I love this idea! At Fetch me my axe, she has an Introduce Yourself post, where her blog readers can share something about themselves in the comments. So far, there are seventy-four (74!) comments.
So I'm inviting you to introduce yourselves, to me and to each other. If you have a website or a blog, point us to it. Informality is the rule, but I do have a few questions that you might answer if you like:
- What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
- What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
- If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
I'll answer those questions myself, once the ball gets rolling.
Since TypePad has a feature that allows us to pin a post to the top of the home page, that's what I'll do — leave this at the top, at least through the holidays, and link to it on the sidebar so that it's always handy.
I'm really looking forward to this.
Here is the second Introduce Yourself! post. I've closed comments on this one, to encourage you toward the new one.
Here is the third Introduce Yourself! post.
83 responses to “Introduce Yourself!”
I feel a wee bit presumptuous, being among the first here, but I like this idea and wish there were an easy way to do something similar on Blogger. Ah, well.
I am a 40-something married, transplanted Texan living in Wichita, and I have a humble blog. I hope some of you will visit.
To the questions:
1) I tend to think of the blog as an indulgence more than something creative, but I do think of my job–teaching (I teach English at a community college there)–as a creative act: I try to convey the idea that learning, real learning, is an engagement with something vaguely-known or unknown that may or may not ultimately be of practical use to you but is never wasted in that you learn a bit about the world and yourself.
2) (1) works only to the extent that the student buys into this way of thinking. When s/he does, it’s magical and I feel as though I’ve earned my keep there in ways the paycheck can never signify. When s/he does not . . .
3) I’d point my friend to Walden and/or Velázquez’ painting, Las Meninas. Each is inexhaustible to me as a source of inspiration and, in the case of Thoreau, a kick in the backside that, after all these years, can still smart.
hey, SB! glad to be of inspiration…
lessee:
1) Writing, and in a previous incarnation, theatre-making, including directing. Is it difficult: it depends. I think the focus and discipline of seeing a project through from start to end is what’s hard, for me.
2) Anxiety about life circumstances undermines it; second-guessing myself; too much isolation. Best support comes from, not so much “great work!” or critique, although that’s welcome, too, usually, but rather more, what we used to call in improv “yes, and…” building off and bouncing back. certainly in a collaborative process. this is why i find it so much easier to blog than to generate material in isolation, i suspect.
3) Depends entirely on the friend in question. sorry to cop out, but it’s true. i’d look for something that i thought would resonate to the individual.
Hello! I’m a stay-at-home-mom to three small children and it’s only recently that I’ve come out of the procrastination cave and started writing again so I’m feeling a bit rusty.
* What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
I write on a whim on whatever subject comes to mind. I usually do my best when given a deadline. This is how I get procrastination to work for me.
* What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
I’m overly critical of myself and have a hard time just writing without correcting something.
* If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
Make procrastination work for you 🙂
John B: Absolutely no presumption; thanks for getting us started!
As a college student, I learned quickly that subject mattered far less than the teacher; that a passionate teacher could teach me anything, and dull one take the shine off of something I loved. It sounds to me like you are a teacher I would have chosen.
That painting is amazing. I’ve downloaded it for ongoing consideration. And Thoreau — of course. You know about this?
belledame: Being an inspiration — that’s creative! I completely agree with your #2 — especially anxiety and collaboration — and, of course, #3 is an excellent point.
Cheryl: Oh, that inner judge. Mine’s a rottweiler. Needs a choke chain.
Love make procrastination work for you. Wish I could manage to make it work for me in all sorts of ways.
On to the questions:
I think that home-making is creative — designing/ arranging a house and garden for the comfort, ease, and inspiration of oneself and others. I find this challenging, but not difficult.
For me, house-keeping is not creative, but I believe this to be a failing in myself, rather than a fault in the activity. I want to be like those meditative monks, who live in each moment, touching god as they wash a dish. But I’m not.
I consider blogging an art form, that I am trying to dis-cover. Sometimes it’s easy for me, and sometimes not.
Taking photos is easy, because I don’t have high expectations of myself. Writing poems is more difficult, because I do. That’s one of the reasons I like the snapshot poems — lower expectations, more easily met.
I consider the visual arts — painting, sculpting, even performance — truly creative. And extremely difficult.
Supports: structure, deadlines, community — all of which blogging provides, it occurs to me.
Underminers: worry, illness (lack of energy), inner judgement
Inspiration: Record your dreams.
Every morning when I crack my eyes open it feels as though I have to create the world again and sometimes (esp. when it’s very cold) it’s pretty hard work. Other times the world springs into being with no effort at all.
Other than that, I’m not sure I like the division between creative and non-creative. I’ve spent a lot of time wrestling with people who insist that “creative” is special to the point of being kind of precious and twee and confined to only pretty and nice things. They want one to be creative but also want to dictate and control what is created. Critique it. I’m always tempted to be defiant, shocking, offensive. So that’s the answer to the second question.
The advice is “the hell with the others — follow that thread no matter where it goes.” I mean, don’t hurt people and other sentient beings, but don’t have too much care for boundaries either.
If you’ve ever begun to really succeed, (if you’ve ever begun to really lose weight, f’rinstance, or get an advanced degree), you’ll know that your friends will try to discourage any growth or achievement that means you might leave them. They will deny this. Whether you do or do not leave them doesn’t depend on what you achieve. They won’t believe this.
Prairie Mary
My main job is writing novels which, I do realize, allows me to be creative during the best part of my day. Yes, it’s difficult, but also rewarding. One of the not-so-obvious spin-offs of a job like mine is that it often leads to insights into the writing process. The passing on of these insights is one of the main objectives of my blog.
