Article Surfing Archive

She splits her year between New York City and Arizona. Ihave been a fan since her first book and especially enjoyed"The Artist Way." I like to believe that I was one of thefirst to devour it page by page, exercise by exercise. Notjust once but six times. Having studied with Julia throughthe years, not just in my pajamas but in workshops and one-on-one, I ponder how "The Sound of Paper" escaped my noticeuntil last month.

One of Julia's gifts for showing readers instead of tellingthem, I believe, begins with her perception. As a writermyself, I saw myself as a writer for some years. But Juliasees herself as an artist. And as I read the rhythmiccadence, I see Julia swaying in front of a large whitecanvas swirling colors on a brush getting ready to paintwith words. A creator of language, of prose, singular wordsthat say in just an instant what a picture says in athousand brush strokes. Mona Lisa step aside.

Julia took a year's worth of morning pages and spun theminto this book, adding an exercise at the end of thechapters, and leaving off the table of contents, as if wewouldn't notice. It doesn't really matter though, hereloquence sent visions of possibilities for myself into myheart.

The exercises show us how to step beyond who we are or whatwe can accomplish as a writer. It is from here that one canmake the transition to artist. At times the exercise seemedtoo simple and began to lull me to mindful meditation. Herwords from earlier years, ones of trust, kicked me out of mytrance and allowed me to place the ink onto the page. Theseresisting moments let go of the word writer and transferredmy view to artist.

Julia shares her love for Manhattan and Taos and the musicof Rogers and Hammerstein. She shares experiences aboutwriting music and plays. In Taos, she shares too manychapters on its drought and how it compares to writer block.In frustration, I skipped several chapters because thedrought was giving me drought.

You will enjoy this book, not as a fast read, but like amulti-vitamin -- one (chapter) a day. You can sit back, asif in a five-star restaurant, smile at the penguin-stylewaiter, place the satin napkin in your lap, and let therhythm roll off the page onto your plate. The feast willdefinitely empower your artist view. A book worth keepingfor additional takeout.

(c) 2005, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.