Can Austin Kleon’s tips put the spark back in my life?

As a child I daydreamed about an exciting adult life — exotic pets, bright pink walls, staying up all night. Now in my mid-30s, adulthood has lost some of its lustre: bright pink bathroom and two weird cats aside, days feel predictably arranged around gym, work, cook, clean, collapse on to the sofa, and I struggle to remember what I’ve actually done beyond “computer”.

Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist, says he found a way out of a similar slump by apprenticing himself to his children. “That’s what my kids did for me,” he tells me, and the energy, fearlessness and lightness they brought to making things inspired his new book, Don’t Call It Art, which offers exercises and prompts to “create like a kid again”.

His practical advice is simple: become a beginner, make time for play and build a low-stakes, analogue practice.

austin kleon, steal like, don't call, creativity, play, analogue practice, beginner, prompts, exercises, children