You’re Allowed to Make Things and Share Them!
A collection of creative advice worth returning to (I’m speaking to myself here)
Hello, friends!
As I’m sure those of you who write, draw, or create in any way can relate, I swing between feeling proud of myself and my work — and feeling steeped in cringe about the whole thing. Making and sharing stuff is a wild ride, and this past week leaned heavier on the cringe than the pride, for whatever reason. Instead of barreling through the discomfort, I decided to scrap my original food-related plans for this post and write this instead. Here, you’ll find a collection of creative advice I’ve gathered from beloved books and mentors — little nuggets of wisdom I return to often, now compiled in one place for future reference.
Four out of ten come from one of my all-time favorite books: How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. I’ve read it several times and consider it my creative bible — to the point that I once purchased several copies and handed them out to friends like some kind of evangelist. Despite the title, it’s a resource for all kinds of creatives (not just songwriters), and has a warm, inclusive vibe that really resonates with me.
Thank you for being here, and I welcome you to comment on this post if anything here speaks to you, or if you have something to add to the conversation! It’s creative self-help o’clock.
Creative Advice Worth Returning To
“It’s just a matter of telling yourself that your creation is OK, no matter what it is.” - Jeff Tweedy, How to Write One Song
As humans, we have the basic right to create — and if we want to, to share what we make. Even if you don’t love what you create every time (or ever!), the important thing is that it exists and that you made it. Channel your inner kid, who drew freely, crayons sprawled across the table, marker stains on their hands, never fearing that their art could be considered “good” or “bad.”
“Just take it bird by bird.” - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
This is among the most well-loved pieces of writing advice, and it applies far beyond the page.
In Lamott’s words:
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
In other words: one thing at a time. Even the biggest, shiniest, dreamiest things only happen by taking one tiny step and then another one.
“If you want to write a song, take a walk.” - Jeff Tweedy, How to Write One Song
Walking encourages creativity. If you don’t want to take it from me and Jeff, take it from Stanford University! I’m lucky to live in one of the most walkable cities in the world, New York, and one of my favorite Brooklyn routes is a loop to Cobble Hill Park. I walk there from my apartment, sit on a bench for a while, then head home. I always witness something charming I wouldn’t have seen if I’d stayed home, and I always return with a little more clarity — especially when I keep my phone tucked away.
“Stick around.” - Austin Kleon, Show Your Work
is another of my creative gurus, and I love how direct his advice is. Creativity ebbs and flows and careers ebb and flow, but the only way to get where we want to go is to stick around.Curate your consumption.
Become the curator of your own consumption.1 Read, watch, and listen to good stuff that inspires you, or at least makes you think; it’ll make your work more interesting. It’s also worthwhile to consume media outside of your genre. I sometimes find that I read so much food writing and restaurant news that I regurgitate it without realizing that’s what I’m doing. I’m making a conscious effort to listen to podcasts about anything but food, and to read other genres I love, like memoirs and children’s literature and poetry.2 See my ThriftBooks cart here and here.
“You can’t quit because there’s a Beyoncé in the world.” - Jeff Tweedy, How to Write One Song
There are always going to be people out there who you deem better or at least more technically flawless than you at whatever you’re doing. This is not a reason to stop making stuff.
Nurture creativity.
The creative writing class I took in college with
transformed the way I write. She slashed through clichés, warned us against belittling our own voices, and taught the value of consistent creativity. In her class, we wrote at least 500 words of creative nonfiction a week, in addition to other assignments, led by her wonderfully kooky prompts. And I learned, in practice, that creativity is something to nurture, the same way you might nurture your body by eating vegetables or going to the gym.“Sleep tidies up the brain.” - Austin Kleon, Keep Going
Sometimes you just need to go to sleep and see how you feel tomorrow — about your work, about how you feel about your work, about the fact that you make and share your work, and so on.
Invest in your toolkit.
Shopping for creative supplies won’t make you creative, but you do need a toolkit to get to work. For example, I need paper and pens for drawings, a sharp knife for cooking, an iPad and iPad pencil for digital illustrations, a guitar for accompanying myself, and an Adobe InDesign subscription to explore a print project I’m dreaming up. These aren’t indulgences; these are tools.
“Pick up a guitar, and you’re much more likely to write a song.” - Jeff Tweedy, How to Write One Song
Sometimes, inspiration appears out of nowhere, when you’re brushing your teeth or waiting for the pasta water to boil, and it feels like there’s no choice but to stop what you’re doing and attend to it. In my experience, this sort of inspiration is very, very rare. I like how Tweedy describes putting yourself “directly in [inspiration’s] path,” pouring yourself a cup of coffee, opening a Google Doc (or whatever it is for you), and making space for inspiration.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll be back with more soon.
x Phoebe
This is definitely not an original thought, but I’m not sure who to credit it to!
I say this as someone who just gleefully wasted many hours of her life watching Love Island USA Season 7. Balance, baby.
Sage Advice! I just finished “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” by Rick Rubin and it is officially added to my Mt. Rushmore of books on creativity, up there with Natalie (“Writing Down the Bones” was my “bird by Bird” at your age.) keep creating!!!
don't call it a poem, call it an aardvark