Ilene Segalove

Explode routine. Liberate mojo. Transform a rut into a groove. For those who want to burst out of the tried and true to live and work more daringly, creatively and deeply, Snap Out of It offers 101 snappy ways readers can get their creative groove back.

Artist Ilene Segalove shows how simply exploring the realm of our senses can unleash undreamed of creative powers from the chains of habit and routine. Snap Out of It "snaps" us back into paying attention to our lives by using our senses to get at a deeper, more exciting reality.

In addition to longer, more involved sensory activities, Segalove offers "Quick Snaps" that anyone can do on the fly to shake things up a little, including: Pound your fists on your chest and do an earpopping Tarzan call of the wild. Or, lightly click your teeth together for one full minute.… (més)

Well...as I began preparing to review this final book in the List Yourself series, I saw this:
"The List Yourself book series and calendars are the creation of Ilene Segalove and Paul Bob Velick. These listmaking tools invite the reader to become the writer, offering an interactive approach to self-discovery."

I did not see this in the previous books...but it really struck me...it's VERY true...this book (and the others in this series) really do give YOU the chance to become the writer and they ARE interactive...and I truly LOVE that about these books...List Your Creative Self is no exception. The most striking statements I found in the introduction are:

"List Your Creative Self gives you the green light to enter the zone where your creativity lives and encourages you to explore. Through the pages you'll find a rich collection of one hundred list questions aimed at inspiring, releasing, and expanding your creative powers simply by listing whatever comes to mind."

"It is a safe harbor where you can poke around, fine-tune, and tweak your creative impulses."

All-in-all, I do believe that these statements ARE true...the only way you can actually SUCCESSFULLY use the lists in this book (and/or the others in this series) is to allow yourself to SUSPEND ALL JUDGMENT -- this is for your eyes only...and you MUST let go of embarrassment, self-consciousness, and feelings of worthlessness or unworthiness to make the best and most successful use of this material...in this respect...all ways are the RIGHT WAY in creating your lists!!

I do agree that it might be fun (as suggested by another reviewer) to use this book with a friend or journaling group, allowing you to "compare" lists and discuss varying topics with regards to creativity...with the right group of people, this could be a very fun, educational, and rewarding experience! Of course, you'd have to have an explicit agreement of confidentiality for this to work!!

The authors go on to say:

"List Your Creative Self helps you recognize that creativity is built into your system." and that you can access it by "Just filling in the blanks..." saying that this "...will release your creative juices."

I especially enjoyed the section "Says Who" which is full of list topics that allow you to explore all the reasons you don't feel creative or feel you should not or cannot feel creative -- VERY INTERESTING!!!

The lists topic areas include:

Your Favorite Things
Who Says
You've Got the Power
Hero's
Those "What-Ifs..."
Pride and Joy
The Light Bulb
Brave New World

Like More List Yourself, List Your Creative Self has a short introductory chapter -- nine pages with fairly large type. I compared...the type is in fact larger than that of the previous two books...one would assume to make the introductory chapter appear larger than it actually is. While I find this somewhat annoying and more than a little deceptive...I don't have a problem with the actual content...it is full of good, helpful information -- your not going to find anything terribly profound in these nine pages -- but as with List Yourself and More List Yourself, it's more than enough introduce you to how listmaking CAN help you tap into your creative potential while at the same time allowing you to get started quickly!!

Of the three books in this series, this one is the smallest -- it's about 1/3 the size of either List Yourself or More List Yourself AND it has the very same features I found annoying!! It has the same hard cover binding (PLEASE THINK SPIRAL or LIBRARY BINDING) and is just a bit too small for writing in comfortably -- and a date line would be nice too!! Even though it IS much smaller in size and content...what it does have is quite useful and I seriously doubt that it would be effective if it had more lists than it does...after reading over all the topics and giving it a great deal of thought...I think the authors covered what is necessary, desirable and most importantly helpful to the exploration of your creative potential!!

As I've stated in my other reviews...I believe that this best use of this book is for the "time challenged" journaler...but I DO strongly feel that it is a fun and exciting resource for even the most experienced journaler -- especially if you use these topics as inspiration in a "regular" journal...I think you can get a greatly expanded use out of the material this way!!! I'd even recommend getting all three in this series: List Yourself; More List Yourself, and List Your Creative Self...and use them together...keep them by your bed (for restless nights) or near your favorite spot on the couch (for when there's nothing "good" to watch)...and I can almost guarantee that you'll pick one of them up and find a list that fills a need in your life right now!!

I give list yourself an A for content and a B- for usability (same ol' story about the binding and size)...I think this is a great addition to any journalers library!

I give list your self a B- for price...it's a great deal smaller than the first two, but has a list price of $12.95 -- that's two dollars less than the list price on the first two (currently $10.36 on Amazon)...I'd really expect to pay about $10.00, maybe a little less for a book this size...but that's just me...I do think it's worth the price based on the list topics alone!! What I'm saying is that it's worth the price...but if I'd come across this at the bookstore...I probably would have passed it up based on the price alone, and gone on to look for something a little less expensive!… (més)