040 - On Developing a Creative Habit [Book Review]

The scene opens in an empty room with blank, white walls. A woman steps into the space, alone. "The blank space can be humbling," she writes. There's pressure to do something, to fill the emptiness, to create. But with practice and with the ritual of showing up, you grow accustomed to it. The author describes it as both her job and her calling.

"Bottom line," she writes, "Filling this empty space constitutes my identity.”

This is how the book, The Creative Habit begins. Author Twyla Tharp is a choreographer and dancer, offering insight into her creative practice and the rituals that accompany it.

As a creative, I love reading about other people's creative processes: their habits and work routines, the decisions they make, the way they think, and how they see the world.

I read this book last spring and it was one of my favorites of the whole year. I thought I'd share my three biggest takeaways and a few of my favorite quotes from the book with the hope that it's as inspiring and enlightening to you as it was for me.