What supports or undermines my creativity are everyday vicissitudes. The real necessity is the quiet space in which concentration can take place without too much interruption; and what undermines the creative process is the helter-skelter of daily life, illness, gambling, any kind of drug including alcohol.
The advice must always be to plough your own furrow. Whatever you are creating has got to come out of your own depths. You have to be able to reach inside yourself and find that unique thing that only you can give. So don’t listen too much to others. No one can teach you anything other than technique.
Mary: I wouldn’t have you any other way.
John Baker: “The real necessity is the quiet space…” — this is true for me, also. For many years, I felt guilty for requiring so much of it. Now I know — it’s simply necessary for me. That’s just how it is. No more excuses.
Mary & belledame: “… I’m not sure I like the division between creative and non-creative…” I think I see your point, here — but for me, there is a difference.
It doesn’t have to do with the specific activity, or the product, but with my internal experience. I can write a poem, but not from that ‘creative’ internal space — and so, it is not “creative”. And such poems usually sit flatly on the page, too.
I know that other people can wash dishes from that centered, internal place, and feel the wave of creativity pass through them as they do so — but I am rarely — very very rarely — able to do that.
So, for me, it’s different. Writing, or thinking, or seeing, from that center that feels creative to me — or from some more shallow place, the top of my mind, the safe place.
What do you think?
Hi. I’m a long time lurker and almost never commenter.
-What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
I used to paint, sculpt, write, photograph, and solve mathematical problems. Now I mostly code, make jewelry, and photograph. However, just about everything I do, between work and home, I see as problem solving, which can be creative.
-What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
Undermines: pain, crankiness at the world, frustrations at the limitations of the medium to never match what is in my head or what I see that I want to capture.
Supports: All the fun books I read, craftzine.com/blog, and the various blogs I read, making me think “I can do that”. People’s feedback.
In turn, I’d like to say thank you, SB, for a fabulous blog that’s given me something interesting and inspiring to read.
-If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
Advice: Giving in to your creativity is never a waste of time, it is essential to your health, your soul, your world. Inspiration: The way the sky mixes with the light and the trees, in all times of day and year. Here’s an attempt to capture that.
After visiting belledame’s blog, I don’t think she’s likely to be accused of being precious or twee! Maybe what you’re calling “creative” I might call “inspired,” that is, when — I’ll be pretentious — the immanent erupts up through the quotidian and suddenly what one is writing is MORE than what one is writing.
That other version of creative makes me think of grade school where we all made gummy messes we called “creative” to give our overtolerant mothers.
Prairie Mary
This is my very first time here and I’m commenting anyway because a) the idea is so cool and b) I loved all the other comments!
Nice to meet all of you. I am a stay-at-home mom of one, homeschooler, artist, Life Coach, Entrepreneur, blogger, writer… I’ll stop now.
I’m extremely PASSIONATE about creativity. What do I do that’s creative? I want to say: Paint, Draw, Write. Then I thought, but so much more right? I mean, what isn’t creative? I teach, coach, encourage, live to inspire others… Worship, pray, study. And of course there are the creative things I’d never do publically: dance, sing. Can I just say that I Live and in that I am creative?
Right oh, what hinders my creativity? Myself. Never anything but what’s inside of me. Fear, doubt, self-consciousness (what if they don’t like it, what if it fails?). I find being creative every day is hard, it’s darn hard to live each and every day honestly enough that I leave room for the creative and don’t just let myself fall into the rut of everyday life.
What inspires me? Other people’s art, conversation – strike that, GOOD conversation, a great image – just the perfect thing to say, a desperate desire to be myself no matter what, awesome writing, the success of other creative people.
My piece of advice… Do I have to pick one? I’ve made my life work to be inspiring others to live creatively – how do you sum up a life’s passion in one piece of advice/inspiration? Maybe: Be true to you. Live the life only YOU could live, other wise what’s the point?
Mary: No, I doubt that <a href=http://fetchmemyaxe.blogspot.com/”>Fetch me my axe has ever been called “twee”.
But those gummy messes were creative!
Weren’t they?
DrMeglet: I had hoped this might entice the lurkers; welcome! I hope you’ll feel free to comment more often.
I completely agree that problem solving is creative, and very satisfying. And, once you’re past that first flush of creative inspiration, the rest of it is mostly problem solving, isn’t it? How to move the piece as close to your vision as possible?
Thanks for sharing that photo. I was thinking just yesterday about how I love winter, even though it’s cold, and more difficult to get around. I think it’s just that — the light through the trees, how the world opens up when the leaves fall.
Megan: Welcome to Watermark. I am blessed with many thoughtful and creative visitors; you will find them good company. A whole bunch of folks who, ummm, experience the immanent erupting up through the quotidian.
Or something.
•What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
Photography is easy to a point (unless I really screw up the shot.) . Poetry is the hard ( need to spend more time with it.) and the hardest thing I ever done was writing my Star Wars stories.
•What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
What support me, just my need to create something and my need to explore things in my life.
Undermine, sharing my work does a lot undermine. I really think people don’t like my stuff especially the poetry. So sometimes I feel why bother with it all
•If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
Just try it but don’t tell anybody to be on the safe side
Cathy is, in fact, one of my favorite poets — and I cannot let this stand without comment.
I am consistently impressed with Cathy’s astuteness, her gift of imagery, the beauty she finds — and expresses — without turning away from pain. It is not unusual for me to tear up when reading one of her poems — and I am not the weepy type.
