hen Austin Kleon first started writing poetry, it was excruciatingly labored. He felt like an author without words. That writer’s block led to a revelation to loosen his grip on originality. He allowed himself to be inspired by the creativity surrounding him and the flood gates opened wide. He devised a new way of penning original poetry published in his collection Newspaper Blackout, and wrote the 2012 New York Times bestseller Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. After writing and publishing for ten years, Kleon was looking for ways to keep the ideas flowing. When his search turned up nothing, he wrote the book he wanted to read, Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad.
Kleon explains that for a creative artist, every day feels much like Groundhog Day, the 1993 hit film starring Bill Murray as a weatherman that experiences the same day over and over. He says, “I literally come into my studio, look at a blank page, and I think to myself, didn’t I just do this yesterday?” It’s a question that hovers over everyone, in any career, and at any stage. His new book outlines some of the ways he is staying artistically afloat rather than being set adrift. From the Joy of Missing Out (JOMO) to leaning into disruption, this artist has found a way to stay motivated, prioritize family, and continue to create despite all the distractions.
One of Kleon’s mantras—“Certainty in art and in life is not only completely overrated it’s actually a roadblock to discovery.”
