Holiday Reads: Floor Sample by Julia Cameron
Plus a side helping of Michelle Mone – My Fight To The Top
Floor Sample by Julia Cameron
This next one, I was given as part of the goody bag at a Creative Unblocking Retreat hosted by
.Emma is a big fan of Julia Cameron, having interviewed her several times, and wrote the introduction to this book, making it the perfect accompaniment to her course.
I’m embarrassed to admit that it’s only now that I have finally made time to read it. I think in the most part, I found the title ‘Floor Sample’ to be confusing and, dare I say, a bit dull.
Would it be about how she started off in life as a simple stripped back floorboard kind of girl, then started experimenting with linoleum in the 70’s, quarry tiles in the 90’s and finally embraced traditional parquet flooring once those royalty cheques started to roll in?
Not exactly a riveting narrative, I think you’ll agree, and possibly why it stayed on the shelf so long.
Unlike Julia, who wasted no time marrying famous film director Martin Scorsese, at the start of her turbulent life story… I didn’t know that about her!? You go girl!
And not a carpet tile in sight. Phew!
I was aware of Julia Cameron’s work having read The Artist’s Way, after which I went through a phase of doing Morning Pages for a few months, which I found really helpful and I must admit it did go a long way in helping me take the plunge on Substack and start writing on a regular basis.
This memoir is very much about how she developed as a writer and then became famous for her Creative Unblocking courses based on The Artist’s Way methodology.
Her life resembles a pinball machine as she bounces around from place to place, never really satisfied with anything, always searching for the greener grass on the other side.
It is not a life to be envied, despite her writing success. Happiness doesn’t seem to feature much, as she lurches from one situation to the next.
Accompanying Julia through her life isn’t a particularly fun place to be for the reader, so I did find this book a bit of a trudge in places.
Despite two marriages, a daughter and a blossoming career, she never seems to be happy with her life. Always on the move from one side of the country to the other, in search of peace and satisfaction, which never comes.
I really wanted to love this book, but sadly it was a bit of a slog, a bit like her life.
It is an honest piece, she doesn’t come out as very likeable, so it’s hard to get behind her or want to follow her to the end. The last 90 pages of my copy remains unread.
However, it does give some good insights into exactly what it takes to write a book, screenplay or musical.
Julia is never unsure of her creative talents, it’s just life she struggles with.
Funnily enough it reminded me of another memoir that I read on holiday several years ago… ‘My Fight To The Top’ by Michelle Mone1.
Which if you haven’t read it, is an absolutely rip-roaring page-turner of a read!
Not only has she had a remarkable life but she tells the story in such a way that I couldn’t help but think her editors must have thought all their Christmasses had come at once!
Michelle tells it like it is and I’m not sure she has enough self-awareness to realise that in doing so, she is painting a grotesque picture of herself.
There were several bits that I thought:
“Has she really committed that to print?!?”
The story featuring Mel B from the Spice Girls springs to mind in particular. WTF!
You wouldn’t automatically put Julia Cameron and Michelle Mone together, but if you compare their memoirs, and in particular the way they describe their creative talents and how they interact with those around them, they are startlingly similar.
My biggest takeaway from Julia’s Floor Sample is how she used Morning Pages to not just start writing every day in a journaling sense, but she also used this tool very effectively to create many a ‘first draft’.
A film screenplay, she claims, can be crashed out in six weeks… three daily pages at a time.
Impressive stuff!
“What if you prioritised writing every day, instead of everything else? What would your life look like then?”, chimed in my Inner Monologue.
Three typed pages is about 1,000 words in my template document. What a beautiful number to work with!
So from now on I’m going to try to write 1,000 words every day, before I do anything else productive.
That’s just pure writing, not editing or formatting the posts, creating images or fannying around on Substack, that all counts as extra.
Which will hopefully mean more Substack posts, and some time left over to start working on that screenplay idea I had on holiday too! 😉
Thank you Julia, you’re a creative inspiration!
K8x
PS: Up next is Infinite Receiving by Suzy Ashworth. I know, don’t judge me. 😉
Join in the comments below:
Have you tried Morning Pages?
Have you read either of these books?
Are you tempted to now?
Thank you for being here, please ❤️ (below) if you enjoyed this piece, it really helps others find it.
Baroness Michelle Mone OBE is a Glaswegian entrepreneur, who founded Ultimo among other brands. Never far from controversy, even her lack of attendance in the House of Lords has earned her the nickname ‘Layabout Lady of Mayfair’.
It's a very true story. If you want to write a book, or anything, you have to sit down and do it. Canadian novelist Farley Mowat famously said (over his equally famous breakfast of vodka and OJ) “Well, there’s no secret to it. Just sit your arse down in the chair every day and go to work…” You should circle November on your calendar, Kate. The National Novel Writing Month competition always sounded a bit hokey to me but I've written four (now published) books this way. The competition is simply with yourself, but tracking your word count each day creates an out-loud commitment to it all. There are all sorts of forums that you can join and other tools (local NaNoWriMo writing circles and meet-ups) or you can opt to write your fool head off and come out with a manuscript at the end. November here is just dirty dishwater outside, so it's the perfect time to plow through a book. Check it out: https://nanowrimo.org/
Fun fact: I was laid off from my content writing job on April 1st and shifted my attention immediately. Now I had the freedom and time to write the book that I didn't in November (we were in Madagascar). In 17 days I've written 38,740 words. It works. And this comment is like, a thousand words long, so there's that!
I'm working through The Artist's Way and I really enjoy my morning pages. It feels like something you can pick up at different times of your life and it will give you something different each time. I'm a little gutted to hear that Floor Sample didn't ...erm...floor you... I'm sure you'll have come across Deborah Levy but if not here trilogy... oh my... it's really something special.