I picked up the book, "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert a few months back. I finished it shortly after but I haven't had the chance to write on it. Now, I'm an Elizabeth Gilbert fan. I was introduced to her writing like many others, by her "Eat Pray Love" novel. I immediately became a fan and read her next work and the next and the next, which was Big Magic.
Big Magic is a guide to living a creative life without fear. Gilbert begins the book with her definition of creativity and the process of becoming inspired and getting an idea. She argues that ideas are magical beings that have minds of their own. They enter our minds at their own will and leave when they deem us not worthy. Furthermore, she affirms that being creative is a gift and not a curse as many artists in the past made it seem like. In fact, it is a gift that is given to each of us from the universe and beyond; thus, it is our responsibility to accept it and embrace it. We must be diligent in practicing our art, whatever it is. The more we practice, the better we get at it. This is a universal law that applies to everything in life. Practice makes perfect right?
Elizabeth Gilbert also writes about her own experiences as a writer, how she entered the world of writing with no promises of becoming successful and long before her big break with Eat Pray Love, she experienced many failures. She suggests all writers to not focus on making money out of writing, at least not for a long time. Hey, this is not to say that she is discouraging all writers! As a writer who has struggled for many years to make any money out of her writing, she is sharing her experiences with her colleagues.
My Opinion of the Book
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the perspective that I gained about creativity, the idea of "ideas" and our responsibility of embracing our creative gifts really motivated and freed me. For one thing, it took the pressure off: I don't have to be an amazing writer if I want to write. In fact, who's making these opinions? Who can really say if I am an amazing writer or not? The truth of the matter is, it all comes down to practice. I keep making "blogs" and hoping that in this one, I will be more active and try to write, at least once a week.
However, the older I get, the more I expect myself to mature as a writer and expect myself to write well, especially in a blog setting that is open to anyone to read. This paralyzing expectation has given me a writer's block when it comes to blogging for long enough.
It is this book and something a mentor of mine said once: don't care about a person's opinion who is not going to cry at your funeral. This may sound like a bizarre tip, but bear with me here. He stated that based on a study that has been done, if you live a long happy life and die at an old age, only less than 10 people will attend your funeral. On top of that, maybe 2 or 3 of those people will actually cry at your funeral. For some reason, this tip has been life-changing for me in regards to caring about what people think of me.
So I'm going to write. Every day. Consider this post as my first in a long series.
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