bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Amanda Watson

Anything I Can  Do ... You Can  Do Better

by Tessa Souter

Vermillion, $130

There can't be many new angles on self-help books, but young single mother turned international journalist turned  singer-songwriter Tessa Souter has found one in her first book, Anything I Can Do ... You Can Do Better.

This memoir-cum-guide focuses on how to follow creative dreams, drawing to a great extent on her own larger-than-life experiences and those  of other achievers. Actors, filmmakers, painters, dancers and musicians  reveal how they succeeded against the odds. And the answer in most cases seems to be pure perseverance.

Souter also warns that the moment we stop doing something  for love and start focusing on an outcome, we risk being assailed with doubts and fears.

But it's Souter's likeable personality and experiences, rather than her or others' advice, that dominates. An Afro-British-Caribbean woman who once cleaned toilets  to keep following her  dream and who now plays top jazz venues in London, Los Angeles and New York, Souter mixes tales of how she managed it with  strategies and practical tips.

Chapters, all headed rather whimsically with song titles, include how to get started, taking care of the children while you're creating, how relationships work - or don't -  while you're painting or  writing a masterpiece, dealing with agents and managers, getting yourself a mentor, and how to make real cash while you're dreaming of adoring crowds. It's mostly sound, down-to-earth stuff.

Souter starts off with how to identify your dream. And dream big, she advises, although beginnings don't need to be huge. 'They just need to be one step in the direction  of where you want to end up.'

Following a creative dream isn't all elation and joy, she says. It can hurt, even when you 'make it'. Why else would so many rock gods and movie stars implode once they get there? Dreamers who dare to do will struggle with money, relationships, envy,  self-confidence, ego and faith in themselves. But the reward is the high of living the dream.

There does seem to be more for writers than any other group in the book's 208 pages. That should be no surprise. Souter co-founded a San Francisco writers' workshop and then spent years alone supporting her son by writing for  the likes of Vogue, Elle and The Times newspaper.

But her background has also given her access to all sorts of creative types and lends her writing an easy-to-read, page-turning style.

There are some curious gaps, though, in a soul-searching and otherwise honest book. There's  no mention, for instance, of her mother, from whom she apparently ran away at 16.  Her son, now grown up, hardly features. And what lies behind her need for a number of life coaches and self-help books, anyway? She  does offer lots of personal moments.  Such as the time she returned to New York riding on a cloud from a sell-out debut and rave reviews for her jazz performances in London - only to find herself evicted from her apartment for non-payment of rent.

And over the years, Souter says, she's put herself into credit-card hell to keep going, borrowing from friends, being afraid to open her mail, and  screening her phone calls.

How useful is the book? Souter   says that achieving your  dream   comes down to some hard and fast facts. But  clearly it helps to have  an entertaining personality when you're writing this sort of  stuff. A  book to have  on the shelves for those moments of self-doubt.



Anything I Can  Do ... You Can  Do Better