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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
i love this book so so so much. The lessons will stay with me forever and i want to read this often to remind myself of what’s inside. This is so helpful as an artist.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
In this book, Gilbert writes about her relationship with creativity, how she became a writer and how she sustained a writing practice over the years.
The overall theme is “lower the stakes”.
First, avoid going into a “create or die” situation, which is what happens when you have no other ways of fulfilling your needs (material and social) other than being creative. Have a job that isn’t writing. Avoid making your material needs more pressing by going into huge debt by going to university to study art.
The same advice applies to social needs (need for approval, desire for prestige.) Base your self worth on the fact that you continue to write, rather than audience approval. Avoid playing the martyr/tortured artist. Be playful, curious, comfortable with paradoxes. Don’t do it for others, do it because you love it even if it brings you zero return for investment other than fun.
It’s very much a “follow your passion” book, despite Gilbert including a paragraph on how passion is a fleeting feeling and tips for dealing with failure and depression (follow your curiosity, switch to another area, keep doing something - anything). She understands passion as temporary fascination. I understand it as a lifelong dedication to a subject (which she does engage in.)
Lastly, some people seem to be shocked (or rather, I suspect, embarrassed, because it’s too similar to child’s play and/or “primitive” religions) by “what if ideas are entities looking to manifest through us” and “what if you could have a relationship with your creativity”. I don’t see how this is different from people naming their cars and yelling at their printers (as if they could understand.)
Gilbert is advising becoming comfortable with a serious play attitude - and this is a perfect example of applying it. What if your creativity *was* a person, how would you talk to it when it runs away? What if it was a puppy? There is a whole therapeutic approach built on a similar assumption - internal family systems or IFS.
Overall, the book was okay, with some entertaining anecdotes (the environmentalist students and Bali dances stayed in my memory), but it didn’t break much new ground for me.
The overall theme is “lower the stakes”.
First, avoid going into a “create or die” situation, which is what happens when you have no other ways of fulfilling your needs (material and social) other than being creative. Have a job that isn’t writing. Avoid making your material needs more pressing by going into huge debt by going to university to study art.
The same advice applies to social needs (need for approval, desire for prestige.) Base your self worth on the fact that you continue to write, rather than audience approval. Avoid playing the martyr/tortured artist. Be playful, curious, comfortable with paradoxes. Don’t do it for others, do it because you love it even if it brings you zero return for investment other than fun.
It’s very much a “follow your passion” book, despite Gilbert including a paragraph on how passion is a fleeting feeling and tips for dealing with failure and depression (follow your curiosity, switch to another area, keep doing something - anything). She understands passion as temporary fascination. I understand it as a lifelong dedication to a subject (which she does engage in.)
Lastly, some people seem to be shocked (or rather, I suspect, embarrassed, because it’s too similar to child’s play and/or “primitive” religions) by “what if ideas are entities looking to manifest through us” and “what if you could have a relationship with your creativity”. I don’t see how this is different from people naming their cars and yelling at their printers (as if they could understand.)
Gilbert is advising becoming comfortable with a serious play attitude - and this is a perfect example of applying it. What if your creativity *was* a person, how would you talk to it when it runs away? What if it was a puppy? There is a whole therapeutic approach built on a similar assumption - internal family systems or IFS.
Overall, the book was okay, with some entertaining anecdotes (the environmentalist students and Bali dances stayed in my memory), but it didn’t break much new ground for me.
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
This is not the type of book I usually read, so when I went into this book a bit skeptical. However, I liked it more than I thought I would. The book is a self-help, inspirational book about creativity. Gilbert uses encouraging language and short tales to coincide with advice to form her book. The tales were interesting and Gilbert is skilled in writing non-fiction. I typically would not have read a book like this but I am glad that I gave it a chance. There were parts of the book that were a bit slow, but I did find some of her advice helpful in inspiring confidence. Her writing style is interesting as well, almost as if she is speaking. Overall, I think that anyone seeking a self-help book on the subject can find something relevant and useful. I would recommend this book to people looking for motivation, especially those in creative fields or who have a love for living creatively. She does an amazing job of realistically detailing the struggles of an artist--becoming inspired, finding motivation, and having the courage to bring ones work to light--while also providing advice for overcoming those obstacles. I generally found this book to be an okay read, it was definitely a great book for what it was meant to be. While I do not completely agree with all of her advice, I think most anyone can take away worthwhile in the novel. I also believe that others who are more interested in this genre will find this book more entertaining.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Penguin Random House.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Penguin Random House.
slow-paced