Now, perhaps we simply share an aesthetic that few others do. Or — I think, more likely — an online audience tends to be in a hurry. They see the spelling and grammar, and don’t slow down enough to actually read, with the depth her work requires. The depth her work would require, even if it weren’t slightly fogged by a learning disability.
Because, it’s deep work.
And Cathy, if others don’t see that — it’s their loss. If you stop posting, it’s ours.
Thank You Sharon 🙂
I’m a Laura. I work as a software engineer on computer-aided dispatch systems. Some days my work is just putting pieces together but as often, I work on design, which can be very creative. Some designs come easy – some don’t. (I include in the latter category any that come easy and then have to be totally reworked based on review….)
I also write poetry, take photographs (sometimes as snapshots, sometimes with a careful eye), and sometimes draw. In the past, I have done beadwork and made tabletop fountains, but I have not done either of those in quite a while.
I don’t know how to answer the friend question – it would depend on the friend. Some I might offer advice to. Or just a listening ear. Others a few short words. Often, I have no clue what to offer. Perhaps the best encouragement is to respond with a (genuine only, of course!) squeal of glee or admiration to something they have done, I think….
Hi all,
I discovered Watermark by chance when I Googled the word “crows” and discovered a past post of crow haiku, which I really enjoyed. It was very serendipitous, as I’d just posted my own crow haiku on my fledgling blog.
I write stories and poetry and have published several novels for children. I also like to take photographs and make art (mainly mixed media collage, plus I do a lot of crafts with my 11-year-old daughter). I’m inspired by almost everything (especially history, nature, books, other people’s art….)., and could write, create and blog/read blogs all day if I had the energy. The main thing that undermines my creativity is fatigue and sore eyes (I’m sorry to say, it’s hard for me to read through all the interesting comments here, but I hope some of you will come and visit me on my blog: http://wildink.wordpress.com/).
I’ll be back when rested.
Jacquie
What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
triple digging a garden bed in order to bury the subsoil from construction which had buried for six years the good soil and putting the subsubsand on the subsoil before the good soil (loamy, friable, black) back on top
What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
Lack of a day job. Writing comments on blogs?
If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
The Mountain (in Hobart, Tasmania)
http://meika.loofs-samorzewski.com
*What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
I am a creative person from a long line of creative types. If I want to figure out how to do something, it comes easily. But THEN Once I figure it out, remaining focused on the project is a huge challenge because I’m bored as soon as I figure it out. It’s frustrating for everyone involved in my life — especially me. It’s one thing makes me subject to the tag of Adult ADD.
My creative moments have included various needle/shuttle and thread type projects, Many forms of computer work, 2way satellite internet installation (very creative).
I’m currently writing, which is a steady thread throughout my life but this is the first time it’s been a singled-out focus. Writing in my blog has been rather fun because it’s legal to be random. I am playing with photography some.
* What supports — or undermines
My husband provides me with the single best gift of my life. He protects my time and space and takes my writing as seriously — probably more seriously — than I do.
The thing that undermines my creativity is well two things: First is the ADD. Besides being easily bored, I’m easily distracted. I have to set up a series of little “fences” to keep me on subject. And the whole process slows me down considerably.
Second is that this long line of creatives that I come from has a long standing policy of denying that they are creative-types. (don’t discuss that they could actually get paid for being creative-types.)
For example, here I am with a bunch of creative types, speaking openly of how frustrating it is to be easily creative and yet not easily focused … and I feel like I’m bragging or being egotistical … because I’m admiting that I’m creative. Aggg!
Ok well … I didn’t expect to suddenly be pouring out my frustrations but uh … thanks for asking and thanks for listening.
* Advice
Read “to be told …” by Dan Allender.
I found your blog through NaBloPoMo randomizer. I can’t remember if I’ve commented before. This is a great idea. I’ve been playing with a similar idea because I have people coming to my blog who don’t have a blog and they feel intimidated. I’d love to know if you get anyone to delurk who doesn’t have a blog.
oh and that’s the reason i dropped in … my blog … I’m finally putting my blog roll together and your in it. … Unless it freaks you out :~)
ttyl,
pam
Wow — lots of new folks. Exciting!
Laura: “…take photographs (sometimes as snapshots, sometimes with a careful eye)” — so well put. Exactly.
And, you neglected to mention that your blog is “devoted to creativity“!
Jacquie: I hope you discovered our Crow Poem Dance — this is one of my all-time favorite posts here at Watermark. Please feel free to contribute to it.
Pretty impressive list of books, there. I hope you will be able to spend some time here.
meika: Does lack of a day job support, or undermine, your creativity? Both?
Good soil — a good and necessary thing.
pam: I’m happy to be on your blogroll! & I wish I could manage to French braid my hair; my arms always give out too soon. I’m sure there’s a trick to it.
Tried to comment before — but today blogger has allowed me to post a couple of comments – perhaps it will again —
At the moment my most creative activities are trying to circumvent blogger and post on this blog 🙂
I’m also a transplanted Texan, I now live in Montana.
I express my creativity with my camera (http://wildshots.blogspot.com) I think the area I live in supports that dream :). I would like to get back to a city every now and then to capture there too.
I think I would give all of my friends cameras if I could. I hear all the time, “I don’t have the eye you do”. I believe if you just get out there and look, you’ll find it 🙂
This was a neat idea! Thanks 🙂
I write sad poems and funny stories.
Maybe that’s why I am still a very optimistic person
Caus’
If You Shed Tears When You Miss The Sun
You Also Miss The Stars
Kind regards from The Netherlands
From Houston, I am trying to start a newsletter publishing business. After the start of the new year, I plan to keep a journal of my trials at http://www.QTalks.com. I am compulsively creative, mostly in the area of fixing things differently. To stimulate one’s creativity, walk around the back yard like you’ve never been there before. Better yet, visit someone else’s back yard.
Endment: TypePad was having commenting problems one day last week; I hope you come back and try again; I’m always so pleased to see you here.
Leesa: Oh, another Montana Blogger — welcome to Watermark!.
Chia: Hello from Montana. I had no idea Frappr could be so interesting — you have a fun page.
Theresa: Compulsive Creativity! Really, I wonder if we’d all be like that, if we allowed ourselves to be?
Hi Sharon. We seem to keep crossing paths digitally speaking. 🙂
I’m a Canadian in the capital and I’m a blogger, poet. I take a lot of photographs but I wouldn’t call myself a photographer.
Anything can be done creatively and whether I cook or write or procrastinate or problem solve I do it creatively. The KISS principle is hard for me. And staying on track.
Stress and anxiety undermine my creativity if they are at all much higher than my baseline level. When it’s lower than normal, my creativity and clarity goes up. Time pressure could make it build or be undermined.
Creative inspiration? A lakeshore with large stones, wind and rain. Or cooking ingredients and a cat underfoot.
Hi SB:
I’m Michael AKA Stick Poet. I’m an “older than dirt” male, married to a wonderful woman and living in Missouri, which because of weather extremes we sometimes refer to as the State of Misery. I blog at stickpoetsuperhero.blogspot.com where I defend poetry from evil.
To get to the meat of your questions…
1. What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy or difficult for you?
I write – journal & write poetry. I also edit an online journal “Rogue Poetry Review.” As to the writing it is neither easy nor difficult. It is both at different times. I will have something fall into place with the blink of an eye and then write reams of rubbish but I don’t believe there is really anything extraordinary about that. I believe it is pretty par for the course with most who write poetry.
The editing is enjoyable and lots of work at the same time. You have to find in someone else’s work just the right tone and theme you are looking for, sometimes passing up on some very good poetry. You also get to read a lot of material that just isn’t even close, but that is the business.
2. What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
Wow… I get a lot of support from my wife, which is interesting because she is not really into poetry, but appreciates the work because she has her own art form of interest. As far as undermining, it is probably my own tendency to self censor. To tell myself for one reason or another I am not free to go there. Who knows how much I have hurt my own work in this way. I try to push the envelope (which I believe is important in art) but deep down inside I know that I still hold back sometimes.
3. If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
I would say that it is fine, even beneficial to find other poets and writes to be your basis of influence, but in the end, be yourself. I take refuge and inspiration in several poets, but I am Michael and I cannot be them.
Hi Sharon – I’m a fellow Missoulian, born and raised. Lolo and Sleeping Woman Peak are permanent reference points in my life. I think bumpy topography is what inspires me most, but lately I’ve also been interested in the tiny worlds on the forest floor. In either case, Montana is my heart.
I’ve been a medical/scientific writer for the past 30 years; have written two books and multiple treatises on this and that. I’ve learned so much, but I’m ready to break out of the rigid format required by that type of writing. Photography seems to be the path for doing that. I’m a rank amateur, but I do love mashing my camera up against my nose and capturing the world around me.
Advice? Probably: meditate daily.
Have always enjoyed your blog and hope to meet you one day!
Well, you already know me, Sb. But as to the answers to your query:
1. Making others smile is the most creative and rewarding thing i can think of.
2. Creativity is never undermined, but positive response and affirmation surely supports it.
3. In truth, i’d give a lovely little totebag. Inside the bag would be: washable fingerpaints for the walls; a toy, remindful of the value of play; a blank journal and a pen; a small book of stories for rainy days; a kazoo or maracas or whistle, because it’s good to make a little noise now and then; tissues, because we need to let the sad out as well; and a little note — Let Yourself Shine.
Oh this is a nice idea, I’ll need to come back and read about everyone else later. I’m based in Edinburgh, Scotland and work for a charity as well as writing poetry and making crafts out of recycled materials. In the new year I’m going to start tutoring creative writing. My blog of environmental poetry and reviews and crafts from recycled materials is http://craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com. My other blog Alter Ego is where I post my other poetry and reviews and has been reclaimed from a former blog: http://foundcraftygreenart.blogspot.com.I also edit the blog magazine Bolts of Silk: http://boltsofsilk.blogspot.com. Creativity for me is about having a very active imagination and going where it takes me and always having an open mind to new influences and inspirations. My creativity is supported by a part time job and all the creative people I meet in real life or blogging. This Christmas and into the New Year I am giving several of my friends (especially writers!) notebooks made out of reclaimed materials.
Stumbled across y’all via that Bergamot photo blog…and thanks for asking/sharing such an interesting topic.
* What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
Throwing things on the mental compost heap and watching what tendrils sprout from the steaming mess; taking a moment to look hard enough at things to be surprised/delighted, and sharing that; applied problem-solving, as in business or home life; recombinant sparks of thought and imagination. It’s unavoidable for me, something I can term “easy” or “difficult” the way I’d apply those terms to walking around.
* What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
Supports? Quiet time. Time being alone in a crowd. Interaction through time and the internet with like-minded compost. Time time time. Undermines? Sleep. Business paperworkish busy-ness.
* If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
Look. Look again. Stop, and sit, and look yet again. It’s all there for you. And embrace those things you feel are grains of sand if you want to make pearls.
Hi folks,
I’ve been distracted by dailiness, but will be back in here soon — in the next two or three days, I expect.
Such a great thread!
I love the idea behind this, so I thought I would answer.
What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you? I think just being human, and getting out of bed and doing something with your life is creative. If you didn’t, then the things you accomplish would have never been created. Mostly its easy for me, usually only difficult when I am struggling to come up with the perfect word to capture what I am really trying to say.
What supports — or undermines — your creativity? That’s an easy one. Recognition or comments, both positive and negitive, spur me into action, continuing the conversation of my life.
If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be? Just pick up the pen/pencil/brush/etc, and try it; if you never try, then you have already failed.
Yow! Just came back to reread and delve a bit deeper — thanks so very much, again, for asking — as soon as I get back, I’ll have to see more about the other folks who’ve posted here.
😉
Been reading for a couple years now.
Sometimes creativity comes easily, sometimes it does not. Being too anxious undermines my ability to be creative. Feeling balanced with enough exercise, a good diet, and letting go of insecurities (read: anxiety) supports the ability to be creative.
The writings of Barbara Kingsolver and Anne Lamott have inspired me over the past few years, so that is what I offer to anyone looking for inspiration as well.
I’ve been an occasional lurker here…met you in BS and like your writing and photography.
I try to live my life creatively…my major areas of success are in the visual arts…beadwork, photography, home creation (I like that better than interior design)…writing, music and performance arts I have no talent for but lots of appreciation of…
What undermined my creativity early on was my own, and others, perceptions of what creativity was…and what an artist was…and I didn’t fit the stereotype at all…I’ve since gone past that, but it took a few years.
Inspiration is all around…for me it’s outside in my garden or neighborhood and also on the web and all the fine artists who share their creative efforts online.
…I’ll admit I’m not a regular reader of your blog but when I do drop by, you always have something interesting to say.
I consider myself a writer (blogger, screenwriter, and poet) but I have NOT been writing. It’s sad.
Teaching has gobbled my time this past six months and I’ve been reluctant to send out submissions because of series of rejections (I wrote an entire series on a tough subject) has hampered and flipped my enthusiasm.
I have lived in a few different places and I am hoping to return to school next year. I am also a film festival founder.
But mainly, I want to get back to the love of writing.
I am usually more creative under pressure or stress situations….
hello! what a cool idea!
my name is leah (formerly kat of kat’s paws). i’m a 30 year old artist living near boston with my fiance and 4 kitty meows.
1. i make art! 🙂 ! i wouldn’t say it’s easy, but it’s not hard either. however, i think nearly anything can be done creatively.
2. blogging has helped to support my creativity by introducing me to a wonderful community of creative people. i have found great support and encouragement through this avenue. at the same time blogging can undermine my creativity when i get sucked into my computer and spend hours reading and linking and reading and linking. oy. 🙂
3. most recently, i’ve been really inspired by all the daily painters out there! http://www.dailypainters.com/
This is my first time here and I came in through Blogs by Women (and I know Leah who posted before me! small world, this blogosphere).
1. I sculpt in clay. That is never hard once I get myself into the studio. Getting myself into the studio is sometimes hard because I forget how wonderful it is once I’m there.
2. allowing myself to play, not have a todo list, dabble outside of sculpting (which I’ve really been doing a lot), and giving myself a vacation Dec – Feb is how I support my creativity. I am allowed to lay around and read. Or set up and clean my office like it’s brand new. Oooh. That’s been the best.
3. Advice: don’t ask anyone else “how am I doing?” Trust your own inner guide. Where ever it is you are going, only you know how to really get there.
Creativity: experience, people, and the affection they inspire, however grotesque or graceful, nature, the hum of life in the city, solitude, crisis.
What undermines that, oddly enough, is contentment. It’s usually a sense of dissatisfaction that drives me out into the stream of events wherein, however ordinary, the stories and images live.
Creativity is the ability to see new meaning in the world we find whether close or distant. I come to your site to find the voice I’ve known for a long time and know I will find that meaning.
An old woman now I know that it is the daily routine, the banal, the guilt at not completing some ordinary chore that undermines my ability to go deep within and find new ways of being.
I would say “Do it now. Drop all else and follow the path that inspiration takes you.”
I’d just like to thank you for making your blog public. Honestly, it is the best designed and best looking blog I’ve seen to date.
Also, I cruised through your poetry a bit. I very much admire your poetry and wonder if you are published? You certainly should be.
I have several blogs for my writing but the main one is:
http://starsequence.blogspot.com
Also I belong to a writer’s collective that is owned by the members (also a blog) if you’d like to check it out. There is a main page and an application page that is visible to the public. Applicants need to be approved by the members based on a writing sample. You should have no trouble being accepted if you’re interested.
I find the collective uplifting. It’s a good group of supportive writers who are willing to give their time to offering constructive feedback without a lot of ego or posturing. I think I can safely say that most of them are extremely talented young writers.
I am not a young writer. Quite the contrary. I feel old as dirt most days.
What gets me down most often is ego. Overweening, selfish, insecure types especially if they have very little reason for being so, depress me. I have no idea why.
Absence
The moon is absent,
the stars doused
by fog so there is nothing
to see, only to hear,
only to smell and feel.
I am a stranger to myself.
In darkness, mind absent
with the moon, I sleep
under the missing stars,
hands pricked with invisible
mists, so cold they feel
alien but they smell familiar,
a sweet mixture of her scent
and my tobacco that calls
my thoughts home again
where they know me.
© 2006 P.B. Adams
Cheers, for this site. I wish you all the best!
What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
i write, and i paint. the writing is sometimes easy which is to say that it sometimes flows inspired – and i have spent my 51 years writing, reading, studying, etc.
at other times i must labor over a poem for days and longer – but when i get it the way i want it, i find that i loved that labor.
painting is different – it is not hard because i don’t make it hard. i spread the paint out on the paper. sometimes i like the result. i am not schooled or trained in art, and continue to believe that i am primarily a writer and a poet as opposed to a graphic artist. which makes it doubly ironic to note that i have sold 4 paintings and while published here and there through the years, have never earned a cent yet – not on a poem i wrote.
also i made and raised four children and they are my greatest accomplishment.
What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
the ferment often is born in pain. but nature. gleam in my eye? i was urged to begin painting as therapy after losing my daughter – i suppose i would say that my own ego, my insecurity, undermines that medium.
and even though i will tell you i am a poet and a writer, and i will mean it, it is again my own ego deficiencies and insecurities that undermine my writing career as well. with writing it is so different because with writing, what i want the most of all if for it to be GOOD, really really GOOD.
If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be
Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski:
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
I am a 40 year old distinctly amateur poet who, according to my wife, writes poems as part of a mid-life crisis 🙂 As far as I’m concerned I do it because I come up with these odd little phrases I like from time to time and it seems a shame to do nothing with them.
What I do that is creative is as far as I’m concerned my poetry. What I am overcritical about is my poetry. It’s for my eyes only at the moment. I don’t have the experience and the poems I write to surround the phrases never seem to match up with the ideas I have in my head.
One piece of creative advice for a friend – if you want to do it then do it, even if only for your own gratification. (I’ve always liked the classic answer as well “Don’t! Those who should will ignore the advice anyway.”
Rob
PS Oh yes and having started a blog recently, I’m apparently an insect as well according to http://www.fantasticpoems.com/Poems/community-creatures . Well it made me laugh at the images it conjured up anyway.
I’m a woman in my mid 50s. I’m widowed from a man I was married to for almost a quarter-century.
For most of my adult life, my creativity found itself in sewing and embroidery, but after my hubby died, I started making attempts at poetry and illustration.
I find inspiration in everything, but if I had to pick one thing…it would be colour. I can’t get enough of it. Sewing was always a good excuse for touching colour, and now illustrating has become an excuse to squish my fingers in it.
Hi, I’ve just come to your site through the uncharted woods of link after link after link. After reading the comments others have left, and learning a lot from them I just had to comment too!
What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you? My creative outlet is mostly writing, but I also sew, and cook. I’d have to say that writing is what I want to be my greatest talent. I want to inspire and impress others with my insights or humor. I think that is probably why it comes in fits and starts. The sewing and cooking, while it impresses my family and friends, comes so easily that it hardly feels like a talent.
What supports — or undermines — your creativity? I’d have to say that my friends and family support my creativity. I can’t imagine a day where creativity didn’t play a part in something I did. My ego – or perhaps it’s my inner editor that is the nefarious villianous underminer.
If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be? As a child, whenever I was bored, sad, mad, or otherwise a drag on my family – my mother’s unwavering suggestion was “go make something.” The pure simplicity of that thought, and knowing you didn’t have to make something fabulous – just make something – turned that suggestion into a channeling of otherwise wasted energy. I use the same suggestion on my children – and myself to this day!
My whole blog is on the subject of creativity, so I couldn’t resist adding myself to the list. I guess for me the whole point of creativity is that the ongoing process of self expression is really the process of self awareness. So I think creativity should take the form(s) that each person finds most useful.
As a baby pulled screaming
into the afterwomb,
choking on the air
which will become its nature,
so, too, have I wavered…
Hi, I am new to your blog but like what I see. I’ll join the game if I may:
1) I am a painter…my whole work day is about creativity! I also take photographs and write poems and have a photo-story blog. I guess I am a creative type personality: what has been hard for me in the past have been situations where I was not allowed to be creative. I just can’t help it.
2) Well, my husband is very supportive of what I do! He is a creative type himself so totally gets it.
3) So much advice…how to weed it down to one pithy saying? How about this:
If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Henry David Thoreau
Lurker.. I hardly ever comment. As for introductions, my life is on my blog. 🙂
* What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
The translation of the mess of thoughts into words that begin to make sense. That is creative, regardless of the medium of expression. It is to be oblivious to the medium itself perhaps. This being the definition, it is hard for me not to be creative. My entire being feels restless till I can put everything down in words. However, I find it hard to not publish everything instantly. I wish I had in me the patience to carry a work to its full potential.
* What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
All my senses, they support creativity. However they also undermine it. Because then everything becomes physical. I become obsessed with the form of everything – emotions, time, conversations.
* If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
I would give them the pleasure of a walk through ruins and monuments. And cities. Each city has its own story to tell. To have the ability to hear it out – and to tell it others – that is inspiration..
I’m Natalie and also Augustine, my cartoon alter-ego. We live in London.
I can echo the 3 answers given by Prairie Mary Scriver and don’t know if I can improve on those.
I’m a ‘professional’ (meaning I’ve done it all my life and that’s quite a while) artist/writer/cartoonist. Currently I’ve published a book of the comic-strip that was posted on my blog, “The God Interviews”. Being creative, as I experience it, means interrupting the monotonous and persistent chatter of my inner monologue, telling it to shut up, and focusing my whole attention on a specific task. This could be something simple and relatively quick like cooking a special dish, or long and complicated like starting and completing a whole book. The ‘creativity’ thing just doesn’t happen for me – never ever – while the mind-chatter has the upper hand. So that’s the advice I give to others: choose one task,turn off the inner chatter, focus on the task. Of course the chatter will come back, but with practice it become secondary, a low hum in the background, rather than a dominant bloody nuisance.
