I haven't bothered to read Eat, Pray, Love,, so I had no right to judge this book by its cover and author, but I totally did. "Isn't this that book on how to become wildly successful as a creative type by that Eat, Pray, Love lady? She probably doesn't have a good baseline for that." Turns out I'm a huge, judgmental jerk (which is not a huge surprise) because I ate this up with a spoon. I initially picked it up because 1) I kinda wanted to see if I was right and 2) I'm a sucker for "creative living" books. Within a few pages, I was snagged. It's not about success at all. In fact, Gilbert advises you to forget success exists when you're creating. Most of the time, you have no control over that. The creation is its own reward. I agree with that. Actually, I very strongly concur with most of what she said. (For instance, creativity is its own force in the universe. It's nuts, but I believe it and it was nice to hear from somebody who feels the same.) I was able to add to my arsenal, too, with the notion of building a relationship with your creativity. Art shouldn't tear us down and make us feel terrible or like we need to be in control. Foster a healthy relationship with your work and it will love you back. There were a few points that didn't work for me, but I'm not too worried about that. I don't think she'd mind, either. 
 The writing of the book was lovely. Big Magic felt effortless, although I'm sure she put a lot of sweat into this. Count me in as a newfound Elizabeth Gilbert convert. 
 {4.5 stars} 
 Pairs well with The War of Art and Steal Like An Artist.