What do you think?
Rate this book
Blasting Through Blocks: An Artist's Way Guide to Unleashing Your Inner Creativity
Not yet published
Expected 3 Nov 26A guide to getting (and staying) unblocked
Every artist—or aspiring creator—knows the sting of being stuck. Blasting Through Blocks is a “good news” yes, you will find yourself in its pages. You’ll recognize the resistance, the internal critic, the fear of failure, the perfectionism, the inertia. But the promise here is you can always unblock. You don’t need grand methods or deep dives into theory—just the willingness to work with small, powerful tools.
Across 52 essays, you’ll encounter one creative block and one practical practice each week. Some tools will feel familiar—rooted in The Artist’s Way heritage—but many will surprise you with their straightforwardness, their clarity, their freshness. Over time, these practices build into a living, flexible toolkit you can revisit whenever you feel stuck again.
This is a book for personal pilgrimage and communal practice alike. Use it as a companion through a year of your creative life. Bring it to your writing group or your classroom. Gift it to any artist in your life. As these pages light up one shadow at a time, you’ll begin to see the spiritual and psychological pathways through your creative difficulties—and rediscover why your work matters.
Every artist—or aspiring creator—knows the sting of being stuck. Blasting Through Blocks is a “good news” yes, you will find yourself in its pages. You’ll recognize the resistance, the internal critic, the fear of failure, the perfectionism, the inertia. But the promise here is you can always unblock. You don’t need grand methods or deep dives into theory—just the willingness to work with small, powerful tools.
Across 52 essays, you’ll encounter one creative block and one practical practice each week. Some tools will feel familiar—rooted in The Artist’s Way heritage—but many will surprise you with their straightforwardness, their clarity, their freshness. Over time, these practices build into a living, flexible toolkit you can revisit whenever you feel stuck again.
This is a book for personal pilgrimage and communal practice alike. Use it as a companion through a year of your creative life. Bring it to your writing group or your classroom. Gift it to any artist in your life. As these pages light up one shadow at a time, you’ll begin to see the spiritual and psychological pathways through your creative difficulties—and rediscover why your work matters.
- GenresSelf Help
192 pages, Paperback
Expected publication November 3, 2026
About the author
Julia Cameron
95 books2,375 followersJulia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years, with fifteen books (including bestsellers The Artist's Way, Walking in This World, and The Right to Write) and countless television, film, and theatre scripts to her credit. Writing since the age of 18, Cameron has a long list of screenplay and teleplay credits to her name, including an episode of Miami Vice, and Elvis and the Beauty Queen, which starred Don Johnson. She was a writer on such movies as Taxi Driver, New York, New York, and The Last Waltz. She wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning independent feature film, God's Will, which premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was selected by the London Film Festival, the Munich International Film Festival, and Women in Film Festival, among others. In addition to making film, Cameron has taught film at such diverse places as Chicago Filmmakers, Northwestern University, and Columbia College. Her profound teachings on unlocking creativity and living from the creative center have inspired countless artists to unleash their full potential.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 30, 2026
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an early ARC of Julia Cameron's newest book. I read the Artist's Way several years ago when I was a lot younger and liked the concept, but kept getting hung up because while I have a bunch of creative hobbies I don't work in a creative field (writing, music, etc.) I want to go back and reread that book now that I'm older and, hopefully, wiser. I've also read a few of her other books as well throughout the years.
However, this book Blasting through Blocks is perfect for both those in creative fields and those who have creative hobbies outside of their work/career. This is a book of 52 very short essays and stories about various blocks and excuses one might encounter as a creative of any sort. I immediately felt called out by some of these essays because I could see where I've done/still do these things in other areas of my life, not just in creative hobbies. Obsessiveness, comparison, responsibilities, the inner critic - those are all just a few of the topics that I immediately saw reflected in myself.
Pros: Love the direct nature of each of these essays and how concise they are - no room for extraneous information. The exercises at the end of each essay make for great journaling prompts and are thought-provoking. Because this is an essay format it makes it easy to jump around and find topics that feel more relevant than others and it also makes great reference material.
Cons: Reading it straight through you do notice that there is a bit of repetitiveness in some of the topics. I get that 52 has meaning and is a good book structure, but there were definitely a few of the essays that basically repeated what was previously said with maybe a different example or two. Even with the repetitiveness they were all great essays because you can see how the excuses/blocks can keep arising under different guises or from different angles so it does make sense to keep hammering home certain ideas.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and now I have some journaling to do!
However, this book Blasting through Blocks is perfect for both those in creative fields and those who have creative hobbies outside of their work/career. This is a book of 52 very short essays and stories about various blocks and excuses one might encounter as a creative of any sort. I immediately felt called out by some of these essays because I could see where I've done/still do these things in other areas of my life, not just in creative hobbies. Obsessiveness, comparison, responsibilities, the inner critic - those are all just a few of the topics that I immediately saw reflected in myself.
Pros: Love the direct nature of each of these essays and how concise they are - no room for extraneous information. The exercises at the end of each essay make for great journaling prompts and are thought-provoking. Because this is an essay format it makes it easy to jump around and find topics that feel more relevant than others and it also makes great reference material.
Cons: Reading it straight through you do notice that there is a bit of repetitiveness in some of the topics. I get that 52 has meaning and is a good book structure, but there were definitely a few of the essays that basically repeated what was previously said with maybe a different example or two. Even with the repetitiveness they were all great essays because you can see how the excuses/blocks can keep arising under different guises or from different angles so it does make sense to keep hammering home certain ideas.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and now I have some journaling to do!
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
Even though the concept of ‘radical honesty’ has been floating around for three decades now, I keep hearing it even more lately. ‘Blasting Through Blocks,’ although touted as a workbook to help you address creative blocks, is an invitation to be nakedly candid with yourself.
The exercises are deceptively simple. Most of the time, you are making a list of three or five things you could do to get through a challenge. You are giving yourself options—bite-sized ones at that. Cameron accompanies each of these exercises with a real-life vignette, but I found myself mostly skimming these in favor of the exercises. Quite a few involve writing (Cameron is the author of the classic book ‘The Artist’s Way’), but don’t let that put you off—most of the exercises can apply to projects as mundane as cleaning the bathroom and as heavy and life changing as addressing grief and obsession.
This is not a book simply full of platitudes and cheering. Throughout this book, I could not forget Cameron’s brief marriage to Martin Scorsese, marked by self-destructive influences on both sides. Clearly that part of her life has left mark on her; she addresses such blocks as addiction and nihilism. (She even quotes the serenity prayer.) But if this book is any indication, Cameron has learned from her colorful life lessons and is willing to help us tackle our own slings and arrows.
Is ‘Blasting Through Blocks’ therapy? Perhaps, if you want it to be. It does not have a plot per se, so you can dip in and out of it as the season demands. (Rebuttal to doubt #48, It’s Too Late.) All you have to do is give yourself permission.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press Group for the ARC.
The exercises are deceptively simple. Most of the time, you are making a list of three or five things you could do to get through a challenge. You are giving yourself options—bite-sized ones at that. Cameron accompanies each of these exercises with a real-life vignette, but I found myself mostly skimming these in favor of the exercises. Quite a few involve writing (Cameron is the author of the classic book ‘The Artist’s Way’), but don’t let that put you off—most of the exercises can apply to projects as mundane as cleaning the bathroom and as heavy and life changing as addressing grief and obsession.
This is not a book simply full of platitudes and cheering. Throughout this book, I could not forget Cameron’s brief marriage to Martin Scorsese, marked by self-destructive influences on both sides. Clearly that part of her life has left mark on her; she addresses such blocks as addiction and nihilism. (She even quotes the serenity prayer.) But if this book is any indication, Cameron has learned from her colorful life lessons and is willing to help us tackle our own slings and arrows.
Is ‘Blasting Through Blocks’ therapy? Perhaps, if you want it to be. It does not have a plot per se, so you can dip in and out of it as the season demands. (Rebuttal to doubt #48, It’s Too Late.) All you have to do is give yourself permission.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press Group for the ARC.
June 28, 2026
This book was decent. I enjoyed all of the different blocks that you could have and reading ways past them. I don’t really like how black and white the author makes everything seem, and the book also got a bit repetitive. I haven’t read the Artist’s Way, so I can’t comment on the relation, but I do think this book has some good ideas. It was just too absolute for the most part.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I love everything Julia writes ... this is like having your own personal artistic coach ...No excuses for not getting to work!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews