Favorite Five: Five best books on Creativity
It’s early 2020 and I’m beginning this new monthly feature to bring your resources I love. I’m calling it the Favorite Five (because I love alliteration). Each month, I’ll be sharing my five favorite books in a particular genre and why I love them.
I admit, some months already have ten books in the running, so there may be double fives happening in the future. Fair warning. Also, while I am a voracious reader, I have not read all books on a subject (My inner Virgo and Sagittarius want to SO BAD!!!).
Books about Creativity
For this first month, I have narrowed it down to five of my favorite books about creativity. I think of these authors as champions of the authentic, courageous, creative voice inside each of us. I like to refer to these books when my inner author/creator is needing an encouraging pep talk to go out and bravely do the work she came here for. I also encourage budding authors I support to gather these friends near and let them speak to you often.
Playing Big by Tara Mohr
I still have flashbacks of some of the wisdom that poured through me as a result of the practical and valuable exercises Mohr presents in this book. If you are tired of playing small or allowing your light to dim in any way, or if you’re just ready to take the next dance around that ever-expanding spiral into your own soul, read this book. The chapter about the two kinds of fear and how you can tell the difference between them will change your life.
A quick summary, as Mohr articulates:
“Yirah is “the feeling that overcomes us when we inhabit a larger space than we are used to; the feeling we experience when we suddenly come into possession of considerably more energy than we had before; [and] what we feel in the presence of the divine”
“Pachad “fires anytime we perceive a potential threat to our emotional comfort zone, but the truth is we don’t actually need to keep ourselves safe from every emotional risk. We actually need to take the emotional risks that come with sharing our voices and ideas more visibly and vulnerably.” ”
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
While I prefer my books in print format, I have this one in audio. And I love it that way. Because I can get Gilbert in my ear and on my team anytime I need her. This book is a Brazilian crystal mine bursting with gems and jewels for the wild and brave creative inside.
She actually posits that the mine is our own being:
“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.”
If you yearn to create things in the world freely and courageously, get Gilbert in your ear as well.
“A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner—continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you—is a fine art, in and of itself.”
War of Art and Turning Pro by Stephen Pressfield
Okay, I know, I am sneaking two in here (he has a third book I’m saving for another Favorite Five). I know more than one person who keeps their copy of War of Art in the bathroom, which I find amusing. And I get it. Pressfield mainlines creative inspiration straight to your veins in a no-BS way that is so potent and accessible you might even share your most private of spaces with him.
“The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it”
Turning Pro is a must-have for anyone who wants to get serious about their art and creativity and ascend from amateur to professional to find your power, your will, your voice, your self-respect, and the essence of who you are.
“The amateur fears that if he turns pro and lives out his calling, he will have to live up to who he really is and what he is truly capable of. The amateur is terrified that if the tribe should discover who he really is, he will be kicked out into the cold to die.”
“The professional displays courage, not only in the roles she embraces (which invariably scare the hell out of her) or the sacrifices she makes (of time, love, family) or even in the enduring of criticism, blame, envy, and lack of understanding, but above all in the confronting of her own doubts and demons.”
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
I just finished reading this little blue treasure chest. I love how Kleon models his own unique flavor of creativity inside his books on the subject, with funky fonts, quirky graphics, and great design. I have not read his perhaps more famous book Steal Like an Artist (have you?), but it’s on my shortlist. This book is super easy to read (perhaps you’ll want to add it to the stack by the loo?), and is full of little gems, such as:
“A routine gives you freedom by protecting you from the ups and downs of life and helping you take advantage of your limited time, energy and talent.”
“To be on brand is to be 100 certain of who you are and what you do, and certainty, in art and in life, is not only completely overrated, it is also a roadblock to discovery.”
Wild Words by Nicole Gulotta
I first heard Gulotta speak on a podcast somewhere. And I went to get her book immediately. I’m glad I did. Reading Wild Words felt as if I were speaking with a fellow book coach (and a dear friend). Gulotta offers fresh, useful, organic wisdom for keeping to the craft of writing and finding the ways that work for you.
I love that she and I both share a seasonal, cyclical view of the writing journey and appreciated the places where our work both parallel and diverge from one another. (You can get a taste of my thoughts on the cycles of creativity below.)
“I’m convinced embracing a seasonal approach to your creativity can change everything, because it roots you to your own innate rhythms in a way our social media-fueled, busy-as-a-badge-of-honor culture does not.”
Sing it, sister.
Those are my five favorite books on creativity.
By the way, this post contains affiliate links, which means that I will earn an affiliate commission if you purchase these books through the links above (which goes towards me being able to get my hands on more books to recommend to you! 😉). Please note that I have not been given any free products, services or anything else by these authors or companies in exchange for mentioning them here. These are books that I recommend to you because they have genuinely inspired me and made a difference for me and my clients.
If you have a fellow creative that you think would benefit from this list, please share this with them using the links below.