Book Review - Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Overall, "Steal Like An Artist" is like having a pep talk at the ready for days when you need it. The general theme of the book is a sometimes gentle, sometimes blunt, reminder that there is nothing new under the sun and that's not a bad thing. We don't live in vacuums, and art (of any variety) isn't ever going to be a virgin birth. We are all products of everything we come across, and so is what we make, and THAT IS OK. And even if you know that intellectually, you can still manage to forget it on occasion. So on days, when you feel like every idea you have is unforgivably derivative - this is a great read!

The book also offers valuable practical advice about things like not waiting until you think you're ready (you will never think you're ready) - just make things and see how it goes; keeping some kind of notebook/log of things as diverse as the noise in your head and basic habit tracking; getting/keeping side interests (AKA being a whole person in general); and not being so obsessively secretive about your projects you don't include your fellow humans in the ride (then expect them to care when you finally hit the destination). It's also full of some great quotes - I'm talking genuinely frame-worthy quality quotes!

This is not a stale, cold, boring advice book. Even the things you already know are stated in a motivating way. This book is as if a good friend sat you down and told you to stop putting so much pressure on yourself, be yourself, have some fun when possible, and get off your ass and get busy making stuff - you know you want to, and you know you should.

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Planner Freebies - Hobonichi Weeks Cover Insert

In my search for the proverbial/mythical planner peace, I thought I might like a Hobonichi Weeks. Since it was Feb/Mar at the time, and I already had three other planners I was trying out, I decided to get an undated Fauxbonichi from Amazon for like $8. Disliking the look of it, I bought a plastic cover and printed off the following insert based on a free dashboard design from Plan With Bee. Click below to download/print my cover insert - just print it off, trim it down a bit, and insert in the plastic cover. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WnMe2wjLSlKTwuqtW9KL5CDTNRfd1TGZ/view?usp=sharing

Planner Freebies - Temp and Period Tracker

So, probably in order to try to tame the chaos of my life, I have been diving deep into the planning world lately. I've been planning for years, eons even, but it used to be strictly functional (which is a polite way of saying my planners were ugly - not that all functional planning is ugly, but MINE WAS). I would quickly scribble down stuff to be done, with any implement I had on hand, and cross things out and move them around to the point of being indecipherable by anyone but (hopefully) me. All with the no nonsense goal to get it down, get it done, and move on. I never decorated any of them, nor did I keep them for any reason - at the end of the year they went in the trash. But I never found the perfect planner - one that could accommodate every area of my life. And I still have not, so far. Though I am starting to decorate it, journal in it, and plan to keep them from now on. I would love to have a gorgeous BuJo, but I cannot manage to force myself to keep one due to the time ...

My Hobonichi 2025 Haul & Unboxing

I can barely remember a time when I didn't have a planner, but I know I haven't been without one since I went back to school in 2012. I have one of those brains that spins into overdrive if I don't write down the things I need to do. For several years I've debated buying a Hobonichi Weeks. This year ... I gave in. Despite the 'Hobonichi Day Debacle', I got exactly what I wanted. Having never ordered from Hobonichi before I didn't even realize the chaos wasn't typical. Long story short, I ended up ordering from JetPens the next day. Since I was only getting a few things to try, the $28 shipping from Japan would have made it more expensive than the JetPens' mark-up anyway. But the point is, all's well that ends well and I'm looking forward to moving into my Weeks asap (come on, November!).

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