Creativity

Famous Suicides and What-Ifs ...
The Lost Soul Companion: A Book of Comfort and Constructive Advice for Black Sheep, Square Pegs, Struggling Artists, and Other Free Spirits
by Susan M. Brackney
Vincent van Gogh broke his younger brother's heart. Over the years, Theo van Gogh supported Vincent financially and emotionally despite his own frailties and commitments. He adored Vincent and did everything in his power to further his brother's art

John Kennedy Toole
The Lost Soul Companion: A Book of Comfort and Constructive Advice for Black Sheep, Square Pegs, Struggling Artists, and Other Free Spirits
by Susan M. Brackney
When I told my friend Stephanie about The Lost Soul Companion project, she told me about John Kennedy Toole. He wrote her favorite book, A Confederacy of Dunces - a fantastically funny novel about a guy named Ignatius Reilly and his adventures

A Practical Approach to Genius
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
by Michael J. Gelb
In the pages that follow you will learn a practical approach, tested in experience, for applying the essential elements of Leonardo's genius to enrich your life. You will discover an exhilarating, original way of seeing and enjoying your world

Lost Souls Are Hothouse Flowers
The Lost Soul Companion: A Book of Comfort and Constructive Advice for Black Sheep, Square Pegs, Struggling Artists, and Other Free Spirits
by Susan M. Brackney
I've thought about killing myself many times. Maybe you have too. Hopefully I can convince us both that it's not such a good idea. For years, so-called 'experts' have said that even the mention of suicide to someone who is himself suicidal is tantamount

Is Your Home Healthy?
Apartment Therapy
by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
In the first few years that I took on clients, I was surprised by the number of people who were miserable in their homes. I wondered what was going on to cause so much distress.

Your Brain Is Much Better Than You Think
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
by Michael J. Gelb
Although it is hard to overstate Leonardo da Vinci's brilliance, recent scientific research reveals that you probably underestimate your own capabilities. You are gifted with virtually unlimited potential for learning and creativity.

Knitting Nancy
KnitLit
by Linda Roghaar, Molly Wolf
Every story has a beginning and mine begins in my early teens. I was taught to knit by a left-handed friend. Since I am right-handed, my knitting ability and form are not the greatest.

How to Find the Grail
Da Vinci Decoded
by Michael J. Gelb
In Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code the protagonists, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of intrigue and danger as they seek to track down the Holy Grail

Presence
Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts-For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind
by Anna Deavere Smith
Presence. You want to know what it is. Well, you hit on my favorite subject. First of all, even before I became an actress I was told I had 'presence.' 'Stage presence.' I didn't know what that meant. I forgot about it.

I Create, Therefore I Am?
Self-Promotion for the Creative Person
by Lee Silber
It's called self-promotion for a reason: If you don't do it yourself, it usually doesn't get done! It's definitely a do-it-yourself proposition. It's an overwhelming proposition to make it big in the arts, and impossible if you don't take a proactive

Why You Have More Time than You Think You Do
Living Your Joy: A Practical Guide to Happiness
by Suzanne Falter-Barns
The common perception of the average Jane these days is that there is never enough time to tend our dreams. Our already overstuffed days are jammed to the breaking point with things we absolutely must attend to.

The Art of Freedom
A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life
by Nina Wise
It is our nature to be free and it is our nature to express that freedom, spontaneously and without hesitation, through song, and dance, and painting, and poetry, and prayer. In the same way that the universe gives birth to uncountable shapes, forms

What's Your Name?
KnitLit
by Linda Roghaar, Molly Wolf
Big Red was the first of the sweaters that flew from my friend Alex's needles in the year 2000. A prolific knitter, Alex frequently names her sweaters. Big Red was a sim- ple, rustic sweater, a wholesome wool sweater of hearty peasant stock.

Starting In Silence
Fingerpainting on the Moon: Writing and Creativity as a Path to Freedom
by Peter Levitt
When I was very young I would ask my mother to tell me stories about her own childhood. More often than not, I would already be in bed with the lights turned out and the warmth of my mother beside me filling the room.

Our Knitting Heroine
KnitLit (too)
by Linda Roghaar, Molly Wolf
Our knitting heroine is a Canadian. This means that she must skate, whether she likes it or not. Let us assume that in this case, the operative word is 'not.' She is, however, married to Darling, a Newfoundlander, and this means that the offspring

Hope, Strength, and Strategies for Artists and Artists-at-Heart
The Not-So-Lost Soul Companion
by Susan M. Brackney
This is where we left off. In a woods populated with poofy-looking birds perched high in the tallest trees. The poofy birds call out to one another as if to say, 'I am here ... where are you?'

Discovering a Sense of Origin
Walking in this World
by Julia Cameron
You say you want to make art. You want to begin or you want to continue. This is good. We need a more artful world, and that means we need you and the specific contribution that you and you alone can make.

Why Creative People Don't Do It
Self-Promotion for the Creative Person
by Lee Silber
Don't you think I'd rather spend all of my time making art rather than marketing it? I would love to just write books all day, sitting by the pool sipping a cool drink, and never have to write another press release, design another brochure, or cold-call

My Hope for This Book
The Not-So-Lost Soul Companion
by Susan M. Brackney
If you're anything like me, then you live with a fairly insistent urge to create and to make an indelible impression on the whole world. There is, in my case, the small matter of not really knowing what it is I was 'meant' to do.

Commitment
Walking in this World
by Julia Cameron
Very often, calling it professionalism, we become too busy to make art for art's sake. We are committed to a certain careerist, professional agenda and we tell ourselves that is all we have energy or time for. This is false.