Big Magic

In order to get my creative juices flowing and maybe add some inspiration to my life, I started reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic. This is my second time reading it and I know it’s one of those staple books I’ll keep on hand forever because it has so much good info/advice/tips inside. I specifically wanted to start writing again because it brings me joy and I think blogs are fun, however there are SO many times I’ve set out to create a blog and commit to regular posts but end up writing about one post every 6 months to a year.

So this is typically my cycle: You know what? I’m going to start a blog › Tells friends about said future blog (like get ready to read it friends, it will be super interesting + engaging) › Start looking at other blogs for inspiration. Wow these blogs are good. Great content, visually pleasing. Umm why am I creating a blog again? › Creates blog that feels lackluster and plain but oh well it’s going to have incredible content › “Content” is composed of 2 posts over the span of 1 year (LOL!)

Anyway, to bring it back to the book, Gilbert makes some great points about creative living and discovering what hidden treasures lie within us. This entails following our curiosity which can result in Big Magic. Some of my favorite highlights:

• Originality: yes everything has pretty much been done before but it hasn’t been done by YOU! You have a unique/authentic take/voice on whatever you’d like to share so add your hat to the game (is that the saying?)
• Rejection: she is so candid about acquiring rejection letters from various publications yet she persisted in her writing because she loved it and couldn’t imagine not living a creative life. AKA let rejection be a learning process. Learn from it, grow from it.
• Perfectionism: Gilbert mentions how many perfectionists think their end product is going to be crappy so they just scrap plans of even creating the product in the first place. Perfectionism is such a road block for many of us and it could really suck the fun out of the creative process.
• Nobody cares: Possibly my favorite point, Gilbert talks about the fact that so many people are so consumed with their own lives, they don’t really care or think about you. So if you want to create, do so fearlessly because nobody is watching and nobody cares!

So what was my point again? Ah yes, going to try to take Gilbert’s advice and allow curiosity to be my guide in this little writing journey of mine instead of letting fear or perfectionism or comparison to get in the way. Nobody’s reading this anyway, right?