Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Gilbert treats ideas as living things. They exist independently of us, she says—drifting through the world like animals and plants, looking for a person ready to bring them to life. When a thought keeps grabbing hold of you, that isn’t random. An idea has picked you, and it won’t wait forever. Ignore it, get distracted, let fear talk you out of it, and it moves on to someone more receptive. She learned this the hard way after abandoning a novel set in the Amazon jungle. Soon another writer began a novel with an almost identical concept, and to Gilbert the meaning was obvious: the idea she’d neglected had simply found a new taker. You don’t have to believe the metaphysics to get the practical point. Inspiration has a shelf life. Answer it promptly, before it leaves.

Elizabeth Gilbert on SummaryShelf

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear