7 Books to Help Spark Your Creativity

I’ve been in love with creativity before I knew what creativity actually was. As a kid I was constantly choreographing dance routines for my friends and I, entering myself in talent shows, singing (badly) into my home karaoke machine and writing poems in my Hello Kitty diary. You probably found imaginative thinking as a kid easy too.

Thinking and living creatively feels natural when we’re young, maybe because we lack a defined “self” and inhibitions (aka, we don’t give AF and think we’re awesome).

Staying close to creativity and curiosity has opened up a wonderful and colourful world for me, and led me to the photography and content creation career I have now. Creating content involves tapping into my imagination daily, but that doesn’t mean it’s always free-flowing. Since my work depends on it, it’s disappearance can create a bit of stress and anxiety. The irony of this is obvious. The more stressed out I feel, the less likely my creative genius is going to come down and visit me.

Even if you don’t engage in stereotypical creative work for a paycheck, I believe that we ALL have creative desires that want to be expressed. You don’t have to share your work with the world, you don’t need to share it with anyone in fact. but we all have an innate need to express what’s in us.

Here are a few books that have helped me tap into my creative juices and I hope they do the same for you. Leave your favourite books on creativity in the comments below!

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1.) The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Julia Cameron published it back in 1992 and it’s still considered to be among the best books published written on cultivating creativity. This workbook is all about how to overcome our limiting beliefs and fears that inhibit the creative process. It’s broken down into a twelve-week journey with prompts and exercises to help us discover the link between our spiritual and creative selves. I’ve even kept one of Cameron’s vital tools for “creative recovery” which is morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. I’ve been doing morning pages consistently for 6 years and it’s one of my favourite rituals.

2.) Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Before writing this post, I asked followers on Instagram what books have helped their creativity over the years? 90% of people sent me this title. It was going to be included anyway, but it’s cool to see how many people have read and been inspired by this particular book. I’m a long time follower and fan girl of Liz Gilbert, and her book “Big Magic” is where she shares her wisdom and unique understanding of creativity to help us shatter the perceptions of mystery and suffering that surrounds the whole process. She shows us that we are all creative, just by being human, and tapping into inspiration and curiosity is easier than you think.

3.) Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull

Creativity Inc is written by Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar Animation studio. This book is part autobiography, part history of Pixar, and part business book. Ed provides a brilliant insight into one of the most creative companies in the world and looks at how creativity can be used for problem-solving. It provides a great lesson for how workplace leaders and managers can foster an environment that allows employees to get creative and initiative, even if their ideas fail in the end.

4.) Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi

Doing nothing is challenging and uncomfortable. We’re not used to not feeling productive or checking things off our list. But “doing nothing” is exactly what Manoush Zomorodi is suggesting in her book “Bored and Brilliant.” In 2015, while she was hosting a popular podcast and radio show ‘Note to Self’, she led thousands of listeners through an experiment to help them unplug from their devices, get bored, spark their creativity, and ultimately change their habits and lives. Bored and Brilliant builds on that experiment to show us how to rethink our gadget use to live better and smarter in this new digital ecosystem. The connection between boredom and original thinking is uncovered, and is grounded in the neuroscience and cognitive psychology of “mind wandering”—what our brains do when we’re doing nothing at all.

5.) Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey

Mason Currey invites us into the daily rituals of 161 inspired minds. Each page is a peek into well-known novelists, playwrights, composers, philosophers, and scientists who worked in the face of obstacles to get their work done each day. Rituals and habits include; everyday naps, waking up with the sun or working straight through the night, going to the same pub at the same time of day, or taking a long walk every afternoon. If you’re a fan of rituals or are fascinated by other’s creative habits, you’ll love this book.

6.) The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

This book is about one thing: RESISTANCE. Resistance shows up in a lot of different ways when you embark on a creative calling, and Steven Pressfield names them all in this book. He present this battle as one that can be won through sheer determination, hard work, and showing up every day whether or not you want to. Success, whatever that means for you, is a by-product of the work, so your job is to be consistent so that momentum is generated, inertia is created, and creativity can’t be stopped.

7.) Choose Wonder Over Worry by Amber Rae

Choose Wonder Over Worry is an invitation to face your deep-seated fears, awaken your truth and purpose, and get to the source of what's holding you back. It asks us to look at why we’re not pursuing what matters to us, and where we got the ideas that we’re not good enough or talented enough to chase our dreams. I personally love that at the end of each chapter, Amber gives a prompt to go deeper on the topic of the chapter, and a blank page to journal what comes up. (Trust me, a lot will come up!)

What books have you read to help boost your creativity? Let me know in the comments!

More creative resources……