8 things I learned from writing my latest book.
This morning I felt like sharing a bit of my process while writing my latest book Creative People…and what makes them tick.
It has taken me about a year to compile, research, write, revise and edit this book — although it wasn’t nearly as creative as my last three poetry books. The poetry books had my brain in full creative mode. This book “Creative People…” was more about arranging elements and a bit of storytelling, other than creative writing, but it was still a fun writing experience and I am proud of it! It includes 28 creative people from photographers to sculptors, authors to sculptors.
I think it’s an inspiring uplifting piece of work, especially after seeing the hard copy book which Amazon sends as a proof. DAMN it is gorgeous! It is a very heavy coffee table book filled with inspirational colorful art and artists inside.
BOOK PUBLISHING CAN BE A PAIN IN THE ASS
So, we finally finished formatting the book for the kindle/e-book which was a TOTALLY DIFFERENT process than the hard copy version. It was actually a pain in the ass because the entire design of the hard copy book had to be reworked and reformatted to fit the kindle format. Grrrrr. So, no matter how much we tweaked it, so much of the gorgeous artwork on the inside was sized completely different than my original thought and design.
For instance, I had at least three pieces of artwork for each creative person on one page. In the kindle version of the book it has the artwork separated randomly. Some pages have just one small piece of art, not even filling the page, others have two. Oh well. I learned what to do better next time. I will be far better at photo sizing next time. I’m sure of it!
I do think this book will inspire and entertain people and I’m glad it’s done. I love the idea of getting things done. One of my favorite quotes of all time is:
“DONE is better than perfect!”
I looooove this quote especially being a recovering perfectionist. It works so well for me as a writer and creative person. Some people rephrase this quote to:
“DONE Is better than good” but I think I prefer “DONE is better than perfect”
After finally finishing this book about creativity I’ve become much clearer about my own creative process and life. Here are some of my own takeaways after completing this book.
8 things I learned through writing this book.
- You must stay curious! Curiosity is the key to being creative. No doubt. It will keep you from going crazy or giving up. I was drawn to writing this book in the beginning because I was curious about what makes creative people tick, and I had been for many years. It was a subject that interested me so I just followed my curiosity. Period.
“Never choose fear over curiosity!” LIZ GIILBERT
Curiosity will win out, even when you bump up against the inner critic a.k.a fear. I learned that curiosity was what gave me the most satisfaction and kept me focused and committed to this book project.
2. The tragic artist’ myth might just be a myth. I asked the question about being a tragic artist to the creative people in my book. A majority of them surprisingly did not feel they were in the tragic artist camp. Most felt quite the opposite, which surprised me. A majority even sided with the ‘happy, fluffy, Bob Ross’ type of artist. Wow. So, I was way off on that one! My mind is now open to the fact that I might have to rethink this myth. Honestly, I felt a bit like the odd ball in my own book, because I still feel very connected to my ‘tragic side’. (I’m delving into all of this in my therapy now). One of my old beliefs was that we NEED tragedy to create good creative works — but now I’m questioning this belief too.
3. My least favorite part of this book writing process was the final editing aspect. It made me a bit nutty and I almost begun to hate the book because of all the fine tooth edits, typos, re-writes, re-drafts, shifting information, grammar issues, redesigning, formatting… yadda yadda.
I’m so grateful that Bob my patient tech boyfriend helped me get it done. I learned also that I‘d love to focus more on my strengths now — -which are not those things. Ha-Ha. My strength is ideas, not editing BUT I did learn a huge amount about editing, grammar, punctuation, structure issues etc., which was invaluable for my next few book projects so I’m thankful. One of my goals as a writer is to improve, which I did. So, I became a better writer AND editor in this books process. Yay!
4. Every creator creates stuff for their own reasons. One thing I found through writing this book is that every creator has different motives for doing their creative works — it definitely varies from soul to soul. Most creative people were very connected to their ‘WHY”. Some made their creative works because creativity helped them heal themselves in some way, others created for monetary reasons, and others had a variety of other inspirations for their creative lives. It was interesting to find out the differences in all the creative people in this book.
5. “Creativity is it’s own reward.” I learned how life affirming and necessary doing creative work is, whether it brings financial reward or not. There is a satisfying ‘reward’ just in doing creative stuff.
6. Go within your own heart when making final decisions on a book. If you ask 20 people you might get 20 responses to a question so in the end you must go within your own gut to get a book done. This is a funny thing I learned, but even after asking people to vote on my book cover colors, I ended up going within and did what I felt anyway — which is to publish two versions of the book with the two colored covers. hehe. I do love the freedom of Amazon createspace publishing. I felt better not having to have to pick just one, so I didn’t — and I’m happy about it.
7. I liked the process of creating this book far more than I’m looking forward to the marketing! (MARketINGGG. EWwwW!!) I must admit the idea of marketing does NOT bring me the same joyful feelings. I’ll leave it at that. The thought of having to figure out marketing strategies, social media platforms’, twitter, tweeeeeetering, building email lists, defining my target market, S.E.O or any of that crap just doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. It actually makes my head spin. I’d rather just concentrate my efforts on building my portfolio and bringing more works to the table, which is what I’m doing now. I have two more books in the works now. One is called ‘My Call to Write’ and the other will be my full memoir about my life in showbiz, impersonating Streisand etc. That book might take one to twelve years though.haha
8. I‘m not attached to results. The results of putting this book out into the world might be a number of things.
1. It could be a widely huge success
2. It could become a mildly amusing fun book to add to the pile of books I’ve written and will write
or
3. It could be a dud or even get panned by every critic on planet earth and become a laughing stock of the literary world?!~ I doubt that one though.
I’m fine with any of those outcomes. I learned many valuable lessons from this book writing/publishing process so that’s enough for now. I do believe more strongly than ever in my favorite quote by Andy Warhol:
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
Here are a few of the first reviews for the book.
5.0 out of 5 stars The Artists of Tomorrow Are In This Book Today.
By J P Loniak on December 13, 2017
“This is one AMAZING book! The images are beautifully rendered and the stories of the Artists really give an insight to each artist and, well, what makes them tick. This book will make a great gift for the Artist in your life or as a gift for yourself to experience amazing insight by folks who are generally misunderstood. Michelle Monet writes with the passion of the multi-talented Artist that she is, and this book made me want to explore more of her work. The questions she put to her subjects were interesting in themselves, and it was interesting to read that some Artists actually didn’t have much to say. However, the Artists that really seemed to write boldly, truthfully and fearlessly is what makes this book resonate. It was a pleasure to see examples of everyone’s work, and I could really see how the artists think and translate those feelings into their art. Do yourself a favor and buy this book. I really love that these artists are not nationally known. At least, not YET. The amount of talent just seems that some of these artists will one day become MAJOR influences on the art scene. Michelle has an eye for recognizing talent when she sees it. Brava!”
5.0 out of 5 stars ”Creative People” is a satisfying work of art!
December 8, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
“This thought provoking read is a unique feast for the eyes that provides fuel to inspire your inner artist — no matter what your chosen medium of expression. Michelle Monet has a genuine way of connecting with the reader through levity and relatability. This book brings hope and positivity in a world that could use some brightening! Thanks for a beautiful distraction during a time we all need to take in something uplifting and motivating~”
5.0 out of 5 stars This book will give you some insight into the thought process and the emotions behind each of these brilliant artists.
December 8, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
“How refreshing to read personal stories of artists who are not necessarily internationally reknown. These are real life people being completely candid in answering Michelle Monet’s poignant and interesting questions. Miss Monet very aptly chooses a very ecclectic mix of people from various artistic mediums. It truly was fascinating to see what made each of these people “tick”. Artists are special people in my mind. Their creativity is something to be admired and studied. This book will give you some insight into the thought process and the emotions behind each of these brilliant artists.”
5.0 out of 5 starsLove it! It’s a beautiful inspiring book
December 8, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
“Love it! It’s a beautiful inspiring book. The colors and the writing are wonderful! Can’t wait to get a copy! Michelle Monet is a talented writer, artist and performer!!!”
TO PURCHASE KINDLE /EBOOK CLICK HERE:
https://www.amazon.com/Creative-People-what-makes-them-ebook/dp/B0785MXF14/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
‘CREATIVE PEOPLE…AND WHAT MAKES THEM TICK’’ INTRODUCTION
There are many books about famous creative people throughout history. You can search the internet for information on Michelangelo, Picasso and also modern-day creatives like Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling or Stephen Spielberg. But I felt it would be far more interesting to have a book showcasing real-life creative people, not necessarily well-known artists and creators.
I set out to find a diverse group of Creative People and I made a list of questions for them to answer. In this book, you will find their answers to these questions, and unique insights into what makes these everyday Creative People tick.As I compiled the questionnaires, I made some interesting findings. Most surprisingly, on the question of tragic versus happy artists, I found it fascinating that a majority of these Creative People seemed to relate more to the contented happier artist as opposed to the tragic. Maybe the tragic artist stereotype is just a myth? Hmm. I’ll leave that for another book!
I also found it surprising that most Creative People in this book felt that having formal training as an artist was not that important to them. It was also fun to notice the distinct personalities of each person just by reading their answers to the questions. You’ll notice that some are long and detailed others short and sweet.
I want to thank all the inspiring Creative People who were kind enough to offer their wisdom and contributions to help bring this book idea to life. Through reading this book, my hope is that you will gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of this talented collection of Creative People in various mediums from fine artists to authors, sculptors to photographers.
I also hope you will be inspired and intrigued by their artwork and personal insights.
ENJOY!
Michelle
To see all my other books click here → MICHELLE MONET AUTHOR PAGE https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pdt_bl_sr?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Michelle+Monet
