This a workbook to tap into creativity, but it really will require you to do the work of remembering, journaling, and analyzing your thoughts. The author sees a plot, what she terms the "Universal Story" not just within the creative work but underlying the process itself:
"The Universal Story, the format of this workbook, and every creative endeavor are divided into four major phases—idea, action, adversity, and success—that I translate into “Know Yourself,” “Sea of Creativity,” “Dive Deep,” and “The Prize.” Each of these four phases carries its own kind of energy meant to challenge the habits of your mind and your personality."
The book breaks these down into small sections that you journal your way through. I found that my memory just couldn't quite yield all the results needed--perhaps I'll have to try it again someday with fewer distractions.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

The title threw me on this one as I was looking for successful creativity but not actually a book on writing. I found some of the question were more in-depth for a person just starting the creative journey. A good book but perhaps better used for a class setting with an instructors assistance.

I was so pleasantly surprised by how much practical information I received from this book. So many things that have helped me with my own creativity. Thank you.

Because I have a moon and stars tattoo (I won’t say where) and am lactose intolerant, I discovered my spirit animal is a turkey vulture. According to Megan Lynn Kott and Justin DeVine, the authors of Unfamiliar Familiars: Extraordinary Animal Companions for the Modern Witch, turkey vultures partner well with witches who always have hand sanitizer at the ready. That’s me especially in times of pandemic. This book is a satire of spirit animal dictionaries and books of magical correspondences for spell work. It has a handy-dandy flow chart filled with forced choice answers to weird (and witty) questions. Your choices will lead you to your familiar. The 40 familiars range from the albatross and the burrowing owl to the Earthworm, the Lobster and the Sloth (Two-toed). As one would expect, each familiar has a portrait, a description, an element and star sign as well as suggested names, strengths, and weaknesses. Some of these sections are more humorous than others, but I found “partners with” for each animal to be consistently funny. Unfamiliar Familiars would make a great gift for a witch with a sense of humor or a fan of ultra-spiritual comedian, JP Sears.

A beautiful journal for exploring and reinvigorating your creativity. This is great as a gift to an artist, or as a tool to use to get inspired towards your next project.

I can appreciate what Boundless Creativity was going for, but for me many parts felt lengthy and repetitive. That being said, I don't regret the time I spent working through the exercises for the most part, and there is certainly a lot that could be gained from this resource.

First, I was not familiar with Martha Alderson prior to reading her workbook, <i>Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Blocks </i>. I do want to thank the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this workbook and review it prior to publication. With that said, my review of the workbook is entirely my own.

The book itself explores a number of issues that people have when trying to overcome hurdles related to creativity. Aldreson's text is part spiritual treatise on the subject of creativity and part guided journaling to help you think through your own creativity.

As I was reviewing this book, I did not complete all of the exercises in order and work my way through the book as it is intended. Instead, I looked through the content and the types of exercises that Alderson presents through the book. To help guide her ideas, she discusses them like one would approach structuring a novel. As such, I really think this book would be great for budding novelists to think through their own literary works, but I also believe the book is generic enough that anyone trying to find their own internal creative spark would enjoy the experience.

This book may be great for beginners, people who never took part in creativity exercises before. For me, the information was nothing out of the ordinary, and I had been looking to learn new "tricks". I'm not sure why, but this feels more like a collection of thoughts than a thought-out workbook. And at least one exercise instruction felt... a bit weird - we were encouraged to be spontaneous and not think about, while receiving examples - you can't give me an example and expect me to still be spontaneous... it's simple psychology that I'm going to start thinking... "should I do one of the examples, should I think about something different, hmm what is different from those and still original and spontaneous?" (I tried to be as vague as possible, but this really bugged me)

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

This workbook uses Martha Alderson's experience to reconnect you, the creative person, to your source and the resources available to you. I found this workbook to be very helpful. I know there are a lot of workbooks out there on finding and tapping into your creativity. Some of them have similar things to say, but I have found them all to be helpful in different ways in my creative writing journey. They all seem to find me when I need them.
I liked how she talks about four major phases of creation —idea, action, adversity, and success. . There is never only one path to achieve a dream and each road contains obstacles, use them to learn from. You will encounter different things that might make you feel like you should quit, but ultimately the decision is yours. And in your creative space and how you work through your phases of creation will lead you to your end result.
I liked this workbook.

Unfortunately I didn't learn anything new from this book and I found it to be too long and dragging on.
The author makes good points, but I prefer motivational books with less biographical content and shorter summarized exercises and text.

I'd say this one is more marketed toward writers, but if you paint or a creative in any other way you're able to get something out of it.

Thanks Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

I became aware of Martha Alderson by way of her work with writers. She has over thirty years of helping create and studying stories and exploring artists’ relationships with their creative works.
This workbook uses her experience to reconnect you, the creative person, to your source and the resources available to you. This presents a program of layers, goal setting, action taking and acceptance of belief on the spiritual plane.
She talks about four major phases of creation —idea, action, adversity, and success - that must be traversed between an idea and the finsihed product. There will not be only one path to achieve a dream and each road will contain obstacles, in which life lessons will hide. Along the way your energy will rise, gain momentum and fall off. There will be decisions to make, including whether to continue or quit. The only "correct" answer at each point is to reflect and adjust.
Writing down your intentions, experiences and emotions will help you along your creative journey.
It gives you the opportunity to see your progress, identify paterns of thought and behaviors, and make more educated choices when the need for those decisions and adjustments arise.
As the workbook progresses with questions and areas for you to record your thoughts and experiences, the author shares pieces of her own, unique, personal story. She shares responses other creatives have given for their motivations and disappointments. It makes the reader understand they are not as alone as they may feel.
There is room to shine a light on what fears you have, what is keeping you from moving forward.
And there is encouragement to be honest and figure out what options you have.
Although you, the reader, the creative, will be the positive force behind your own results, the author gives concrete steps you can take at each point along your journey.
Regardlesss of the medium you choose as your primary, Martha Alderson suggests you use various senses and medium as you discover your path. There is inner work, outer work, mental work, physical work. Become more aligned with and aware of your emotions, feelings, reactions and responses. Learn to listen to and FEEL your intuition.
You would think that after you have reached your goal or finished your creative piec, that is the end of the process, or at least end of this author's assistance. WAIT - there is more!
Download your own copy of this book and then write a review.

There are countless books on creativity with lots of advice on how to boost creativity, understand it, attain it and all the works, I was looking forward to learning something new in this book and I love the insightful approach the author takes in explaining the creativity journey- the ups and downs and guiding you through each point. It is a practical guide that any Writer can draw insights on- my favorite was the topic on emotions and how that affects my creativity- and mapping the negative emotions as well.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.