Excerpt from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committing to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers. You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child. This means no lovers, friends, spouses, children–no taggers-on of any stripe.

For my artist dates, I love to go to the beach, listening to the ocean waves, the seagulls squawking, footsteps pounding on the sand as someone scurries by, the quiet swish-swishing sounds a turtle makes as it clears a space to get comfortable for a nap, and the bubbly quick giggles of a child empowered with a pail, shovel, cup and water in hand.

Or to a coffee-tea place, in the late morning, post rush hour, when the “regulars” come in, and I get to be visually and aurally introduced to a mixed cast of the newly retired, strategizing salespeople, brain injury or developmentally challenged adults keeping themselves socialized, caffeine and adult conversation starved stay-at-home mommies, freelance writers, and a sprinkling of other character studies.

Or to a museum to sit, breathe, stare, and reflect.

Where are some of your favorite places to go on your artist date?