Need a little creative pep talk?

I have always been a big fan of creative books. I fell in love with the SARK books in the mid 90's and I loved the fact that you could just pick it up when you needed a little perk up or if you had a minute or two and just open it up anywhere. You could read a paragraph, a page or a chapter and it would give that little spark that you needed. I have quite a few of those still and will rotate them depending on my mood. But what I have found even more helpful to me are a small collection of creative self-help books. They are your own little coach, whispering an idea in your ear or giving you a pat on the back or even a shove in the right direction when you need it! With these I keep them on a book shelf and will rotate as to what my creative needs are. Right now I have Pencil Dancing by Mari Messer on my night table and when I have a few minutes during the day, I will pick it up and flip through until something captures my attention and then I will sit. And I will give it my attention for a minute or two or five. And her words will remind me of some aspect of creativity that I have forgotten or neglected and I will go 'OH yeah' or have an ah-ha moment! Just yesterday I was reading Chapter 17 'Play as a way to fire creativity' and she talked about how important it is to just PLAY, with no purpose in mind. Not to create a product or meet a deadline or to scrap a page. But just for the sheer joy of being creative and playing. When we were kids we played all the time, as adults we don't. If we want to keep our creative spirits going we must. This is so easy to forget. Won't you join me and play for the sake of playing?

Here are a few other books that I enjoy along the same vein: The Nine Modern Day Muses by Jill Badonsky, The Right to Write by Julia Cameron, the Creative License by Danny Gregory, Art and Soul by Pam Grout and The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (this last book is AMAZING and will be a post all it's own, if you want to be more open, creative and prolific than you have ever been, follow this book front to back. It is a fantastic experience.)