My letter “C” pick for this year’s A to Z reading challenge was CREATIVITY: A SHORT AND CHEERFUL GUIDE by John Cleese.

I adore John Cleese. He’s hilarious. He’s innovative. Most of all, he’s utterly brilliant. This book is short but not a page is wasted. Through personal anecdotes (and a bit of research from psychologists), John shows us that yes, you can indeed teach someone how to be creative, or as John puts it, “You can teach people how to create circumstances in which they will become creative.“

John gives great tips for putting you in that creative space, battling writer’s block, putting something, anything down on paper just to get the ball rolling, and realizing that creativity is more than what you’re thinking about in the moment. John firmly believes that your subconscious plays a big part in creativity. He likens it to having a meal, then going about your day while your stomach is still busily digesting it without any conscious thought. His biggest advice for writer’s block is to put it out of your mind entirely and you’ll be surprised when a creative idea flits in while you’re thinking of something else.

I’m giving this four stars out of five. It would have been a five star read, but John did keep referring to one psychologist and his research again and again, almost to the point where it read like a biography of the guy. Still a good read, though.