I know amy and others have already posted about this great book, but I wanted to share my thoughts as well, and I am thinking of making reviews a more regular feature on the site because, hey who doesn’t need an excuse to buy more books?
52 projects by Jeffrey Yamaguchi is a book on a subject I have been giving much thought to lately – that is, keeping creativity in your everyday life. As I get closer and closer to the end of my degree, I spend a lot of time thinking about the choices I am going to have to start making about my life. While I am gradually reaching the conclusion that the lonely, economically insecure, yet creative life of a crafty entrepreneur is not for me (at least not full-time), I also don’t want to end up in a career that sucks all the creativity from my life and involves sitting in a cubicle all day, wishing I was somewhere else.
That’s where this book comes in. 52 projects is about inserting creativity into your life, in ways that may seem small, but add up. One of the other conclusions that I have been coming to is that maybe it’s okay not to have a creative job, as long as you can keep that somewhere else in your life. In fact, maybe it’s better because then you aren’t forced to think about your creative output in economic terms, you can just do it for the sake of doing it.
So, there are some really great sections of the book that talk about why projects are important, what they can do for you, and how to make time for them in your life. Then there are the projects themselves, which are really meant to be starting places for your own ideas. Some of the projects are personal things like write out the lyrics to your favorite song, or find pictures of every place you have lived. Some are public things like write something obscure on a cake and leave it in your office or leave letters in books at the library.
The book is especially useful for people who want to start being creative, but don’t think of themselves as crafty or artistic people. These are projects anyone can do, and give you great ideas to get started. While I’m not really sure that I would do many of these projects myself, since coming up with things to add to my list of projects really isn’t a problem for me (while the opposite, actually finding time to do all the projects I want to do, is), I still really enjoyed the book because it gets you started thinking about doing something, anything, creative and fun during the day when you would have otherwise just been watching tv or surfing the internet (or sleeping! see projects #17 and 36).
I especially like the use of the word projects in the book, because it’s not about art and not about crafts, it’s about any kind of project that you could do that is creative, which is also kind of how I like to approach this website.
The book is one of those with an unusal size and nice design, that even when you’re not reading it, it makes me want to pick it up just to flip through the pages.
Also check out:
The 52 projects website
What’s your project?
working for the man
Interview with Jeffrey Yamaguchi on Craftypod
Posts
In my current job, I have very little need to be crafty (though the labels on my binders are quite pretty if I do say so myself) and I struggle with wanting to leave to pursue something that I’d truly love (and involves more creativity), and staying with what I’m familiar with and also pretty good at.
I’m leaning towards leaving and giving (what I think will be) my dream job a shot. But I might just have to pick up this book so I can get myself out the creative slumps that tend to creep up on me from time to time. Thanks for the links, they look great!
1/13/2006 @ 3:04 pm
thanks for that review. the timing is great for me to read about that book….i’ve just started reading the artist’s way and it seems like they’d go hand in hand.
1/13/2006 @ 3:13 pm
“…lonely, economically insecure, yet creative life of a crafty entrepreneur…?” Do you really believe this?
This statement (above) is a wild exaggeration that feeds into another often quoted misconception that, “…all artists or creative types are weird or freaks or gay or poor or starving”…!! Anybody can be lonely and economically insecure…For instance, students are a great example of this…please do your research first before you stigmatize the creative community!
1/13/2006 @ 5:32 pm
CPB – I certainly didn’t mean to stigmatize the creative community, and I definitely did not say that creative types are any of those things you describe, I think in fact that anyone who knows me would say that I think the exact opposite. I know that there are many artists and crafters who make a very successful and filfulling career doing what they love. My comment, which perhaps I should have explained better, was based purely on my own experience. Starting your own business, of any kind I imagine, is a lot of hard work, long hours, and financial risk. And doing what I do, it takes many, many hours of sitting by yourself in front of a sewing machine. What I meant was that I’m not sure that I can turn my creative skills into the kind of career that I would enjoy and would be financially sustaining. I didn’t mean to make a statement about anyone but myself!
1/13/2006 @ 6:49 pm
great review of a great book-excited too see more book reviews as well.
1/13/2006 @ 8:04 pm
My apologies Laurel!…Perhaps, I was a bit too hasty in my response and did not take the time to “read between the lines” of what you were saying…I was once at that very same fork in the career road…I chose the office job for the money, all the while hoping that as an art school grad, I would one day choose the path to creative salvation – i.e. a creative job that I would love and make lots of money doing!
It’s unfortunate that many creative individuals tend to shy away from pursuing a creative job because they believe they won’t have the same stability and monetary security as a “cubicle” job. It is obviously a misconception and one that many of my artist friends also believed once upon a time…now, many of them run their own businesses – graphic design, interior design, jewelry design, clothing design, professional photographers, and visual artists.