Coming late to a favourite site I find myself wanting to read all of the comments at once and, at the same time to skip back and forth to follow the leads. How good of you Sharon to listen and share so much with us. (and for writing that I remember from long ago.) I live so far from my beginnings and being very old I find my poetry in the bits and pieces of memory. Fran
Hello, I’m Schmutzie of Milkmoney Or Not, Here I Come. I answer to one of the questions: creativity comes fairly easily to me. I can’t let a day go by without photographing something or writing a poem or at least crafting a blog post.
It’s nice to meet all of you!
Can I join in? I like this…
1) My creativity comes from my writing. The more I do, the more I can experiment. But other things fuel it too – physical things I can make with my hands, sculpture, sewing, even cutting and sticking. If my hands are busy, then my mind can wander (and I’m trying to stay away from smut here. That’s NOT what I mean!)
2) Other people inspire me. Other blogs. Other books. Art. Music. I love to find out about the discipline and seriousness with which people handle their work because that reminds me – in a seemingly business-led work – that creativity matters most. Like reading what people have written here – each one is a boost which is why I wanted to join in.
3) My advice is just to do it. Not to worry about ideas running out. In my experience, ideas lead to other ideas.
Great blog by the way – I’m glad I stumbled here.
What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
I write poetry. It’s as easy as living a meaningful life. Which is to say hard.
What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
Regularity supports, and second-guessing undermines.
If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
Keep going!
I’m new…yet an occasional lurker…really like your shells everywhere in your blog.
1. I write some sort incoherent aphorisms
2. when I am in a state of impatience…
3. first to organize some (lots) of free time and then to think of nothing and wait for that what comes first in mind and then to just write this down, in slow pace, exactly like it occurs in the mind – and everything that disturbs this peace of mind is a concrete hindrance….
Hi,
I am happiest when writing poetry and composing music but I seldom consider any piece as finished. I also paint, draw and sew. I hear the music in my dreams and often revise a piece from that dream. I also seem to recite an unfinished poem in my dreams and the words will come to fruition. I notice a lot of amateur poets writing a ‘poem a day’ at their blogs. I admire this conveyor belt type of poetry, but it seems to lack the quality of a long thought out piece and I think a piece needs to evolve and mature in its creation like fine wine.
Regards,
Coral
Hey Sharon. Ozymandiaz here. First time visitor but loving the site. Been reading thru some and really like your poetry. If it is at all OK with you I would love to add you to my poetry blog roll.
Alright, on with the self introduction.
I have two main creative mediums, one being photography (which I have blogged in the past but no longer do) and the other being poetry. My current blog, to which I post my writing (such as they are) is OCELLUS (http://ozymandiaz.wordpress.com/). I have written poetry for some thirty years now. Published once in an online poetry mag but that’s about it. The writing comes and goes as it seems to have a will of its own and being it is not required for me to survive that is OK. When it is there it is generally an easy thing. I don’t sweat over it much, to say the least. Don’t do much by way of rewrites or editing (just my spelling which is atrocious). If a poem doesn’t produce itself as a whole in a pretty quick fashion it will most likely never be finished as my short attention span theatre moves on to the next show in the ‘ol noggin.
I have no singular form of inspiration. My subjects are varied in from and subject, from the ubiquitous love to quantum mechanics to bodily functions…, basically where ever the marble lands in the roulette wheel in my head. I usually attribute this to my muse, a disgruntled drunken dwarf. This is by no means a statement about short people it is just how he has always projected himself to me. When he sleeps he farts and snores and curses and when he is awake he is far less pleasant. If you read my poetry you will see his fingerprints everywhere. He is, after all, my muse.
There are many things I could perhaps tell a friend about creativity. Open your heart and mind, remove the daily filters thru which we perceive, share with them the importance of classical art (writing, painting and, for me most importantly, music)…
But most likely I wouldn’t. I would say find your voice and speak. Period. Discover what is important to you and your heart and make it happen. Nuff said.
Thanks.
Hi, a regular reader and persistant lurker I rarely comment though I know I should. Reading this thread has been fascinating and inspiring. So many new blogs to visit, they should keep me busy for some time.
I live in the UK, somewhere in the middle, about as far from the sea as its possible to be in England. I’m a mother, owned by cats and a student studying fine art at university. Or rather I was. Unfortunately due to recent adventures (http://francesca_gray.blogs.com/pushing_an_elephant_up_th/) I have had to drop out though hopefully I will start again next year.
I write poetry and short stories, make beaded jewellery, sculptures and things less easily defined as well as painting and making pictures. Sometimes it is easy to make things sometimes it is not. If I am involved with visual art I cannot write and vis versa.
What encourages me is constructive criticism or just knowing that something I did caused a response in someone else. Guilt hinders me. Guilt at the egotism of calling myself an artist, guilt at the amount of time and energy I devote to such ‘selfish’ pursuits.
Inspiration comes from memories and from random words that can suddenly become charged with meaning. Even my visual art often grows out of words.
What advice would I give? Don’t let anyone tell you that you are not creative or that you are wasting your time. Follow your heart and your dreams.
I’m also a transplanted Texan- in Virginia. i write primarily poetry, tell stories, run poetry readings.
