Pencil Dancing: New Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit [Hardcover]

Mari Messer delves into "hurry sickness", the psychology of "devoted attention", the relationship between our creative and logical minds, playing, collecting useless information, visualization, "practice without purpose", taming your inner critic, and facing the giant squid of confusion(!).

All sorts of things are expressed in terms of weird, extensive, ongoing metaphors; this gives us an idea of just how creative and weird you can get if you try. It does get a little ridiculous (I suspect deliberately so), which might tweak your sensibilities a little if your inner critic is raging. (But then, perhaps that's the point.)

Ms. Messer is honest about some of these lessons being not only tough to learn, but difficult to remember. She isn't shy about explaining the times when she's fallen down. She uses interesting examples from her life, her students' lives, and famous people's lives. These make the principles she discusses come alive.

I've learned a lot in here that's been directly applicable to how I live my life, how I work, specific projects I'm working on, how I deal with people, how I let other people deal with me, and so on. The discussion of criticism, constructive criticism, and their place in the creative process has convinced me to be less harsh and critical in my judgment of others' work. Criticism does have a crucial role to play in creative work, but it's also important to be careful not to apply it too early.

Before I read this book I had forgotten what it was like to have so many ideas for material to write that I constantly had to carry a notebook around with me to catch even a fraction of them. I got halfway through this book and I had to make a trip to the drug store to pick up some pocket-sized notebooks to catch the sheer flood of ideas! It's hard to give the book a more glowing recommendation than that.

That's why a book like PENCIL DANCING is so remarkable. It helps the reader discover new ways to look at the world. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is directly related to the fact that Mari Messer doesn't just focus on one type of art - whether you're a writer, a sculptor, a painter, a dancer, or even a parent or a businessperson - you'll find ways to reach deep inside yourself and discover a creativity you never knew you had.

Written in a beautifully poetic style, with a lot of allusions to our natural surroundings (many nature writers are quoted throughout, such as Thoreau, and Annie Dillard), this book has a calming new-age feel to it. Far from being off-putting, this particular style oozes the kind of creative relaxation the reader's aiming for, and it allows the author's ideas and teachings to shine through.

Divided into thirty-eight short chapters, PENCIL DANCING can be read cover to cover, or savored a chapter at a time. You'll also find tons of exercises, project ideas, and themes for reflection. This book truly has something for everyone, though be warned, not all chapters will apply to your personal needs at the time of reading. This is one book that should find a permanent home on your shelf, to be reached for and browsed through on a regular basis, as your needs and your creative style change.