The 12 Steps To Artistic Success

Aaron is the creator of the dynamic workshop Writing Success Through the 12 Steps: Unleash Your Creativity, Break Writer’s Block, and Ease Artistic Angst Using the Tools of Recovery.

Learn the power of the 12 Steps of recovery for removing blocks and turn wishing into writing. (**Based on the original 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: see below)

Contact Aaron here if you’d like him to present this workshop for your writer’s group, conference or backyard party. He’s flexible.

Praise for The 12 Steps to Artistic Success:

“Aaron’s workshop was exactly the kick in the butt that I needed. Whether you’re intimately familiar with 12 step programs or not, you’ll walk away with a sense for how many insidious ways life, and your own fears and doubts, can undermine a healthy and positive relationship with writing. Aaron’s a great and engaging speaker (who said that writers are introverts?) who got me thinking seriously about how to get – and stay – serious about my writing. His workshop also gave me a framework for making sure that I’m writing for the right reasons – not just for the joy of expression, but to connect with other people and make them feel something that’s important to me. If you’re struggling with Writer’s Doubt, this workshop is the place to go.”
Attendee author Nikki Baird

 

“It’s easy to see why Aaron Ritchey is a successfully published author.  Not only does he know the ins and out of story structure and plot, he understands the psychology behind writers—why we write, how we sabotage ourselves on the path to publication, and how to overcome our self-imposed obstacles.  His approach is warm, honest, and utterly hysterical.  I enjoyed his workshop so much that I plan to attend the next one on November 17th!”
Attendee author Mindy McIntyre


 

The Blog Series From the Very Beginning!

3/6/12 – The 12 Steps to Writing Success – Donut Love Introduction

3/13/12 –The 12 Steps To Writing Success, Part Deux: Portrait of the Artist As A Frakked-Up Young Man

3/20/12 –The 12 Steps to Writing Success Part 3: People Love Artists Like They Love Astronauts

3/27/12 –The 12 Steps to Writing Success, Part 04: My History As A Failure and A Scaredy-Cat

4/3/12 –Twelve Step Tuesday – Step 1 – Nasty Muses – Powerless and Unmanageable

4/10/12 –Tuesday 12 Steps – Step One Continued: Hitting Bottom

4/17/12 –Surrender Is Heartbreak, Not Sunshine and Puppies – Step 1 Continued

4/24/12 – My Clocks Hate Me! I Don’t Have Time to Write! Step One Continued

5/1/12 – My List of Writing Wounds: Powerlessness and Unmanageability Continued

5/8/12 – When Your Back is up Against the Wall: Final Step One Post

5/15/12 – What Does a Sane Writer Look Like? Step Two and Finding Hope

5/22/12 – What If There Was a God Who Wanted to Help Us? What Would Our Writing Lives Look Like?

6/19/12 – Step Two Continued: Atheists Are Writers Too!

7/10/22 – Step Two Concluded: The Path to Hope

7/24/12 – Intro to the Third Step: The Writer in the Wilderness

7/31/12 – The Third Step Continued: My Best Self

8/7/12 – Step Three Continued: The Fantasies of Writing Will Die but the Dreams Live On

8/14/12 – Shackled to God: The Writer’s Commitment to the Universe

10/9/12 – I Can’t Write Because I Hate You: The Fourth Step and Resentments

10/16/12 – In Jail for Killing My Critique Group Partner: Step Four Example

10/23/12 – The Terror Factory and the Fear Inventory: Step Four Continued

1/9/13 – Pulling My Covers: Fourth Step Example of Fear Inventory

1/22/13 – Step 5 Introduction: My History as Bart Simpson

1/30/13 – We Write Alone but We Are Not Alone: Fifth Step, Part 2

2/5/13 – Stand Together or Die Alone: Step Five, Part 3

2/11/13 – Step 5 Pt. 4: I Am Not Unique; One Writer’s Story is All Our Stories

2/26/13 – Mind Disease Kills Writer: The Deadly Patterns – A Last Thing on Step Five

**The 12 Steps
Step 1 – Admitted we were powerless over our art and our creative lives had become unmanageable.
Step 2 – Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Step 3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a power greater than ourselves.
Step 4 – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Step 5 – Admitted to the world, to another person, and to ourselves the exact nature of our problems.
Step 6 – Were entirely ready to let go of our character defects.
Step 7 – Surrendered our shortcomings.
Step 8 – Made a list of people we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.  Including ourselves.
Step 9 – Made direct amends, whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve ourselves, others, and the world around us.
Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we carry a message of hope to other artists and practice these principles in all our affairs.