Skip to the Fun Parts

Book excerpt: The perfect companion for anyone struggling to keep their sense of humor while staring at a blank page, Skip to the Fun Parts offers next-to-zero creative advice, and is instead filled with cartoons, commiserations, and jokes about the creative process. Like you, syndicated cartoonist Dana Maier wants a creativity shortcut—a magical fairy who will both come up with brilliant ideas and grant the energy and discipline to churn them out. This book is not that magical shortcut—you won't find stirring literary quotes or a foolproof system for sparking inspiration here—but it does provide commiseration, comics, jokes, and reflections about the often-painful act of making something original. Drawing on her experience as a cartoonist for The New Yorker and other publications, Maier explores topics such as embracing the agony of the creative process, how the pandemic has affected creative people in different ways, and the power of channeling your inner six-year-old. While more traditional creativity guides often make readers feel judged, Skip to the Fun Parts offers amusing insights about the realities of the creative process—highly entertaining for artists of all kinds and 100% advice-free! "Of all the books I've ever read on the creative process (and I've read every one), this is by far the most useful, for its ability to remind me why we make art in the first place. I know I will turn to it again and again whenever I need to re-ignite the spark of childlike joy that fuels creativity." —Mari Andrew, New York Times bestselling author of Am I There Yet? and My Inner Sky "A funny, irreverent sendup of creative self-help and a comforting depiction of the agony and ecstasy in the creative process." —Austin Kleon, New York Times bestselling author of STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST