I’ve touched on the importance of creativity a few times already on my blog, which is why when it came up as the topic of choice for my writing group’s blog chain, I was temporarily stuck for a new way to explore it again. After being given some rare child-free time to write on a […]
If you would like to be more inspired by the city you live in when it comes to your creative work, I thought of three ways in which you could encourage and pursue this.
What can one say to someone who is talented in their chosen craft but doesn’t appear to be able to gain traction on the career side of it (assuming that’s what they want to do as their career)? How to explain why some people are making it but others are not? For this discussion, I’ll define “making it” as being able to support yourself financially with your craft . . .
The idea of people going through their life without a creative outlet saddens me. I don’t necessarily mean that every person is either an artist, writer or musician etc, because creativity takes many different forms. I simply believe that everyone has a creative talent within them. Creative work is effortless to some, while others have a gift buried so deep that they may never get to discover it.
The first chapter of the landmark book, The Road Less Travelled, explores the theory that life is a series of problems that we need to solve, and the sooner that we accept this then the happier we will be. Since I took my blog in a new direction and began writing with my worldview in mind, I have begun to see similar thought patterns about old fears resurfacing, or new fears setting in, and that these need to be confronted, and (ideally) conquered.
My optimism is startling when it comes to new project and business ideas–and I’ve had many of them, believe me, with an equally startling record of fizzling out. I’m a dreamer, and I get caught up in small details, tending to stall after first base. I’m not good at deciding what to produce based on what’s in demand, and I kid myself into thinking I have everything covered financially. These weaknesses sound like a recipe for disaster, right?
A few months ago, I set out to find a group of local writers that I could connect and hang out with, for the purpose of inspiration and motivation. I decided to create my own group. This story is about what I learned starting a group, and what I learned about myself.
Comparisons don’t serve a purpose and I could feel that I was placing too much emphasis on what others are doing to get themselves out there. But, I’d made a decision to find myself an audience and even though my start has made little impact, I have started nonetheless, and I didn’t want to jeopardise my momentum.
Often, we are quick to dismiss an opportunity because our ego has already decided that we will fail at it. We’ve heard the phrase that when one door closes, another one opens. This is fitting for when you cannot control an outcome and someone has closed the door on you. Perhaps you were made redundant at your job, or you didn’t get the artist grant that you applied for, or your poetry was rejected for publication, and so on. When it’s your own hand that closes the door, be sure that you’re not making a fear-based decision like I did.
As part of my decision to start this blog and decide what to focus on, I was asked about my worldview. This article explains how I arrived at mine, and why it’s the basis for all of my writing. Your worldview is essentially your conception of the world. Before this blog, embarrassingly, I had not yet claimed my worldview because I didn’t know what having one meant. I Googled, and ended up exploring the worldview of Austen, Hemingway, and other writers — hoping it would bring me closer to realising my own. It just made me more confused…