Big Magic

I have been very slow to read this dynamic, robust meditation on creativity of all kinds. It was first published in the UK in 2015 and I have trudged towards it, largely, I am ashamed to admit, because I was suspicious of the explosively joyful cover and the front and centre recommendation by the Mail on Sunday. But, thank goodness, I finally surmounted these superficial obstacles because this is the pep talk that all creative folk need in times of doldrum or imaginative paralysis. Elizabeth Gilbert’s approach to the curiosity that drives creativity is practical and kind. She advises those of us to make things to get to work without delay; to unhitch ourselves from the notion that success, public appreciation or the quest for perfection are necessary conditions in which to be creative. The essence of this book is that if we feel inspired to make anything at all then we should follow that urge. Crafting something - anything - is a life-affirming action, she argues, and this is a book that I will return to again and again when I feel my own motivation grow saggy and grey.