I loved reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being by music producer Rick Rubin. It’s organized into 78 short reflections — easy to pick up, put down, and come back to.

A few select quotes from Rubin:

1. Good habits create good art.
2. Ultimately, your desire to create must be greater than your fear of it.
3. As soon as a convention is established, the most interesting work would be the one that doesn’t follow it.
4. Communicate your singular perspective.
5. The world isn’t wanting more of the same.
6. Inspiration comes first. You come next. The audience comes last.
7. The best work is the work you are excited about.
8. Being an artist means to be continually asking, “How can it be better?” whatever it is. It may be your art, and it may be your life.

And a few more he cites in the book:

1. It’s the little things that make the big things come about. (John Wooden)
2. The personal is the universal. (Carl Rogers)
3. The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. (Robert Henri)