Why everyone should read Amie McNee’s latest book
After months of feeling uninspired, I’m back and writing more than ever thanks to Amie McNee’s latest book, We Need Your Art. Read on to learn more about how this book changed my creative game—and why I think every creative should read it.
For the last several months, I have felt shockingly uninspired. My creativity has been lacking; my confidence even more so.
Mostly, I have been gentle with myself through this creative dry spell. The world is on fire, human rights are under attack (including my own), people everywhere are afraid and angry and anxious and lonely . . . Of course more of my energy is going to surviving than creating.
Still, there have been days when my inner critic gets the best of me. “You call yourself a writer?” it asks. “You’re not even working on your own creative writing projects.”
It’s not wrong. Though I’ve journaled every day and have written loads of marketing copy for my clients, I’ve struggled to write anything for myself.
I was starting to think maybe my inner critic was onto something—maybe I just wasn’t cut out to be a writer—when I picked up Amie McNee’s latest book, We Need Your Art.
I’ve followed Amie on Instagram for years. I’ve read her other books. I knew I’d probably like this one. What I didn’t anticipate was the sheer force with which this book would hit me.
Every single word in We Need Your Art, from the Dedication to the Acknowledgments, spoke to me. Some soothed my inner critic. Others encouraged my creative spirit. Then there were the ones that took me by the shoulders and shook me awake:
“You are an artist. Even when you’ve spent a long time away from your art, you are still an artist. But nothing reaffirms our identity as a creator like creating.”
Amie’s words jolted me into action. I decided to try her Two-Week Reset Challenge: Set a ridiculously small creative goal and do it every day for fourteen days.
This was the best decision I’ve made in a long time.
Since that first challenge, I have:
Started writing what I call silly little lines in my journal. These range from goofy poems to NSFW scenes to sentences in which every word starts with the same letter.
Completed two 1,500-word first drafts—one for a short story, one for a personal essay.
Started a first draft for another short story that I work on a little every day. I think it might be “the one.”
Had a thousand new ideas, all of which I’m jotting down in my journal or Notes app.
Started a list of magazines, blogs, and companies I’d like to eventually pitch or submit my writing to.
Pitched a short story idea to one of these companies and actually landed the opportunity! (More on this soon.)
Collected a thousand other non-writing creative ideas that I plan to explore, just for fun.
Written this article, the first of many to be published on my website.
More than anything, I’ve begun reaffirming my identity as a writer and rebuilding my confidence. I’ve tapped back into inspiration and started the journey out of my creative dry spell.
All this because I decided to read Amie’s book and start writing just 100 words (about 5 minutes) a day for myself. Not for work. Not for self-reflection. Just for the sake of writing.
On the front cover, author Matt Haig calls We Need Your Art “a battle cry for the creative spirit.”
Now, I take up the cry: If you feel uninspired, unmotivated, and unworthy of creating, you need to read this book.
Click here to order your copy.
Oh, and Amie, if you’re reading this: THANK YOU for writing this book. I needed your art—I’m so glad you made it.
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