Many people think creativity is a pain-free, happy, and inspiring thing that results in beautiful works of art, a well-designed home, or other charming creations. It certainly can be all those things and will be so at times. But, every creator knows what it feels like to hit the wall where the project shows resistance. That space of resistance is where Ugly Creativity exists.

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Ugly Creativity is both the struggle when facing resistance, but is also the grit, perseverance, and ingenuity shown in the face of adversity during the creative process. Ugly Creativity isn’t inherently good or bad but is a phase of creativity that offers both challenge and reward. This phase of creativity is where true growth happens if you allow yourself to embrace it instead of pushing away or turning back. 

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When your creativity gets ugly, we must get ugly back. This requires intention, practice, and perseverance. This book offers three different types of exercises:

• Creativity Exercises: these exercises are meant to help you practice creativity tangibly. These have concrete actions you will be asked to do.

• Goal and Insight Exercises: these exercises are meant to drive insight, intention, and to get you thinking about your own goal setting.

• Experiential Exercises: these are ‘think by doing’ exercises which will hopefully offer you insights into your own creativity by completing set experiential exercises. 

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Included in this book are 60 pages to journal your ideas, plans, and progress. If you’re feeling ambitious you can take the Ugly Creativity 60 Day Challenge, meaning you create and log your progress every day for 80 days.