Big Magic book review

I love magic. Magic is fun because, unlike coincidences, magic is mystical, fun, and a little scary. My favorite type of magic has nothing to do with playing cards or making things disappear. Well, that's not true.

I grew up hearing that magic was a terrible thing and should be avoided. But I grew out of that. Keep reading to find out what changed my mind.

This is my favorite book. It's incredible and really is impressive. I switched back and forth between the audiobook and the actual book because it's just so good. So we're going to get into why I really love it.

First, the author is Elizabeth Gilbert. And if you're not familiar with Elizabeth Gilbert, she is the author of Eat, Pray, Love, which was a huge smash hit. Many people didn't realize that she had written books before and after that period. The genre of the book is nonfiction. The central theme of the book, which I believe is its actual tagline, is creative living beyond fear. That is the big theme and the big topic of the book.

I absolutely fell in love with this book. When I first read it, I was daydreaming and brainstorming about creating a podcast. And now when I read the book, I think about other situations where I could be creative, but I'm living in fear or I'm fearful of the result. And every single time I read the book, I see something new. I caught something new, and it pulled something else out of me. 

Second, there are a lot of important lessons in the book. Big Magic makes you expectant. While reading this book, I wondered what big event or idea would change my life. Then Liz's transparency brings me down a notch, and I daydream again! I get excited thinking about the universe working to help me find my path and discover new ways to succeed.

One of the notable quotes or twists from the books is from page 258 which is:

The outcome cannot matter.

The outcome cannot matter. The fact that the outcome cannot matter when you're creating is so important to me because I am a planner. I like to know what's going to happen. I want to know what I can prepare for. I like to wear shorts, but bring an umbrella just in case. The fact that the outcome doesn't matter when you're creating gives me permission to put forth the work, just for the sake of making it.

Creating can be the only goal, whether it's this video, the next one, or the 200th. The point is that you need fierce trust when you are creating, and that fierce trust will make me share these blogs with you every week. That fierce trust will motivate me to put forth an effort and share this content with the world because I love the book.

Big Magic is a book that I’ve read every year since 2021. It is phenomenal for me and a great reminder that magic and inspiration happen everywhere. When I read an amazing book, I imagine the author lying by the pool, thinking of words to add to sentences, creating paragraphs that inspire my life. But, often, this is not the case.

Get your copy of Big Magic. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Liz explains that everyone can grab an idea and chase it down until it submits, and people can be open to ideas, visiting them and creating from that inspiration. You can do it; I can do it. We all get inspired.

With every reading, I discover something else about the book that makes my creativity jump up and fill my brain with ideas.

Lastly, Big Magic is magical because it makes creativity feel normal. Let me explain.

If creativity is normal and anyone can create and be inspired, why don’t we create more often? Because we must push past the fear. Creating is normal because people are not amazing or magical when they create; they feel fear and create anyway. Toni Morrison was fearful. Liz Gilbert deals with fear. Even Oprah knows what fear feels like, but she created it anyway. When people create, they do so despite fear, not because they are immune to it. And I love that.

The tagline of this book is "Creative living beyond fear," and I aspire to live my life creatively, beyond fear. So far, I am doing it too!

With my head in a book,

Kyla