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Sunday, September 27, 2015

Elizabeth Gilbert: Chasing perfection is the enemy of all good things

The writer of Eat, Pray, Love on creativity, women’s fear of failing... and not caring what others think

You’re about to publish Big Magic, a book on creativity that you’ve described as a guide to living a more creative life. Writing a book is difficult enough. Is writing a book about the creative impetus that goes into writing a book even harder?
It must be because it took me so damn long to get around to writing it. I think my obstacle was that I didn’t really know how to come at it. Most of my work is very heavily researched so I began with the same approach: I spent years gathering hundreds of books examining the links between creativity and madness and creativity and depression, cultural studies on creativity.

I gathered all of that stuff and the turning point for me was when I looked at those books and thought: “If I’m going to have to read one of those books, I’m going to fucking kill myself.” Because it takes all the joy out of it! I thought: “I have had a way of interacting with creativity for over 20 years that has been really satisfying and expansive and I know about this, not from research but my own lived experience. For me it was about: do I trust my lived experience enough, with no back-up, to say, “OK guys, here’s what I know?”

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