Tharp’s book does not shy away from this “perspiration over inspiration” notion. How any artist can go about making something from nothing, is really not mysterious, but usually is the result of a lot of hard work.

Eventually though, understanding creativity comes down to understanding the process of it all.

Some are good, some are fuzzy-headed, and some are tedious expositions written by observers of creative people.

There is a sub-genre of self-help books on creativity. The result is a book that can be very helpful to people from all walks of life who want to be more creative and develop the habits that go with it. He sat at the piano and played a Bach fugue… repeating the routine each day in the studio induced in him some click that got him started.”Īmerican choreographer Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit has a unique bent that is focused more on the habit of doing art as opposed to trying to explain what it is and why it’s important. It’s time to write.Category: Recommended Books for Teachers Tags: books for teachers, creativity | Leave a Comment “The composer Igor Stravinsky did the same thing every morning when he entered his studio to work. This has become my ritual, my taxicab, the trigger to my subconscious. Some mornings the sky brightens a deep, soft pink, a shade the snow echoes, and I find myself more staring out the window than writing. My desk faces a large window that looks out to my snow covered back yard. Upstairs my teenaged kids are getting ready for school. I write three pages longhand in the Target notebook with hedgehogs and toadstools on the cover. I turn on the heater in my small, basement writing room, make my coffee and tend to my dog. The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym the ritual is that cab.” ~Twyla Tharp, from “The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life”Īs of the New Year, I’ve begun my own creative rituals. I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st Street and First Avenue, where I work out for two hours. “I begin each day of my life with a ritual: I wake up at 5:30 A.M., put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat.

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp