5 Books To Help & Inspire Your Creative Journey
About this series: I am a writer documenting my journey as I write my first book, sharing the resources, great authors’ wisdom, books, musings, and experiences propelling me forward. I hope it is helpful.
This month, I received some great reading recommendations from writers. What I am attempting to do over the coming year is to create a quality reading list, much like a professor would in a college. For me, reading is downloading good data into a computer. The main source of inspiration for me is nature, but reading is a second.
When I put this list together, I included some books I have already read- but are worthy of mention. Reading brings immense, immeasurable value to my work. For this reason, I update this list regularly. Please feel free to comment, share, or add additional works that might be beneficial to expand this list. The purpose of this page is solely to share my journey with other writers.
Books Recommended to me by Other Writers:
1. The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) & The Hero’s Journey
Covers of two of Joseph Campbell’s books. The first cover of “The Hero with A Thousand Faces” includes a face made up of countless pictures of individual faces creating a collage of a man’s face which includes, “Detail of a bronze statue of a young man, possibly by Phidias (460bc)” The second cover is “The Hero’s Journey and includes pictures of Campbell in 3 pictures in various stages of his life. In one image, he is holding chalk and teaching. This cover also has artwork such as statues and paintings depicting different world myths.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1984) was a comparative mythologist. Many screenwriters read Campbell’s works to inform their artistry. Campbell was a teacher at Sarah Lawrence College — an institution in Yonkers, NY (where I happened to grow up) the school is known for its writing programs.
Campbell’s book offers artists an interior analysis of their views concerning physical, intellectual, and spiritual planes, making his work a unique resource. He believed that stories connected and united us through the transcendental quality of myths across centuries. His quotes, like the one below, intrigue me enough to want to learn more.
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That’s what it’s all finally about, and that’s what these clues help us to find within ourselves.”
2. 7 Secrets Of The Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik
Book cover depicting the beautiful Hindu Goddess Balambika, the daughter of humanity, goddess of knowledge. Flowers surround her, and she sits in Sukhasana pose with her legs crossed one over the other. She has four arms with a red circle of Alta(red dye) adorning two hands, and another hand holding a sacred text, while the other holds japamala (prayer beads).
This selection came from an author’s recommendation. I was reading an article and grew curious about the play,“Pursuit of Perfection Girish Karnad’s ‘Hayavadana,’ and became intrigued. It is work that explores the futility of pursuing perfection, a topic I was considering in the blog last week. This article got me interested in learning more.
I asked the writer of this essay for a recommendation, and he pointed me toward author Devdutt Pattanaik, who interprets ancient texts from Hindu mythology and Indian epics.
I am interested in the feminine divine as a way of analyzing female characters. So I chose this book because it explores different manifestations of the feminine divine in Hindi mythology and symbolism. Interpretations and inspirations from myth often appear in creative works. This is the first book I hope to read in a series of others along the same lines.
3.The Philosophy of Composition & The Raven
Book cover shows a raven flying through his window at night. The window is open and the white curtains are blowing in the wind.
I have read The Raven before, but this was recommended to me as a way to uncover Poe's approach to tone. This version includes Edgar Allen Poe’s analysis of the work from an 1846 essay he penned, which considers how good writers compose their work. Poe is a friend of logic. Here he explains, “unity of effect” and ways to create a specific mood and tone. I can not think of a writer who had better control of these stylistic elements — I've found I need to read it more than once to fully learn from it.
I am fond of Edgar Allen Poe because, despite being very logical, it is easy to see his choice of subject was deeply emotional, revealing the complex nature of his work. What I find interesting about Poe is that he dropped out of West Point and faced many obstacles in balancing his desire to write with societal pressures. He went to the academy partially due to pressure from his foster father, yet his true passion lay in writing — something I find relatable to many writers’ paths. In this essay, he uses the Raven as a model case study, revealing his literary genius with practical advice and providing a window into his creative process.
4. Write for Life by Julia Cameron
Blue and white cover that looks like an ocean wave art. The cover of Write for Life” Creative Tools for Every Writer includes a reference to, “A six week’s artist’s Way Program” in a small circle. The cover features a review: “In this luminous new book, Julia Cameron whisks you so effortlessly along a six week wrtiing adventure that you will barely notice you have written the first draft. . . Write for Life is the gust of wind you’ve been waiting for.” -Mirabi Staff, author of “Wild Mercy” and “Caravan of No Despair.”
I finished this book and it stays with me. I love its structured process. I wanted to add it because it gave me so much confidence in my writing. I credit this book for permitting me to call myself a writer due to this beautiful quote:
It is the act of writing that makes us writers. -Julia Cameron
Julia Cameron is the author of the international best-seller, “The Artist’s Way,” and this book goes along the same vein. She calls the book “her love letter to writing.”
Julia Cameron has written several books on this topic and continues providing workshops online. This book is structured like one of her classes, as a 6-week program. Yet, it is a very personal portrait of her writing process, as she often describes her mornings looking out the window of her adobe house in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is the one state I have not been to, but Julia makes me want to see the natural beauty she is describing in her view. She models her writing process in this way.
Here, she explores how to keep writing despite pitfalls. She includes many inspiring quotes from well-known writers and explains how to deal with the typical emotions of fear, worry, anger, and frustration. Cameron understands the writing mind. She is a big advocate for journaling, which she calls “morning pages.” She believes this practice helps writers create flow and connection to their writing continually. Other techniques she explores are media deprivation, solo-artist dates to refill creative energy, bribes, breaks, and addressing limiting beliefs. It’s a myriad of tools and strategies to consider. You won’t regret reading this book and sharing in Cameron’s years of experience.
5. Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott
Cover of Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird, 25th Anniversary Edition: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. NY Times Best Selling Author of “Almost Everything.” The cover art features a yellow, white, black and dark teal bird with striped colors holding a small green leaf while it is flying.
I love ‘Bird by Bird: Some Instructions for Writing and Life’ and this book is a must-read for writers of all types. I call it the writer’s handbook. I can not remember who recommended this book for my life of me, or I would thank them. It is buried somewhere in my LinkedIn feed, which I wish had a search feature, much like FB. Lamott’s advocacy for building a community of writers is why I sought one out for support. She believes that it is essential to seek constructive feedback and encouragement.
Bird by Bird is hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny at times. The title comes from a word of advice Lamott’s father gave to her brother working on a project on birds the day before it was due and advising him to not sweat it, but take it “Bird by Bird.” Besides humor, Lamott considers intense emotions like grief, by processing memory with the medium of memoir. She wrote a memoir to her father before he passed and she describes her book and process in one chapter.
Ann Lamott brings a unique sarcasm not present in other writing books. All the while, she explores perplexing emotional issues related to writing, providing practical and compassionate advice. She believes in “shitty first drafts”(a term she coined), challenging the inner critic, and going step by step. The teaching I will always take from this book is to always write the truth. She says that the truth, your truth, is what matters most.
“If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. . . . Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act — truth is always subversive.” -Ann Lamott, Bird by Bird
The single best advice from this book is to look at writing like seeing through a dark window while driving at night in the rain. She reminds us that you can only see as far as your head beams go on nights like these— and elaborates that even though we might not see the whole scene — “all we have to do” is explain what we see in that little window, little by little, and slowly the story will come into view. It’s a beautiful way of overcoming writer’s block, by just taking one step at a time and not trying to see the whole book.
A marathoner and writer named Drew Morrison on Medium shared a piece, “How Running Can Be The Physical Embodiment Of Personal Development”which relates to Lamott’s principle in this book. He explains how he overcomes obstacles in running by just seeing just a few miles ahead rather than focusing on the entire marathon. He explains this is a type of mental framing.
It is really similar to Lamott’s advice about writing. Using this type of mental framing to say, “I’ll just write one page,” can be extremely helpful on difficult days. I do the same on my bike — I say to myself I’ll ride for 5 minutes, but soon it turns into more — because I’ve already made the effort to show up. Lamott explains exactly how to do this in her book in great detail and imagery.
So, a quick thank you. This list came about from listening to diverse viewpoints and recommendations.
I have five more to share soon. Initially, this article was supposed to include 10 books, but I will stop here. I will write the next 5 in a few days, but I figured to get half of these published. Thank you for reading.
-Miriam
