Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto

This small book is crammed full of cogent wisdom, fun ideas, new ways of thinking. For anyone who spends any time creating things (whether performances or puppets or music or whatever!) you'll find something in here that will re-inspire you, or guide you.I was using yellow sticky notes to mark passages I wanted to remember, or to share with particular friends.I started tearing them into smaller and smaller pieces because there was so much I wanted to share!Finally, I gave up trying to identify the parts that were making me laugh, or inspiring me, or that had phrased thoughts previously inchoate, brilliantly.I'm just going to tell everyone to get a copy for themselves!!So - - do that, will you? Yes?It's terrific!!

Every page was filled with "uh huh!" moments. As a genuine lifelong Small Potato myself, I loved the stories, the wisdom, and the inspiration... and I loved the sense of small potato kinship I felt with the many contributors. I'm so thankful to have this book. It will remain on my nightstand so I can dip in and out when I need a refresher.

A fantastically inspiring book for creative people everywhere.

Creative Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto is for all kinds of creative folks by my favorite zinestress (she of East Village Inky fame), Ayun Halliday. In it Halliday interviews a few dozen artsy types about all kinds of factors that apply to our work: making money, getting the work done, accountability, life getting in the way, self-doubt, self-promotion, etc. It's a helpful manual, an inspiration, and a reminder that creativity is democratic, not just reserved for the exalted few. It's also funny and quirky, and populated with these totally awesome potato character illustrations.

I loved reading all the spuds of wisdom, heartache and growth offered up by myriad small potatoes! It gave me incite and inspiration — whatever you do, I can't imagine you wouldn't enjoy and benefit from reading this collective manifesto of Creativity!

This is a great book for anyone toiling away in their own creative salt mine and wondering if and or when the world will ever discover how very delicious their particular brand of art-salt actually is. And it has lots of delightful illustrations, a plus for easily distracted readers such as myself!

This book is by turns funny, heartfelt, ridiculous and wonderful, an honest, and colorful look at what it is to be an artist and keep going, no matter the ups and downs. It is not so much a love letter, as a series of love notes passed between humans and potatoes. This book would also be great for Dan Quayle.

If you're the sort of person pulled to write, draw, sculpt, act, direct, invent or engage in other forms of creativity and expression, no matter how wild or how common, this book will assure you: Your work matters! That can be easy to forget or disbelieve given the cultural narrative that success equals celebrity and wealth, but that narrative is WRONG. Do you find satisfaction in your work? Success! Does your work resonate with even one person? Success! Do you sometimes make enough selling your work to buy a cup of coffee or slice of pie or ticket to someone else's performance? WOW! Go, you! "Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto" is here to urge you on, offer you advice and comfort from a community of creative, not famous people, and generally endorse the idea that a creative life, no matter how small, is one well-lived. I found such joy and inspiration reading it that I keep it sitting out where I can see it, like a good friend cheering me on.