As part of the Creativity class, we read Twyla Tharp's book, The Creative Habit Learn it and Use it For Life. Though we didn't finish the book, we read bits and pieces of it from scattered places in vague chronological order. It was a much more personal book than I expected.All authors have voice. They have a certain way of writing that allows you to identify that author, just from the way they string a few words together. It's what I believe makes us say, "Wow! This is a great author!" You can even think about why some people particularly enjoy a certain writer and others think they aren't that great by thinking of it like personality. You could say, that the people who love a certain author love their personality, the way they tell a story. I think it's the same thing that draws us as individuals to certain people.
Tharp has a interesting way of pulling your attention to her book and what's in it by speaking very normally. She doesn't talk with huge words no one can understand, and you can easily imagine her then as a very approachable person if you were to actually meet her. Whether or not this is the case, you are happy to be reading the book, you feel welcome. She makes the book very applicable. I loved the examples of people that she gave for each of her chapters, making it easy to imagine how this applies to you, and you aren't stuck wondering what the point is.
When I first picked up the book, I was afraid of a book that was written in a dense, boring textbook style that would make it a pain to get through. I was very happy to learn that it wasn't. Going back to voice, this is what made this book so enjoyable. It felt like a normal conversation, not something you would have to have a Ph.D. in creativity to be able to follow. It's written for the average person, which is a breath of fresh air to me, since I have been reading psychology journals and theorists' papers for the past three weeks. It was a welcome change. It was written almost in the style of Sean Covey, who wrote the book Seven Habits For Highly Effective Teens, required reading for me last year. Both books have a very easy going style that make them easy, effortless, and even enjoyable to read. Outside of class I have even read the Seven Habits again, which is something that I plan to do with Ms. Tharp's book as well.
The structure of the book also was great. She has one page at the beginning of each chapter that is written in a much larger font that is a brief summary of the chapter, usually with the help of an example. Paragraphs are broken down into sections with big bold headings, sort of like a text book has, and what at the beginning seems like random, here and there, sentences pop out of the rest of the book's pages by having been changed to a red font. These are important parts. The parts that, if you forget anything else from the chapter, you should remember that part, and how it applies.
This was not something that I would have found myself drawn to if I wandered down bookstore shelves, looking for something. But it really would have been a loss had I seen it and decided not to pick it up. I consider myself fortunate that this book was brought to my attention this way. Since I haven't finished it, my first stop at my town's library will to be to see if Tharp's book is in stock.
Image: http://www2.winthrop.edu/studentaffairs/DSU/pages/calendar/images/tharp.jpg
I wrote a lot!
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