Stuck in a creative rut? Four books to get you unstuck!

April 16, 2016

I am sure you have experienced feeling overwhelmed – artistically exhausted, less creative, less capable

There are days when ideas don’t flow… everything seems too hard, everything has been done before, and we find ourselves stuck in a rut.

Our core businesses—Crave for Crafts and Make It Like Mine—require us to find ways to make crafts happen. All the time! But I am sure you have experienced feeling overwhelmed—artistically exhausted, less creative, less capable.

We’ve discovered some great books that ignite our creativity and we’re happy to share. Here are our all time favourites; I hope they help you too.

1) Steven Pressfield’s “Do the work” and “The War of Art: Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles”.

These books are short, sharp and worthwhile reading—they will shake you up, make you stop procrastinating, break through your resistance! We bet you won’t feel the same way after reading them.

As Steven states in The War of Art: “It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance”.

2) Choreographer Twyla Tharp’s “The Creative Habit”.

A must-read book if you are interested in how to set up rules and rituals that will help you create on a daily basis.

Twyla explains that creativity is just a habit. It is nothing extraordinary, reserved only for those ‘gifted ones’, for artists or writers. You just need to set up rituals that set you in the mood to create things.

3) Julia Cameron’s “The Artist Way”.

Julia is well known for the ‘morning pages’—she recommends journaling around three pages every morning, just after awakening to release your subconscious. No editing, no over thinking (or even thinking), just writing. The best thing is that if you do this, you will have already achieved the first creative habit of the day, writing!

Crave for Crafts’ friends at Pip Lincolne’s book signing Brisbane
Crave for Crafts’ friends at Pip Lincolne’s book signing Brisbane

4) From fellow Australian Pip Lincolne’s “Craft for the Soul” as well as Pip’s website “Meet me at Mike’s”.

This is a lovely book to read while you are cosying up on the couch, with a good cup of tea. It is like a nice talk with your old time friend on a wintery Sunday evening.

In this book Pip shares how to become more creative in your everyday life. She also shares some yummy recipes and craft patterns. And in person, she is absolutely lovely and friendly.

Have you found any inspirational reads? Please let us know in the comment section below!

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