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A review by cdlindwall
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp
2.0
Creativity is a muscle to be stretched, a skill to be improved, a habit to be developed.
Creativity is not a gift from our muses, sent to only the lucky ones.
This is the argument in Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit." I tend to agree with Tharp, and it's a reassuring idea that we can build creative success into our lives with enough hard work and consistency.
But while the tenet of Tharp's book is inspiring, I found the actual text to be dull and without much relevance to my creative projects. I didn't find her advice particularly powerful, and the "exercises" were a joke. (A typical one was to rearrange a few quarters on a table into unique patterns...) Maybe this book would've been more helpful for choreographers or dancers (Tharp's area of expertise, and where she has had enormous professional success), but I certainly wasn't moved as a writer.
I can appreciate Tharp's authority on following her own creative pursuits and having the world respond overwhelmingly well to them. But it doesn't make her an inspiring teacher, or apparently an inspiring writer, either.
Creativity is not a gift from our muses, sent to only the lucky ones.
This is the argument in Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit." I tend to agree with Tharp, and it's a reassuring idea that we can build creative success into our lives with enough hard work and consistency.
But while the tenet of Tharp's book is inspiring, I found the actual text to be dull and without much relevance to my creative projects. I didn't find her advice particularly powerful, and the "exercises" were a joke. (A typical one was to rearrange a few quarters on a table into unique patterns...) Maybe this book would've been more helpful for choreographers or dancers (Tharp's area of expertise, and where she has had enormous professional success), but I certainly wasn't moved as a writer.
I can appreciate Tharp's authority on following her own creative pursuits and having the world respond overwhelmingly well to them. But it doesn't make her an inspiring teacher, or apparently an inspiring writer, either.