The Book Review: “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert

“You want to write a book? Make a song? Direct a movie? Decorate pottery? Learn a dance? Explore a new land? You want to draw a penis on your wall? Do it. Who cares? It’s your birthright as a human being, so do it with a cheerful heart. (I mean, take is seriously, sure – but don’t take it seriously.) Let inspiration lead you wherever it wants to lead you. Keep in mind that for most of history people just made things, and they didn’t make such big freaking deal out of it.” – Elizabeth Gilbert 

Have you heard about #1 New York Times Bestseller “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert ? If you are into books and registered on a plethora of book review sites you know that this book is on the must-read list. Of course I read it. Not because of that list, but because I love Elizabeth Gilbert’s books and her way of writing. I fell in love when I read “Eat, Pray, Love” which was better than the movie.  However, the movie has Julia Roberts in it so win-win either way. Of course I picked up her book “Committed: A Love Story” after. And then all her other books. Feel free to ask questions about them. When I heard about her latest book I thought, wow, this book will be great. Simply because she might share some insight on what drives her to write awesome books and what sparks her ideas and why she is so creative. I consider myself a writer simply because I love to do it. In my childhood  I wrote short stories, my diary, scribbled something down and was into books. And my little blog here is just a place for myself to be creative. I live, I learn, improve and love to do so through great writers. Let’s dive into the book review.

After I read the first couple of pages I thought about Anne Lamott and her book “Bird by Bird”. Gilbert gives great advice on how to keep writing and be creative. Something inspires you and there is this urge to write or create you should simply do so and follow your intuition. You should not listen to others or worry what they might think of your work. She shares this great example of her friend Susan who started to “figure skate” by the time she was forty years old. She always wanted to be an ice skater and knew how to skate.  However, at some point as a teenager she felt that she will never be good enough. Not as good as professional figure skaters. She stopped skating. For a long time. The question Gilbert asks is, “Why bother, if you can’t be the best”? Her friend Susan turned forty and felt restless and in search of something. She asked herself when she was really happy in her past forty years and she knew the answer instantly. She put on skates and simple denied this inner voice; this voice  that used to say that she is not good enough and that she is crazy for trying to figure skate now. And she just did it. Does she still skate? Yep! Almost every morning before work. And she loves it! Will she ever become a professional figure skater? Most likely not but she does not care. This is when Big Magic happens I believe. Follow your dream, don’t give up.

Another very inspiring story she mentioned in her book was about her friend Eileen. She is heavily tattooed and just says things like: “I think I will get a new tattoo today.” Upon asking her what kind of tattoo and where she wants it to be placed on her body she simply says: “I dunno. I”ll figure it out when I get to the tattoo shop. Or I’ll just let the artist surprise me.” Gilbert now wonders, like many of us would. Can you just walk into a tattoo store without having a plan or an idea about what type of tattoo you would love to get? Eileen explained:

“My tattoos are permanent; it is just my body that’s temporary. So is yours. We’re only her on earth for a short while, so I decided a long time ago that I wanted to decorate myself as playfully as I can, while I still have time.”

In this awesome book you learn that you do not need anybody’s permission to be creative. You learn about this importance of being authentic. Are you curious about something? Follow along and see what you may find! Once you put your work out there and you trust yourself, it does not matter if you succeed or fail.

Overall, this book is different from any book Gilbert has written so far but I found it very helpful. I learned that it is not important what others think about you or your work. Actually it is YOU that is important. You and how YOU feel about you work. As Gilbert’s friend put it: “We all spend our twenties and thirties trying so hard to be perfect, because we’re so worried about what people will think of us. Then we get into our forties and fifties, and we finally start to be free, because we decide that we don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you won’t be completely free until you reach your sixties and seventies, when you finally realize this liberating truth – nobody was ever thinking about you, anyhow.” They aren’t. They weren’t. If you are supposed to create things, then you will create. And sometimes it is great to just show up at a party in a lobster costume. 😉

I love this video of Elizabeth Gilbert on TED if you would like to see

Thank you for reading my blog.



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