Supplies: A Troubleshooting Guide for Creative Difficulties

Rating:
Summary: this book is not nice and that's why it rocks!
Review: I've been getting the biggest kick out of reading this book. I find it helpful and comforting. Many creative unique individuals who walk off the beaten path will find humor and relief in these pages. I've been reading it to my husband in the morning. One of the many joys we found in each other is realizing that our kookier seeming theories and observations were not so far out after all. What a relief to know that someone understands. The book is like that. Julia understands and she works out the details for you. She lists just about all of the games that get played in the life of an artist and how to recognize the players.

I have run into so many of these characters and they totally tripped me up. Either that or I felt somewhat bad about getting a bad feeling about them. There are a few in here who got under my skin and I didn't even realize how they got me down. Wet-Blanket Matadors, Piggy Backers, Bad News Fairies, Freelance Spiritual Advisors, Gatekeepers, Shrinks, Mad Mechanics and so many more. They are all here. This book is too flippin' funny. The helpful people are here too. No worries.

Now some people might wonder what is so helpful about realizing there really are people who might be out to getcha. How is it comforting to know that so and so wants to trip you up either knowingly or unknowingly? Isn't that paranoid?

No. It isn't. Recognizing the bad guys or the misguided people is not paranoid. It's thinking they have actual power over you that is paranoid. As a practical optimist, I am not blind to the booby traps and challenges. It's so much easier to step around or avoid them that way.

The fact is that shiny people attract both good and bad attention and you are "shiny" when you are creative. People who are free bring out the oppressive nature in people who are not. We are human and we just basically do screwed up things all of the time. Those trippers and booby trappers and withholders are just the people who don't realize that we live in a benevolent universe and that there is enough to go around for everyone. In the author's own words, "This book aims at demystifying a lot of the bunkum that has been deliberately shrouded in mystery and doublespeak in order to put creative people at a disadvantage".