{"id":1169,"date":"2015-11-06T05:06:09","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T05:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sometimesraw.com--precise\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2015-11-06T05:06:09","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T05:06:09","slug":"the-book-review-big-magic-by-elizabeth-gilbert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sometimesraw.com\/?p=1169","title":{"rendered":"The Book Review: “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cYou 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\u2019s your birthright as a human being, so do it with a cheerful heart. (I mean, take is seriously, sure \u2013 but don\u2019t take it seriously.)\u00a0Let inspiration lead you wherever it wants to lead you. Keep in mind that for most of history people just made things, and they didn\u2019t make such big freaking deal out of it.\u201d \u2013 Elizabeth Gilbert\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Have you heard about #1 New York Times Bestseller \u201cBig Magic\u201d by Elizabeth Gilbert<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0? 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\u2019s books and her way of writing. I fell in love when I read \u201cEat, Pray, Love\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/a> which was better than the movie.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0However, the movie has Julia Roberts in it so win-win either way. Of course I picked up her book \u201cCommitted: A Love Story\u201d<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>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 \u00a0I 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\u2019s dive into the book review.<\/p>\n

After I read the first couple of pages I thought about Anne Lamott and her book \u201cBird by Bird\u201d.<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Gilbert 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 \u201cfigure skate\u201d by the time she was forty years old. She always wanted to be an ice skater and knew how to skate. \u00a0However, 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, \u201cWhy bother, if you can\u2019t be the best\u201d?<\/em> 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 \u00a0that 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\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n

Another very inspiring story she mentioned in her book was about her friend Eileen. She is heavily tattooed and just says things like: \u201cI think I will get a new tattoo today.\u201d Upon asking her what kind of tattoo and where she wants it to be placed on her body she simply says: \u201cI dunno. I\u201dll figure it out when I get to the tattoo shop. Or I\u2019ll just let the artist surprise me.\u201d 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:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy tattoos are permanent; it is just my body that\u2019s temporary. So is yours. We\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In this awesome book you learn that you do not need anybody\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s friend put it: \u201cWe all spend our twenties and thirties trying so hard to be perfect, because we\u2019re 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\u2019t give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you won\u2019t be completely free until you reach your sixties and seventies, when you finally realize this liberating truth \u2013 nobody was ever thinking about you, anyhow.\u201d<\/em> They aren\u2019t. They weren\u2019t. 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. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

I love this video of Elizabeth Gilbert on TED if you would like to see<\/p>\n