The Artist's Way
The biggest influence on my creative life has been this book by Julia Cameron. Danny Gregory has a great posting today about it.

"I am not, as a rule, a joiner. Nor am I a believer in much. So please take what I say with a healthy dose of salt. Still, whether you begin this program or another or invent one for yourself, I'm fairly certain that you will find that when you give yourself permission to be creative, your life will change. You will either leave or transform your job. You will open yourself up to new people. You will develop new relationships. You will find that serendipity plays a very active role in your life. You will worry less and appreciate the universe more. You may not lose weight but you'll enjoy food more. Your body may not look better but your taste in clothing will improve. You may not become wealthier but money will matter less. You may not improve your health but each day will matter more.
As for S., he's a very nice man, enormously intelligent, and I'm sure his brain will eventually grant him permission to find his calling. As the Buddha said, "There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the Way." "

To read Danny's full post go here.

As it so happens my life has been derailed recently by creative and personal events and in order to get my groove back I'm doing the course for about the 15th time with a friend of mine. We're meeting in a cafe once a week, taking about sychronicity, the results of exercises and most importantly making sure that we both do the Artist Dates. I've seen most amazing results with the Artist Way - I've facilitated 100+ people through the process and it does make profound changes to peoples lives. And the effects continue months even years after doing the course. I know this because I occasionally meet a former student on a bus and they tell me of the things they are doing.