Try Hard
Creative Work in Progress
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT BESTSELLER!
Funny, conversational, and relatable, Try Hard is for anyone looking to make sense of their own creative pursuit or bring more creativity into their life, offering a framework for how to do it and where to begin.
Let’s say you see a familiar musician from a globe-trotting, touring band hanging out at your local coffee shop, reading the newspaper and typing away on his laptop. This doesn’t look like a musician at work. He seems approachable enough, so you ask him what exactly he does all day. With a grin on his face, he admits the job might not be what you think. So you take a seat, and ask him every question you’ve ever had about how it all works: the nuts and bolts of writing a song, preparing for a show, marketing a band, and the day-to-day business of a creative life.
With each answer—none of it about talent—you realize this musician is a bit of a…try hard. And the mystery of being a creative person isn’t actually mysterious at all: it’s just exploring ideas with an enthusiastic and determined curiosity. Over and over.
Max is that musician in the coffee shop, and this is what reading Try Hard feels like: one-of-a-kind tales from a dynamic frontman, and a companion to your own creative work in progress. With a brick-by-brick attitude, Max explores his own growth in the craft of storytelling and performance, the pleasure to be found in collaboration, and the creative spirit required in sharing your art.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arkells front man Kerman debuts with a refreshingly down-to-earth guide to the creative process. Tracing his musical career from writing songs in his basement at age 15 to forming his band as a young adult and into the present, he outlines a creative philosophy that focuses less on the mysteries of the muse than on finding a consuming passion. Other advice includes "continuing to work and evolve" instead of ruminating on insecurities, and prioritizing action rather than planning because "exactly what rewards you reap will remain undetermined until you get out there and exercise your creative muscles." Kerman is at his most effective when he's describing the visceral, intuitive nature of hissongwriting: "It's hard to know what the ‘correct' answer is," he writes, "but you can feel it in your body when it's not working. And that's why living with a song that you know has potential is such a physically immersive feeling.... Even if you're making a song about a dream world, you want it to feel real and honest." Creatives of all stripes will be invigorated.
