Creativity: Some reading notes

Readers, I have had a rather dull and painful holiday period.

I had the flu most of December, and then in the final days of the year I had a tooth extraction which was rather traumatic and left me in horrible pain. I am still recovering from that. Rather unsurprisingly it has left me hesitant to go out at all, so I have been spending a lot of time at home, catching up on my reading and thinking about my creative life. Also, Sydney is horribly hot and humid at this time of year, so one doesn't really need an excuse to stay at home in bed with the aircon on. 

One book I have been reading for an important creative reason is Jay Baer's Youtility. I really hope to have a couple of books out in the next 18 months, and I have been thinking about how I can build their marketing into the creative process itself. Baer's book just jumped out at me as the one to really inspire me to think laterally when it comes to marketing and promotion, and so far it is absolutely filled with good advice. It's all about attracting readers (customers) by being helpful and genuinely interesting.

Travel writing has been a favourite genre of mine since I was a teenager  - I suppose that is why I became a travel writer! One travel book that I have long been fascinated with is Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time to Keep Silence, a wonderful account of a young man visiting monasteries in Europe. I have picked it up again because I have finally decided to write another book about Vietnam (I am quite excited about this) and this is really my inspiration. It is quite a perfect little book, and if I could write something even half as good as it I would be doing well.

And on matters travel, Charles Dickens wrote two travel books quite early in his career: American Notes and, later, Pictures from Italy. These are often collected into one volume, and I am reading such a volume right now. The main reason is because these two books together represent the Book of the Year for 2019 at the NSW Dickens Society - of which I am Vice president. But even more importantly, I have to give a talk on them on Saturday June 1, 2019. It is interesting to see how seriously he took travel, making sure that, almost as soon as he arrived in America, he was off visiting institutions and educational places so that he could report back to his readers in England about them. No hanging about in the hotel room reading a book for Mr. Dickens!

Some spiritual creative sustenance for me with The Seeker's Guide by Elizabeth Lesser:

"Some hear the word spiritual and are encouraged by its whispered promises of grace; others are threatened by it, afraid of looking too deeply at their own behaviour, the unlived parts of their life, and ultimately, death." 

Another creative project I have begun researching in earnest is a book about the Ascended Masters, and to that end I have been reading an utterly fascinating book called Masters of Wisdom by Edward Abdill. Its subtitle is: "The Mahatmas, their letters and the path," and it is a brilliant read combining occult wisdom, historical gossip and some really deep-seated exploration of figures (and ideas) that very few people know about anymore.

November 2: Reading Notes

I am quite close to finishing this chapter on the self-help literature of business, sales and marketing, and I do think it is making for quite a fascinating chapter. I am, of course, running well behind schedule, and I really have to try to speed things up somewhat.

There are a number of Australian business people who have written self-help books intended for a more mainstream audience, as well as more specialised books directly targeted at a readership of salespeople or small businesspeople. The first book I am looking at is John McGrath's You Inc. McGrath is a Sydney real estate tycoon, and he once came to speak at a conference I was organising when this particular book was released. I remember that he didn't at all conform to the stereotype of the business go-getter. He was quiet, reserved and even shy. He was addressing an audience of booksellers, a breed known for its complete cynicism, and there wasn't much connection going on. They were horrified at his ideas of laminating your goals and putting them inside your shower for you to read while you are soaping up your extremeties.

Paul Hanna is the main focus of this chapter, and I find him an intriguing character. Again, I have seen him in action, and he conforms completely to the stereotype of the motivational speaker. He is garrulous, loud and totally guileless. And perhaps because of these qualities I watched him actually win over another audience of sophisticated cynics. He also portrays himself as the failure, which is an interesting trope in self-help literature - the little man who overcomes in spite of the odds. You Can Do It! and Don't Give Up! are both highly autobigraphical, and so rich sources for my study.

I've wanted to read Anita Bell's work for some t ime, especially her books about paying off your mortgage in 5 years. The idea appeals to me, though the reality is starkly horrible. Basically you reach real-estate success by starving yourself and not leaving the house except to work. Your Success in Five Years or Less is ostensibly about a more general plan for success in five years or less, but it's really just about paying off your mortgages quickly and investing in more real estate.

Networking books are a whole sub-genre, and I have read many of them. How to Master Networking is by an Australian author, and is filled with practical tips. It's actually an incredibly useful book and as a result I haven't read it with much of an eye towards theory but to actually employing some of Robyn Henderson's methods.

October 14: Reading Notes

This week I've been working on my chapter on the literature of sales, management and prosperity, and if I say so myself it is shaping up to be an interesting section. I have decided to explore 5 main themes in the chapter (this is usually the way I do it, though one or other of the themes normally fades away from lack of interest): Playing the Game of Life; Being Valued; The Book as Agent of Improvement; Controlling Our Reality; and The Moment of Success.




The main author I am using in this chapter is Paul Hanna. He is an absolutely intriguing figure, and I once attended a conference where he spoke, so I feel I have more of a handle on his whole technique. I will be drawing principally from his books You Can Do It, Don't Give Up and The Sales Motivator.

Another author I am using is the flamboyant advertising man Siimon Reynolds, especially his books Become Happy in Eight Minutes and Why People Fail.




The last person I am examining at any length is Sydney real-estate tycoon John McGrath and his book You Inc. Again, I have seen him in action at a conference, and his style is nothing like Paul Hanna's - he is quiet and shy and does a whole understated act.

I suppose that people imagine such books would be terrible, but in fact they are very effectively written, filled with quotes and case-studies and lots and lots of motivating exhortation. All of the above writers are actually quite good at what they do, and I would suggest deserve more respect than they will probably ever get from the literary establishment.




The central book I am comparing them all to, and the book they themselves cite frequently, is Napoleon Hill's classic Think and Grow Rich.

July 25: Reading Notes

This week I am hoping to finish chapter 5 of my thesis, which is discussing the work of bestselling self-help author Stephanie Dowrick. And so I have been immersed in her books, most of which I have read before. I am using her 1992 book Intimacy and Solitude as my anchor text, though I will be drawing extensively on all of her other books - perhaps even her novels. As always, my task is to find patterns, repetitions and echoes of former writers in the books, as well as teasing out the influences and the traditions to which they belong.

Dowrick's work is especialy helpful on this front (representing rich pickings for me) because she clearly cites her influences, and there are many other writers and thinkers quoted in her work. As a theme for the chapter, and the filter through which I am interpreting Dowrick's work, I am taking "the return of the sacred" - a theme which is, helpfully, the subject of her most recent book Seeking the Sacred.

As with every chapter, I take a four-tiered approach to reading and collecting my research: First I read the primary texts of the author being discussed. I will also include here relevant, connected, material by other Australian writers. Secondly I read critical and historical material relevant to the particular chapter, including similarly-themed books published in America and the UK. Thirdly I hunt down journal articles relevant to the author and her themes. I have been greatly aided in this process by comments by Dowrick herself in her books - she is a clear sign-poster of the sources of her ideas and inspiration. In particular there is a passage in her 2004 book Free Thinking where she cites her influences as: "Alfred Adler...Martin Seligman, Carol Travis, Robin Skynner and Thich Nhat Hanh." A neat little reading list, to which I would probably add Rumi, Roberto Assagioli and Rainer Maria Rilke.