My latest book has just come out.
This may be just another Saturday for you. But for me, it’s a big day. Today is the launch of The Creative Wild: Get Unstuck, Create More Adventurously.
“Woo hoo!” you may be thinking. Or, more likely, “What tasks do I have to get through today?” since reading a book on how creativity can enhance all areas of your life—even if you don’t think of yourself as creative—may not be on your list of Saturday activities.
A book for those who consider themselves creative…and those who don’t
As I mentioned last time, I’m used to people telling me they aren’t interested in the book when I first explain it to them. They confide it isn’t for them because they’re not creative. Here’s the reality: We all are, even if we’ve been shamed into not believing it, pressured not to embrace it, or convinced we have better, more important things to do than invest time in making things or bringing beauty into the world.
As I’ll explain next time, I’m learning that trying to convince people they are creative may not be all that helpful. Instead, for all of you who don’t feel comfortable with the moniker of “creative,” let me offer you this.
The book will definitely help you if you’re struggling to embrace your inner creative. But even more so, it will give you some really practical tools to do something about that or this: To help you achieve whatever it is that matters most to you. It could be any kind of project. But these tools will help you at any stage of the creative process, at any point in a seemingly mundane project or, well, at any time of life.
The book provides surprising, yet immediately implementable tools that will give you a sense of both permission and possibility to create in all areas, whether that means raising a family, starting a new business, getting ahead in your work, making art, crafting music, cooking, law, medicine, or virtually any other realm where you seek to bring something new or different to bear.
It’s like what Grammy-award winning producer and author Charlie Peacock has kindly noted about The Creative Wild:
“Read this book if you want to live a 24/7 imaginative and creative life. It’s not just for artists. This book points the way to being human in the truest sense. Who doesn’t need that?”
What’s in the book
The book starts out on a personal note with my journey to embracing my own creativity. In the first few chapters, I explain where I’ve been stuck, both creatively and in life, and how that stuckness has spiritual implications. In this section, I look at how my own faith in Jesus affects my creativity and also how that faith affects my creativity. If you’re a person who embraces the Christian faith, you’ll find some novel ways of understanding how issues like grace and calling impact how and what you make and shape your identity as a creative person.
In the second part, I explore the four essentials needed for creating in any field: Mastery, Motivation, Mindset, and a supportive Environment. With this section and the rest of the book, while I’ll touch on some of the faith elements, you can derive great benefit whether you are a person of any or no faith.
Finally, we get the heart of the book, the Adventurous Creative Tools. Some, like Discovery or Place may seem familiar. But others, like Readiness, Re-Creation, Rhythm, Movement, Perspective, Indirection, Incompletion and Rightness, may hold new elements, even if you’re a big fan of books and articles on creativity—and especially if you’re not. The reason for it is, in part, my own background and curiosity.
Why I wrote it
I’ve worked for decades in the field of branding that is both art and science. I need to understand businesses and the innovation that fuels them. But I also have personal creative interests in painting, music, woodworking, writing, photography, cooking, and many others. So I bring that more “artistic” element to bear as well. Finally, I’m a sucker for the latest neuroscience findings on the subject, so you get the scientific angle too. Those three tracks: business, art, and science combine with some of the faith elements to provide a fresh look at how to create in a more adventurous and fulfilling manner.
Lots and lots of bonus material
If you want to know more about the book, go here . There you’ll get an overview of it, some reviews, and a whole load of resources mentioned in the book, including:
- A sample chapter
- A bonus chapter on a deeper look at a subject covered early in the book on how to Abide and Create
- A behind-the-scenes set of photo essays on my making of the various Creativity Boxes shown throughout the book
- A bibliography of over 250 resources I used in writing the book
- A reminder of why, exactly, you are creative (in case you, like many of us, had some doubts)
- A mini-manifesto on the notion of Creating as an Act of Grace
- A baker’s dozen of “Incomplete Thoughts on Incompletion”
- A helpful list of tactics to try to get unstuck and keep moving (beyond those listed in the book)
- Some thoughts on motivation and how to sustain it over time
- A list of Ways to Create Adventurously that also expands on those in the book
Where to get a copy
That’s it. You can purchase the book starting today from the following outlets or order it from your usual favorite bookstore. Other options like Bookshop.org should start carrying it shortly.
I hope you’ll enjoy the book and even review it on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, or wherever you get your books. And I’m always open to any questions you might have about it.
This post first appeared on my Substack at stevebrock.substack.com
