The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

Twyla Tharp asserts that creativity is not a gift from the gods, conferred by some magical and heavenly spark. Anyone who wants to attain it may do so; it is the result of preparation and hard work. All it takes is the will to include creativity into your daily routine and establish it as a habit: Being creative requires knowing how to be ready to be creative. Whether you are a painter, composer, writer, director, choreographer, or even a businessperson working on a deal, a chef creating a new dish, or a mother hoping her child will see the world in a different light, Tharp shares the lessons she has learned in her incredible thirty-five-year career in The Creative Habit.

In The Creative Habit, there are over thirty exercises that will help relieve the worries of anybody confronting a blank beginning and open the mind to new possibilities. When Tharp finds herself in a creative rut, she turns to a lifetime of exercises to help her break free.

For both beginners and experts, Tharp's exercises are instantly applicable and useful. She urges us to examine the world and record our observations in "Where's Your Pencil?" In "Coins and Chaos," she offers the most basic mental exercises to bring harmony and order back. In "Do a Verb," she makes your body and mind work together. Her book, "Build a Bridge to the Next Day," explains how to declutter your mind in one night.

According to Tharp, routines, introspection, memory jogging, and material organization are the first steps toward long-term creativity (so no insight is ever lost). She walks you through the difficult first stages of coming up with ideas, identifying the main concept behind your work, and breaking out of ruts into fruitful grooves. She lives her creative life with positivity. A blank canvas, a barren workstation, and an empty room may be inspiring rather than depressing. And Twyla Tharp demonstrates for us how to take a deep breath and get started in this creative, uplifting book!