It’s Finally Finished!

Keep Going is a self help book by Austin Kleon, the dude who wrote Steal Like an Artist. This book enlightened me on what creativity is all about. It has fantastic advice, creative images, and a great message.

This book is about the ten ways on how you could stay creative. There were tons of advice laid out, such as “creativity is about connection… in order to be inspired and share your own work – but it is also about disconnection” (page 39). I understood this because you would always get inspired by people around you, but you also had to figure out what you saw. Your eyes are a filter.

However, I didn’t always agreed with the advice. In chapter three, Kleon talks about labels and why they are harmful. The example he uses is “if you only consider yourself a ‘painter’, then what happens when you want to try out writing?” (page 66). I thought that this got a little overboard because labels are literally harmless. It’s just an identifier, and humans are multifaceted. If you paint and then write, you could call yourself a painter and a writer. It’s not that serious.

But despite that, Kleon makes this book easy to read. He seems to be an observer for pulling out examples from real life. He uses real people and their stories to tell his points. Every step is listed in detail too. Even his designs are awesome. For the people who want to be more creative, this is for you.