By Your Command: Creative on Command

I read a fair amount of so called “self-help” books; some because the subject interests me, some because they’ve been recommended to me, and some even though I know I may roll my eyes through 90% of the book and get something of worth from the other 10%.

So this book was kind of a good news/bad news situation for me: the good news was that I found useful information in about half the book. The bad news is that the first half of the book gave me whiplash.And also triggered me but that’s my own fault; I should have learned more about Ms. Blanchard’s method before I started reading.

The first half of Creative on Command was the part that had me rolling my eyes, although the idea of paying attention to how one feels (e.g., bright and springy vs. dull and logy) after one’s meals in order to make good choices on the energy front was an interesting one. However, the whiplash came about because the author spends a good amount of time:

First, telling her reader NOT to let anyone else dictate to them about what or how or when to eat, but to listen to their own body cues, but then (Trigger warning for those who like me are in recovery from disordered eating)

Second, telling her reader ZOMG carbs and sugar are the devil that kills creativity NEVER EVER EAT THEM.

So I think we can all agree that — regardless where one stands on the intuitive eating/diet/no-diet scale — is a little bit of mental whiplash and self-contradiction, n’est-ce que c’est pas?

So I survived that, largely with a healthy dose of eye-rolling, and got to the stuff I was interested in. Also known as: the middle part of the book (beginning at slightly less than half as it turns out; starting about 44% of the way in per my Kindle Cloud Reader; there are testimonials/advertisements in the back of the book but I didn’t bother with those).

Blanchard has some useful suggestions and outlines for how to get and keep yourself working, whatever your form of creative working looks like. She does borrow some from others (keeping a journal, getting up and walking when one is stuck, etc.) but for the most part it’s a useful, organized (and, since it’s electronic, small) method to remind one’s self to build creativity into one’s life  while acknowledging that different people will respond to different methods of organizing and building.

And in part two, she doesn’t contradict herself on the point.