As long as you are passionate about what you want to accomplish, there are no limits to the possiblities out there. I’m happy to say that by being optimistic but not too idealistic (of course it helps to have some business savvy), I finally chose the creative career path and started my own business. I can honestly say that happiness, a creative outlet and money can all be achieved…and used in the same sentence. Cheers!
1/13/2006 @ 8:46 pm
I know what you mean about finding a financially sustainable career. I also struggled with this for years as I was an Art History major. My mother often reminded me that this was not exactly a marketable major. But stay true to who you are (not to be totally cheesy) but you would be surprised at how you can make money when you are really passionate about something. However, in some ways it is also nice to keep your job and your hobbies separate. I am a photograph conservator by day (creative and fun without the cubicle prison) but sewing is my retreat from the world and special because it is not something I have to do. Just some thoughts!
1/13/2006 @ 9:46 pm
This isn’t really related to this discussion but I just found this great new magazine and I think most people here would really love it. It’s called Worn, I recently picked it up in a store on Queen East called Winkle it’s all about Fashion but it’s more of an intellectual/artistic take on it, you must must must pick a copy up! Here’s their website
http://www.wornjournal.com/html/ let me know if anyone here has read it or what you think if you get a copy…
1/14/2006 @ 10:07 am
Thanks for writing about this book. i’ve been wanting it but wasn’t sure about it yet. Since we just recently cancelled our cable (a decision based on our want to be more creative), i thought this book would help facilitate our cable-free lives. I also love that you’re going to start a book review on your blog. Great idea!
1/14/2006 @ 11:12 am
Thanks so much for the amazing review of my 52 Projects book. You’ve written so thoughtfully and eloquently about the important role of creativity in one’s everyday life. And I’m certainly enjoying the engaging discussion about balancing a day job with creative, artistic endeavors. Such a hard balance it can be to actually attain.
For me, all along, I have really struggled with day jobs and how they have not fulfilled me creatively… I know how good I feel when I am involved with or working on or completing a creative “project,” so 52 Projects was my way of pushing that, of putting it down on paper and sort of organizing my efforts to really get creative projects done… and interestingly enough, this project-making effort has helped the day job situation get better… I have understood for a while, for me anyway, that the key is to keep converging the stuff that pays the bills with my creative project-making efforts… that if I keep pushing it, they will meet at some point and I will get closer to doing what I truly want to be doing “full time”… I’m not there, but I am moving in the right direction! And I really do owe this forward movement to making projects, to making an active effort to tap into my creativity as often as I can.
1/14/2006 @ 11:33 am
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051025.wdesigner1024/BNStory/
Hey everyone here is an inspirational story about becoming successful using your creative abilities. I just finished reading this article on The Globe and Mail website, I would love to have the success this woman has had.
1/16/2006 @ 9:06 am
As for my comment above here is here shop website,
http://www.dorothygrant.com/handbags/main.html
I sympathize with all of you who are struggling to make the choice between a completely creative career and the typical office job. I have been struggling with this for awhile now myself and have found a good comprimise.
I am a fine arts graduate and really didn’t know what to do with myself when I left school. I found a job in retail just to start making some money to pay off my student loans. I was promoted within my first year there to their head office and became the assistant designer.
This opportunity opened my eyes to a career option that I hadn’t considered before and was an option that could be rewarding both creatively and financially.
I learned so much from my time with that company and I hit a point where I wanted to further my education and experience in the field and I decided to apply to Fashion Design and Fashion Buying at Ryerson and George Brown for next year. I also learned to sew, and I am currently working away at starting my own business that I hope to run on the side while in school.
I think you can be successful with a creative venture it just takes a lot of hard work, dedication and a true love for what you are doing. A lot of people will try and stop you along the way and in my experience tried to convince me to become a teacher, or a lawyer or a retail manager everything you can think of that wasn’t my true passion and for me would have been settling. I in fact know many people who graduated from fine arts and gave up their dreams of pursuing a career in the creative world and are now doing nothing related to anything creative what so ever.
I recently read an article on Fresh Baked Goods in the magazine I mentioned earlier called Worn. It’s a great article about how the owner Laura Bernhardson learned to knit with a knitting machine and at first didn’t consider opening a shop but when she was constantly stopped on the street and was asked where she got her sweater from she decided to go into business. The machine has enabled her to produce product a lot faster than by hand and has given her more time to return to hand knitting items.
If you have the chance you should really pick up a copy of this magazine it’s a great read, and jam packed with interesting articles.
1/16/2006 @ 9:58 am
And don’t forget http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com
Miranda July started it with another collaborator.
1/19/2006 @ 2:00 pm
My main concern is that you can’t guarantee every page of your website will be included in the SERPs. Considering I’m constantly adding new products to my company’s website, I need to be sure that customers can find them as soon as possible.http://www.seoptimizerz.com
7/22/2007 @ 2:11 pm