A Book Review: The Creative Habit

_The Creative Habit_ by Twyla Tharp

I find myself growing more invested in this book since finishing it. It's kind of as if it's haunting me. As I read it, I didn't find it tremendously inspiring though there were some solid nuggets worth pondering. As days have passed since I read the book, I am baffled at what seems to be resonating. The idea of discretion, a term Tharp does not use, is pervading my creative sphere right now. The idea of exercising choice and judgment because I say what matters creatively is infusing my every action and that is a direct result of reading this book. Tharp does say: "Demonstrate good judgment and people will give you room to exercise it. Be ornery - it's your judgment on the line." I am choosing to exercise my judgment in an effort to express more fully who I am and letting the chips fall where they may. I am giving up the desire for approval in order to be more fully self expressed; to be more fully me and this is profoundly invigorating.

I am finding motivation in some of the ideas presented by Tharp. Despite my critique that follows, the book jumpstarted something in me. I guess Tharp does what she sets out to do although I admit, the text needed to percolate before any of that became clear. Some of the tips I am taking to heart are these:

EDIT your life: "Subtract anything that disconnects you from your work." In the 3 major life projects I have going right now (a play, parenting and photography), I am always looking for new ways to refine focus and clarity. This idea creates a world of possibility for what to include and what to give up - I love this!

EDIT your art: "The creative act is editing - exercising your judgment - set the bar high and know when to stop tinkering."

OWN your work: "Make your art the thing that you know best - the thing that you recognize yourself in."

DO the work: "Develop the skills you need... Skill gets imprinted through action... If art is the bridge between what you see in your mind and what the world sees, then skill is how you build that bridge...Challenge assumptions...Create a Hemingway bridge - figure out what's next (for tomorrow) then call it a day so that the "end of the day knits into the next."

REMEMBER: "The body is how we stay in touch with the outside world... Habitually creative people are prepared to be lucky... Fortunate people are prepared, attentive to craft, alert, involve friends and make others feel lucky to be around them."

I am not the target market as I don't find myself "creatively challenged" but I thought there might be a tip or two to glean from the famed American dancer and choreographer (and there were.) I felt the exercises were a little mundane and somewhat limited in scope. A lot like the beginning of the run of _Movin' Out_ I felt this was an uneven source of information, often endeavoring to be something it simply isn't. While I enjoyed her metaphors for dance and the body, her principles seemed overly dramatic.

The drama was in statements and sentiments like these: "We change through life but we cannot deny our sources," "Everything is usable" and "Metaphor is the lifeblood of all art." To take a suggestion from her book: "Find something useful in everything - how would you do something differently?" I would have allowed myself more space to be light in my sharing. The book could have read as if it were a dance had there been less drama grounding it; keeping it tethered. I felt it was constantly grasping to gain momentum and constantly falling short.

One of the best, most promising, parts was this tidbit: according to researcher Cesare Marchetti, "creative production is limited in our youth and...hits full stride in our prime middle years." I love the idea that the best is still yet to come!