Marry Your Muse: Making a Lasting Commitment to Your Creativity
Reviews
"Anyone interested in embarking on a creative journey could have no better sidekick than Jan Phillips. Her gentle approach to this popular and elusive subject is grounded in her belief that to create is both human and divine. Marry Your Muse is both a meditation on the nature and necessity of creativity and a workbook full of engaging and fun exercises."
- Nicki Toler, Body , Mind, Spirit
If you haven't yet realized the joy and self-empowerment of participating in one of Jan Phillips' workshops, MARRY YOUR MUSE comes as close to that experience as any book could. MARRY YOUR MUSE evolved from "The Artist's Creed," a prayer of commitment to her creativity that Jan wrote some years ago after leading a workshop at the annual International Women's Writing Guild summer conference. However, the book is more than just "The Artist's Creed"--it's a meditation and a plan for action and a litany of stories about the joy of living a creative life. It dispels those nagging doubts about the existence of creativity in our lives-- and it stresses the importance of creating our art NOW, making time for it. My favorite Jan-quote is, "There are a lot of things we don't have in life, but time is not one of them. Time is all we have. One lifetime under this name to produce a body of work that says, 'This is how I saw the world.' Your work is worthy of whatever time it takes." Marilyn Day, Woman Words
As a Regional Representative for the International Women's Writing Guild and a facilitator of a women's writing group, I am often asked about books/tools I suggest for enhancing creativity, "getting started", dispelling writer's block--and MARRY YOUR MUSE is the first title out of my mouth (generally followed by Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY, Natalie Goldberg's WRITING DOWN THE BONES and WILD MIND, and Dorothy Randall Gray's SOUL BETWEEN THE LINES: FREEING YOUR CREATIVE SPIRIT THROUGH WRITING). And then, after you've read MARRY YOUR MUSE, done the exercises, crafted your own imaginative work-- you may just find yourself wanting more... perhaps seeking to attend a live Jan Phillips workshop--to see where this creative lady is headed next and if you can thumb a ride.
A beautiful book...layout and content inspire creativity, March 25, 1999 Reviewer: acialison@aol.com from Seminole, FL I have many books on writing and creativity. Jan's is the only one that I never shelve. It rests on my coffee table so that I can pick it up whenever I need encouragement or inspiration. She inspires, she reassures and her suggestions and exercises are easy to complete. Her wonderful collection of quotes which grace the margins spark insights. Her Artist's Creed reminds me I have a right to take the time to create whatever calls me at the moment. And you know from her words that she's lived everything she writes about. Don't miss this one!
GENTLE support for Creativity!, May 5, 1998 Reviewer: from Los Angeles, CA >This book is very encouraging about honoring your own creative gifts, without making you feel GUILTY, which was my reaction to the book everyone goes on about, THE ARTIST'S WAY by Julia Cameron - just made me want to curl up in bed and go back to sleep!! It was just too demanding - Do this! Do that!! Like you had all the time in the world to devote to "Creativity" - MARRY YOUR MUSE is a lot more accepting of who you are... there are suggestions for exercises you can do - and some good ideas and inspiring words, but they're not COMMANDMENTS - Thou shalt be CREATIVE!! Now, JUMP!!!! ("Too hard" says me - "let's see what's on TV!?") Jan Phillips takes it MUCH easier - she encourages rather than commands! My reaction is, "Sure!! This is DO-ABLE!! And worthwhile! And validating! What's next?"