm believer in everyone's "right to write," and this book is very much a declaration of the fact. My quibble with the book is the same one I had when I read Complete Artist's Way, except here it's more pronounced. Cameron sees writing as a spiritual exercise which, to be fair, is her prerogative and in the past, she presented in a 'you can take it or not,' sort of way. This particular work puts it a bit more front and center, especially when there's an entire chapter dedicated to ESP. On the whole though, if you can get past it, it's not a significant problem and one that doesn't hurt the book much. Indeed, if you're someone who has wanted to write or is a writer struggling to write, The Right To Write is a good read. Need to be reminded why you love to write? Need help to quieten down the inner-critic or set aside the more corporeal critics in your life? This book and Cameron's Artist's Way is here to help if you'll let it.

I was completely satisfied with this purchase and would buy it again if I needed to, for sure.

How does one describe the value of Scripture? Julia Cameron's The Right to Write is superb if you write, and EVERYONE has the potential, and the obligation, to write. Everyone wants to make a difference during their lifetime and here is the opportunity to write about that difference, whether your "difference" has to do with writing or some completely foreign field of expertise. Write it down for posterity's future reading as well as for your own personal reward and enjoyment. Fulfillment is one of the rewards of writing and this book guarantees that. After my first devouring of the content I immediately started over rereading it a second time, catching several points and nuances I missed the first time because after the first reading I was seeing things through different eyes. And don't miss Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" which introduced me to her, her methods, and to The Right to Write. Two words says it all: Simply Superb!

I have read magazines and journals on the writing life but never anything quite like this. This was an amazing find I simply happened on after listening to Julia speak on PBS. The book was so informative, so stress reducing. If you aren't a writer reading this books makes you want to do just that. If you are a writer, I could see where many of the chapters would greatly assist one to ride the ebb and flow that goes with coming up with the good story. There is something in this little book for anyone willing to take pen to page. She is some great creativity tips. None of her ideas get in the way of anyone deciding what or how to write. The book is more of a prompt, a lubricant. I am reading the elements without focusing on the exercises at the end but I am glad they are there. This feels like a two read book. One to set the mood, get the process going and when ready, I'll tackle those little chapter endings.

Julia Cameron believes that everyone is a writer. Her purpose in writing this book, therefore, is to free the writer she believes is in you. I disagree with her assumption. We are not all writers any more than we are all dentists or mathematicians. As a writer and a psychologist myself, this is an important distinction to make because this book eminently describes many of the facets of the writer's personality. In my experience there are people who think they would like to be writers, but always have some reason why they are not; and there are others who write because they need to do it for themselves. There is something inside of them that they have to get out, and it is best expressed through writing. I believe that this is why several reviewers have felt that this book could not help them. They weren't really writers at all. If you have the personality of a writer, then this book will tell you a great deal about yourself - your feelings, your struggles, and your thoughts. It will explain the artistic temperament to you and help you to understand your own behaviors and fears. But, if you are not an artist in general, and a writer in particular, then this book is probably not for you.

This book is truly inspiring. Anybody who wants to write and express their thoughts on the page needs to read this book at least once.

I enjoyed reading this book and using the suggestions to lose weight

This book gives you a strong motivation to write. If you want to write, but find it hard to keep the habit, open this book. You will find a number of tips.

I wasn't expecting that the book would put me in a position to write from the beginning of it. Thank you Julia Cameron. Julia Cameron, in this book, took the position, the higher rank, of the Genious. Guess who is now second place? Julia Cameron, due to her other book The Artist's Way.

If you ever thought of writing a book, starting a blog/vlog, but never felt brave enough, please read this book. Julia Cameron wrote a wise, kind, gentle, funny guide on how to become a writer (or any word-creator for that matter) that will take you by the hand and before you know, you are writing.