i love books like this.
i don't think that's a secret
or a surprise.
i like books that make me want to
do
things...
read up on a subject, grab my camera,
grab a pen and journal, pick up a paintbrush,
try something i have never tried before.

and i love elizabeth gilbert.

i love love love loved eat pray love
and totally, completely, wholeheartedly
expected to NOT like it.

but i did.

and so i was very excited about this book of hers
and it did not disappoint me.

she tells a story about the amazon
and highways being swallowed whole
and a chance encounter
that kinda sorta gave me goosebumps.

i just like the way she writes.
so earnest.
so honest.

and i love that she says this:

“If you are alive, you’re a creative person.””

— Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

because i totally agree with it.
people tell me all the time
"i'm not creative at all, you're so creative"
but i think there are varying degrees and proportions of
creativity in
EVERYONE...
i think some people call it by a different name...
and then they don't recognize it in themselves
but
it's there...
if you cook, if you garden, if you build things,
if you play...if you sing, dance, brainstorm, solve puzzles,
guess at riddles, read, write, plan a vacation,
if you have made a snowman or a sandcastle,
flown a paper airplane, wrote a letter to a friend...
anything can be creative
because there is no one set way to do anything.

you're creating a life for yourself.
that's pretty damn big.
:)

so anyway...yeah...i loved this book!

4 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP: THE HEART GOES LAST - MARGARET ATWOOD
(and yay! it's book 12!! i will hit my goal for this year!!)

it's a whatcha readin' post
but without a finish,
there's no "the end"
because...
i haven't gotten to the end yet.

but i have to tell you that
while i am reading
the heart goes last
and really enjoying it
i am also reading a couple of other books
(which i don't normally do..
normally i am a monogamous reader,
loyal to the last page).

but this is different.

i am trying to journal every day
and sometimes, i need some help.
so i started reading elizabeth gilbert's
big magic
and i am loving it!

and i am also trying to doodle a little more...
so i had gotten
drawing lab for mixed media artists
by carla sonheim (whose art i love)
and last night
i spent about an hour and a half
drawing a full page of cats
30 cats to be precise...

i have never drawn
a cat
in my life.

at first it was kind of terrifying
and all sorts of frustrating.
but once i kept going
(like about 12 cats in...)
it started to get fun.
i drew them with glasses on
and bowties...
laying down, sitting up, backs arched,
fluffy, skinny, black cats with green eyes...
and it was fun and kind of
enlightening in an unexpected way.

so...a bit of a mass book update instead...
best i can do
in a rambling have to do this very fast because
i-have-to-go-watch-game-of-thrones-before-stirling-starts-without-me-kinda-way