You don't have to be longing to write a book, paint a picture or follow a dream for 'Big Magic' to speak to you. We are all creative, says Elizabeth Gilbert. It's part of being human.

But many of us are hampered in reaching our creative potential by the things we tell ourselves. She explains that we don't need to achieve perfection, to be the best, to make lots of money to gain approval or endorsement for the creative process - instead, we should enjoy it for what we experience in the moment and on the journey.

She has a very easy style and it was a pleasure to turn the pages finding out about her own experiences of writer's block and capturing and exploring ideas.

There is an extraordinary story of how Gilbert had an idea for a novel but couldn't develop it at the time. When she returned to it months later she found that it had lost its appeal for her. However, a chance meeting with the novelist Ann Patchett turned into a friendship and one day Patchett described to Gilbert the idea for the novel she was hoping to work on next. The plot turned out to be almost exactly the same as Gilbert's idea... Read the book to find out more about it!

There are a few quirky ideas in here but also some great practical advice and encouragement and overall I found it enlightening, liberating and enabling! Loved it!