Real Words

I have a post up today over at Pureblogging which reflects on how important it is for bloggers to read books about blogging. The underlying assumption of the post is that all writers benefit from reading different types of writing. I try to make sure that my own reading agenda includes blog posts, in-depth online articles, magazines and books. I also try to make sure that the content of that reading material is varied. I believe that this helps to broaden my own experience of life as well as to inspire my own writing.

Although I do think that any type of reading at all can do this, I find that it’s useful for me as a writer to read books that are specifically about creativity and the creative process. I don’t, however, limit myself to reading books that are about writing. In fact, I have found that books about creativity in general tend to be more useful to me than books that are specifically about getting my writing going. Rather than writing prompts, I prefer reading about how to make my entire life more creative. A life lived artistically is a life that has inspiration around every turn.

It’s probably no surprise that the first book like this that I discovered was The Artist’s Way. It was years ago that I came across this famous book and worked through the exercises to unleash some of my creativity. I have since read several of Julia Cameron’s books and although I don’t always do the twelve-week process that they’re all about, I do find that I can get some refreshed inspiration here and there by reading through her ideas on creativity. Even the series of quotes lining the margins of her books is often a source of new ideas for me.

The most recent book that I read on creative living was Living Artfully by Sandra Magsamen. This book provides tips, anecdotes and examples of bringing creativity into your daily life. It touches on everything from creativity in your home decor to artistic ways of making your holidays more special. I particularly liked certain tips (such as using empty wine bottles as unique picture frames). But more than this, I found that taking the time each morning to read a few pages really got my creative juices going. This inspired me to provide creative ideas to others in some of my blog posts (see examples here and here) as well as to be more creative in my own personal projects.

In fact, it helped me to come up with many of the projects that I’m working on this year for my own personal development, including the neighborhoods project which I mentioned here in the blog recently. And because of that, I’ve added another goal to the list which is to fill an entire shelf on my bookcase with the  books on creativity that I read this year.

Seeking Input: What other books on creativity should I add to this year’s reading list?