Creative Books
Keep Going, the book that got me out of a creative rut.
In the creative activity we have all had a creative block, for many and varied reasons, but the effect is the same, inability to produce ideas or concepts that excite you and lead you to turn them into reality.
Over the years I have had creative blocks mainly caused by work overload and stress, but the latter was not due to the same thing, somehow I felt more a sense of apathy or numbness that did not let the ideas flow and the few that occurred to me did not excite me that much.
Few years ago on a visit to the bookstore I came across a yellow book with a screaming advice on the cover: Show your work! It was a small book, really short and easy to read but very funny and above all full of little teachings. Since then I declared myself a fan of Austin Kleon’s particular style.
A few years later I bought a copy of Steal like an artist and in the same way, I found it very useful and above all it was a very fresh book in the field of creativity, in which, by the way, a lot of literature is usually too eloquent or heavy to read. But what Kleon does in these books is incredible, a simple, direct language that takes away from creativity that “unattainable” level to democratize it and put it within reach of those who wants to say what they think.
It’s no surprise then that as soon as I became aware of my most recent creative block I ran to the bookstore to pick up the book this text is about, Keep Going.
I in no way intend to write a review of the book, the truth is that I have no authority to do so beyond being a person who enjoys having ideas and expressing them in different ways, whether the world knows them or not.
Without further ado, this is a small summary-compilation of the ideas from the book that resonated with me the most.
1. Every day is Groundhog Day.
Based on Harold Ramis movie starring Bill Murray, Kleon makes the case for the importance of taking one day at a time, having a routine and stopping at the end of the day.
We got rid of the day as well as we could.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
2. Build a bliss station
Anyone who is engaged in creative activity knows that having one’s own time/space, free and without limitations, is indispensable for flowing even if there is no clear direction. Of course, there is no room for anyone but oneself in that base, let alone devices full of non-stop notifications.
The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key elements of discovery: loneliness, uncertainty, and boredom. Those have always been where creative ideas come from.
— Lynda Barry
3. Forget the noun, do the verb.
Once we are well into whatever our activity is, we seem to forget that what is important is not the product or the work itself, but the fact of doing it. We forget that when we were children we did not play with a particular purpose, it was all about playing.
I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process.
— Buckminster Fuller
4. Make gifts.
Doing things without an additional purpose, without having to monetize it, without making it a side gig is becoming more difficult every day, especially for creative people. Today there is an unspoken need to exploit what we do, even more so if we are good at it. Making gifts saves us and puts us in touch with those gifts.
There is a kind of success worse than failure.
— Jean Cocteau
5. The ordinary+ extra attention = The extraordinary
This part of the book makes me think irremediably of Christoph Niemann’s Sunday Sketches, and reminds me of the power we have to find treasures in the most seemingly insignificant things.
Attention is the most basic form of love
— John Tarrant
6. Slay the art monsters.
Almost all of us have read some story about those mythical artists whose work is praised in spite of their questionable human qualities. That old jerk-artist myth is no longer valid or necessary today.
However glorious the history of art, the history of artists is
quite another matter.— Ben Shahn
7. Your are allowed to change your mind.
The constant in this life is change and we must embrace it as soon as we can. Kleon says “to change is to be alive” and how right he is, the new generations are showing us that you can change as many times as you want in your life. The balance between embracing change and remembering to visit the past opens us to interesting perspectives all the time.
We are excluded from no age, but we have access to them all.
— Séneca
8. When in doubt, tidy up.
When chaos is overwhelming, tidying up can help stimulate creativity, but it is not about tidying up for productivity, most of the time creativity and productivity are not even related. The exploration that takes place when tidying up may lead us to other places we weren’t even looking for.
I can never find what I want, but the benefit is that I always find something else.
— Irvine Welsh
9. Demons hate fresh air.
Nothing better to exorcise blockages than going out and get some air, be in touch with the real world, feel the body as it moves and pay attention to details.
Solvitur ambulando.
— Diogenes
10. Plant your garden.
How important it is to understand that even creativity has seasons, we are not and should not be a factory of ideas all the time, giving ourselves time to recalibrate is perhaps the most profound teaching I found in this book.
Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and
remember that nothing stays the same for long.— May Sarton
These ten simple but transcendental lessons were very helpful in overcoming the creative block. Today I feel fresher, more in touch with my processes and confident that the ideas will keep flowing and in case I hit another block I will overcome it faster and from a completely different perspective.
This has only been a very brief summary of the ideas that most connected with me and a handful of quotes that stuck with me. Kleon’s style, illustrations and most of the content are invaluable, if you get a chance to read this book don’t pass it up.
Even better if it’s before you have a creative block.
So just keep going.
