UM: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry - digital download

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UM: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

• 87 pages
• Instant download (PDF - no special reader needed, 2.2 MB)

Description

UM, is a self-help book for creatives, filled with illustrated quotes, ideas and exercises. UM gathers hard-won insight from my own learning and practise across 25 years of creating professionally (and for my own sanity). 

I titled it “UM” because I don't really know. But also, the word itself gives birth to thoughts and ideas - and this whole book. I usually have to say a hundred Ums to get one Ah!

Included:

• Tips for inviting ideas
• Exercises for play and getting things started
  
• Tactical practises to immediately apply and elevate your work
• Walkthrough of the development and crappy early drafts of my most shared poems
• Pros/cons and paths to traditional and self publishing
• Art life anecdotes
• Keeping the art spark alive while working meaningless jobs 

I hope this book turns an Um into an Ah! (or two) for you.

Stuff I've done:

Over two and a bit decades, I've featured in: Best Australian Poems (Black Inc Books); contributed to mainstream published books on creativity, The Right Brain Workout (Penguin) and Creative Demons and How to Slay Them (Thames and Hudson); my poems featured in a Chinese Tibetan Monk's teaching text; my first book of poems FALLING UPWARDS published by 5 Island Press (University of Melbourne); a finalist in the Newcastle Poetry Prize; and guest lectured at Deakin University on creativity (third year communications students).

Praise for UM

"There are lots of books on the creative process. But none quite like this. It’ll make you laugh, it'll make you think, it’ll make you see the world afresh - and I’m pretty sure it’ll make you a better writer too."
- Richard Holman, author of, 'Creative Demons and How To Slay Them'

"So, UM is, um, nothing short of fucking brilliant. Positively heaving with wisdom, beauty, laugh-out-loud inspiration, originality and insane ingenuity."
–Ali Whitelock, author of, 'The Lactic Acid In The Calves Of Your Despair'