For some of you, the last two weeks in December multiplies the items on your to-do list and pushes you to pick up the pace. For others, it may be a quieter time. But the shorter days, perhaps a few high expectations, and our cultural magnification on the holidays can make this a challenging time for psychic space to create.
So I urge you not to fight against it and instead give yourself a break from making and allow yourself the gift of taking. I’m not talking about things material (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) I’m talking about filling your creative well with inspiration, affirmation and perhaps an insight or two. Consider using the next few weeks to take in what others have to say about why creativity is a priority in their lives. Let them give you words that to help you appreciate what you do, creatively speaking. Make it your end-of-the-year gratitude review.
To that end, I have some recommendations. Below are ten books that have provided me with this gift. Books that I go back to from time to time. Writers whose words on the subject of creativity, craft and the writing life ring bells for me and remind me why I spend so much time in its pursuit.
Certainly you can get your own thoughts down on the subject – it makes a great prompt – but when a writer articulates what you have long felt but never put into words (whether you’ve tried or not), it can be such a gift.
Gifts to stir your soul.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert
The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr
Still Writing, Dani Shapiro
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
The Story Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers, Laura Oliver
The Situation and the Story, Vivian Gornick
Writing About Your Life, William Zinsser
Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg
Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art, Judith Barrington
Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives, Louise DeSalvo
