Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day

I love this book. What made this book so special for me was that it doesn't make false promises. It shows you how to open up your creativity, step-by-step and allows you to be a human being. Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK) is so honest about what it takes to be a creative person and how we stumble often through the process. We make mistakes. We give up. We start over again. There is no illusion here about becoming this perfect creative, intuitive person. The truth is that person is rare or not real. Susan tells us, "This book is to be a book that fits in with your real life--not an idealized version of it...[it's for those of us] who are busy, avoiding, practicing procrastinators and perfectionists." Some days you don't want to get out of bed. You don't want to think about writing your Great American Novel or painting your Van Goh-esque masterpiece. Instead, you want to procrastinate, cuddle up in your blanket and eat cookies. Or, maybe you want to beat yourself up for not finishing sooner. Whatever your process is, it doesn't matter, everything is okay. When things get tough, SARK recommends practicing micro-movements. These are ultra tiny steps that get you going in the right direction. They don't require a lot of time or energy but they help you keep going. And once you've done a few of them, big changes can happen. You'll also see inspiring stories of other creatives and how they live their dreams and what they think about it. And you'll disover that some creative dreams have nothing to do with art but are about making the world better or about having a fulfilled life. This is okay too! Maybe you want to explore what stops or has stopped your creative dreams or you might want to look at all the ways you can start to say YES to yourself and your dream. SARK says, "Often resistance feels like an unscalable wall, when there are actually footholds all over the place." This book is one of those footholds. Like all of SARK's books, Make Your Creative Dreams Real is wildly inventive and filled with curious doodles, paintings, and inspiring words and resources. Every chapter has an exercise that you can do and a list of different resources (websites and books) which can help you through whatever stage you are in. Remember, "Your dreams need you to make them real."

This book marked the first time I've read any of Sark's work. I was impressed by her honesty and her gentle encouragement. Her artwork was a bit "kindergarten" for my taste, buy hey, I'm no art critic! I rate the book 5 stars because I think a month-by-month plan that is non-demanding and easy to implement will work for most people but especially for procrastinators. Some of the other reviews have said SARK'S writing is repetitive in this book and that may be true. As I said, I haven't read any of her other books. Perhaps you won't find any benefit if you've read her previous work. But if you're new to her writing, as I was, you will probably enjoy and benefit from her plan.

This is a good book, and everyone should read it. SARK is one of the few favourite writers of mine. I think she makes it easy for everyone to feel good and smile. SARK books usually are all hand written and colored, this one is part handwritten and pictured and part typed. It makes the materials more abundance that previous books ( at least 3 times as much ), and still give you a genuine "taste of SARK". For those who have never read SARK (the CEO, executives, management people, etc), try to dive into a different type of book, go read SARK, it is a different type of "self help" book (labelling is such a pain, what is self help? aren't all book self help?). The book is about DREAMS, and DREAMS PERSUANCE. as one quote in the book said: "HOLD FAST TO DREAMS, FOR IF DREAMS DIE, LIFE IS A BROKEN-WINGED BIRD THAT CAN NOT FLY" (Langston Hughes). SARK inspire me to start drawing (what is a 44 years old CEO who have started so many new ventures want to do with Drawing?), her drawing is so simple (the feel is like "i can do that!") yet so vibrant and inspiring. Caution: Not all part of the book will be in sync with your believe system and your way of seeing life. Then again, what kind of books can make you one hundred percent relevant? If you can take, read, apply some part of the books and see the world in a different light, then it will already be more that enough. What stops you: get the book, find your dreams, and make them real. I hope i can induce you to try SARK for the first time and i believe you will find it worth reading. one idea: give this book as a souvenir to a friend, it will be a gift well remembered.