Make Something, Break Something (Creativity as an Act of Rebellion)

Artist, poet, coach, philosopher, and champion for self-proclaimed misfits and weirdos Kitty Knorr is sick of seeing creativity demoted to hobby, and art flattened into content. In Make Something, Break Something, she shows that creating is an essential act of authenticity and rebellion.

Over the past couple of decades, Kitty Knorr has noticed that creativity has been demoted, shunted to the confines of hobbies, side hustles, and content strategy. In Make Something, Break Something, she makes an impassioned argument about what gets lost when artistic impulses get corralled into monetization schemes or abandoned altogether under the stultifying pressure of cringe culture. To Knorr, creativity is a survival skill and an expression of our authentic selves that most of us have been trained out of.

Drawing on philosophy, humor, and personal experience, Knorr dismantles the myths that keep people stuck in creative ruts. She shows readers that they don’t need permission to call themselves artists, that self-defeating perfectionism is not having “high standards,” and that fear should be a signpost and not a stop sign.

The book moves through fifteen chapters that are equal parts pep talk, practical guide, and permission slip. Readers will learn:

• why “being normal” is the fastest route to creative stagnation and that their weirdness is their greatest asset
• how to build a working relationship with their muse instead of waiting for inspiration to show up
• what to do with fear, perfectionism, comparison, and, most importantly, the terrifying act of being seen
• how to find the community of people who are “their freaks”

Honest, unconventional, and laugh-out-loud funny, Make Something, Break Something is a sustained plea for living differently. It’s for anyone who has ever shelved a project, talked themselves out of an off-the-wall idea, hid their freak flag, or quietly wondered whether the thing that lights them up is worth pursuing.