THINGS ARE WHAT YOU MAKE OF THEM: Life Advice for Creatives by Adam J Kurtz & NOCTURNAL JOURNAL by Lee Crutchley

THINGS ARE WHAT YOU MAKE OF THEM: Life Advice for Creatives

By Adam J. Kurtz (aka @adamjk)

On Sale October 3, 2017

Tarcher Perigee Paperback, an imprint of Penguin Random House

From the creative mind and heart of Adam J. Kurtz comes this quirky, upbeat rallying cry for modern day creators of all stripes, with a foreword by Grace Bonney. Expanding on a series of popular guides he's created for Design*Sponge, this is a heartfelt collection of hand-lettered notes that read like little self-affirmations you’d post to your mirror, laptop or cubicle wall, giving you direction and peace of mind when you’re floundering about in procrastination, struggling to comprehend your client’s harsh critique, or comparing yourself to your peer whose career is taking off while you’re getting rejection after rejection.

Sharing wisdom and compassion (and a fair share of snark), Adam acknowledges the dark underbelly of the creative lifestyle – self-doubts, fear, jealousy, obsessive comparisons to others, shifting technologies that can help or hurt your career, and the horror of looking back at past work –and then gives a swift kick in the pants to address those terrifying problems and move on. But most importantly, he lifts his readers up to explore and celebrate their creative community, to support one another, and to just be you in all your glory and neuroses. Things Are What You Make of Them is The Artist’s Way for this new generation of creatives and reads like a foul-mouthed struggling creative muppet on Avenue Q (bet you’ve never heard of a book described that way!).

Adam J. Kurtz (aka @adamjk) is an artist and author of 1 Page at a Time and Pick Me Up, which have been published in over a dozen languages. His “very personal” work for clients like Strand Bookstore and Urban Outfitters has been featured in NYLON, PRINT, VICE, BuzzFeed and more. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. View the complete media kit here for additional content (excerpts, images, facts sheet, etc.): kit.adamjk.com

What’s hiding under your bed? Kids aren’t the only one kept awake at night be scary monsters. Adults fight their own demons that keep them up too. According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 out of 3 Americans aren’t getting enough sleep, “enough” being the recommended 7 hours a night to “promote optimal health and well-being.” There are many causes for sleep deprivation: from dietary choices to stress and anxieties to sleep disorders to excitement and a creative mind that won’t turn off when the lights go out.

It can be easy to let these things become obstructions that rule your night and block you from much needed sleep, but as artist and illustrator Lee Crutchley proposes in his new 2-color release THE NOCTURNAL JOURNAL: A Late-Night Exploration of What’s Really On Your Mind (on sale September 5, 2017; TarcherPerigee Paperback), if you decide to accept and explore those late-night thoughts and feelings, you can benefit from a fresh perspective, assuage your fears, explore your creativity, confront your darkest feelings, and reconnect with your truest self. Here are just a handful of sample prompts from the journal that help rein in and navigate the night mind:

·       Write a resume that consists only of your failures and rejections. Which of these are still holding you back?

·       Fill this box with all of your worries. Now sort them into these boxes: productive worries & unproductive worries.

·       Write down every amazing idea you have tonight. Tomorrow, highlight the ideas that are still amazing.

·       What would you save in a fire? What would you burn to the ground?

·       What will you be remembered for? What would you like to be remembered for?

When the sun rises you will again be the version of you that people know and love, but armed with a fresh energy and perspective about what you want, where you are going, and who you are.