I just listened to the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and it makes my list of inspiring and motivating books for writers and other creative artists.
Here are some ideas I took away from it and liked:
- Being creative isn’t about being fearless, but it does involve courage (acting despite fear). It’s normal to be afraid when we create. She includes a great list of reasons why fear is normal when we create.
- Ideas will come to us, and then move on to someone else if we do not act on them. This bears out in my experience, and makes sense to me because of how information flows throughout society. Ideas have a “time” to arise in the collective, given the culmination of events and evolution up to that moment.
- It’s normal to want to create. It’s part of being human. It’s not something only for the “chosen”. The stakes are low; and it’s really not that big of a deal either way whether your work is successful or not in the eyes of others.
- You don’t need to be mentally ill or unhappy in order to be an artist or make art. It can be joyful and, ideally is fun, albeit often challenging.
- Be a “disciplined half ass”, rather than a lazy perfectionist. Work persistently and be willing to put out imperfect work into the world. The opposite is not showing up often enough and being unwilling to show anything due to perfectionism, which is fear driven.
I listened to the Audible version, which is read by the author. I found her voice pleasant and calming.
I have to admit that I always somehow assumed that Liz Gilbert would not be impactful on me, and I’m not sure why. Maybe the book Eat Pray Love that she is most well known for seemed more tailored toward women. But I quite enjoyed Big Magic, as someone who likes to write and enjoys hearing thoughts on writing and creativity from an experienced artist.