Creativity is something generated by how I interact with others. That and my constant one-woman show I perform in front of my invisible audience (and occasionally real audience).
My family and jobs both support and restrict my work. I sometimes let them take over when I am lazy or unmotivated to create, blame them for how I procrastinate. But the interaction is necessary.
Write, draw, sing, dance, whatever it is you need to celebrate the wonder around us, whether it’s dark or light energy- it’s yours and there is nothing you can do wrong- now, if you want to share what you produce, you may need to study craft and see where you can take all your energy to make it sharable.
but actually- whatever works- it’s all good. If you write one poem, you’ve done a good thing.
If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
Hi, I’m a relatively new reader, but came to your site through your Artist’s Way posts (I’m doing AW for the second time around and was wondering what other people experienced, and wound up here!)
Anyway.
1. What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
I do all sorts of creative things. I paint, draw, cook, write, sew, bead, collage, etc. Many, many different kinds of creative output. It’s sometimes very easy, and sometimes excruciatingly difficult.
2. What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
Supports: time to myself. Peace of mind (shutting off the chatter in my head). Freedom to create whatever I want.
Undermines: expectations (my own, or someone else’s). Comparing. Being in a rush. Wanting perfection, first thing, no mistakes.
3. If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
My best piece of creative advice is to no be afraid to get messy. Don’t worry about messing things up, because that is how you learn. You are SUPPOSED to mess it up sometimes. Often, in fact. Also: don’t compare your work to anyone else’s or to whatever image you have in your head. Let the work evolve, create itself. Don’t over rationalize.
That was fun. Great post!
just wandered in. thorugh a facebook link and then blog hopping, lord don’t ask me to retrace my steps. saw cats and since we love cats, just had to leave my mark. take care.
Hi,
I just stumbled happily upon your blog via a haiga search. I’m putting up a link to your blog in my sidebar today. Here’s a brief introduction to me:
I have three blogs, the main one is: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm http://roswila-dreamspoetry.blogspot.com, and the other two are Tarot blogs.
— What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
What supports — or undermines — your creativity? Life is creative. If I believe in anything completely it’s that we create our response to each moment. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes easy, the best times are when I’m so involved in living I don’t notice whether it’s hard or not. 🙂 I am least creative when most out of touch with myself (and that can happen a number of ways). My specific areas of creativity? Working with/writing about my night dreams; working with, reading about, reading with, and designing and reviewing Tarot cards; writing poetry (haiku, dreamku — a form I’m developing and which you can read about on my dreams and poetry blog, scifaiku, haiga, taiga, “regular” poems). I also do some drawing, as with my Taiga Tarot (third of my blogs) and some collages I’ve posted to my dreams and poetry blog.
— If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be? Learn to listen to and value your intuition. IMHO, it’s our connection to that which is greater than us all.
Thanks for this opportunity. I’ll visit again soon.
blessings,
Patricia (a/k/a Roswila)
“I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart’s affection and the truth of the Imagination.” John Keats
Patricia’s Blogs: ROSWILA’S DREAM & POETRY REALM, http://roswila-dreamspoetry.blogspot.com; ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL, http://roswila-tarot.blogspot.com; and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT, http://taigatarot.blogspot.com
I am always excited to be some where and here is no exception. I am new to blogging so I do not have much outside of this post.
Answers to the 3 questions:
What do I consider creative? Everything except the media and Paris Hilton.
It’s easy most of the time.
Life itself supports my everlasting thirst. Advice? That’s easy: Carry pen and paper all the time. Have a camera with you all the time. Close your eyes once in awhile and I don’t mean for sleeping.
Hi. I just wanted to let you know that I liked your blog so much, I decided to feature it on my new Reader’s Blog, http://abunchofwordz.wordpress.com/. 🙂
While I was gone these past few months, you folks kept my blog alive — and I’m grateful to you for it.
I’ll be back in here soon, to respond to your thoughtful and generous comments.
I think I’m about half-way through from where I left off before, so I’m going to go ahead and post my responses so far — before I get too tired to be legible.
Pearl: Nothing more inspiring than cooking and a cat, I agree.
Michael: “reams of rubbish” — yes! I try to think of it as compost, and I do believe that lots of compost is required to grow a strong poem. And I love this, it’s so true: “…it is fine, even beneficial to find other poets and writes to be your basis of influence, but in the end, be yourself. I take refuge and inspiration in several poets, but I am Michael and I cannot be them.”
Ah, Bitterroot, one of my favorite photographers. Perhaps we have already met; is that possible?
Dear Anne: your playfulness is an inspiration to many of us. But you know that.
Crafty Green Poet: those “notebooks made out of reclaimed materials” you make and give will be a perfect place for writers to put their own recycled and reclaimed material. Don’t you think that’s what we do? Re-cycle, re-vision, re-claim.
Lori: Another compost fan, I see. And yes, “Look. Look again.”
Cece: Your advice is often the most difficult to follow; the easiest to avoid — for me, at least: “…pick up the pen/pencil/brush/…”
Rachel: I see that, one way or another, many of us refer to balance as a support, and anxiety as a deterrent. I find the exercise and good diet to be a challenge, even when I confess that it helps. And Anne Lamott is a favorite of mine, too.
I’m pleased that you have kept coming back; that is food for my soul.
bobbi: A Brainstormer! Another creative influence I neglect…
Oh, I think you’re right — so much of creativity is unrecognized and undervalued; especially women’s creativity. “Home creation” — I like that.
mike: Every visitor is welcomed, even infrequent ones! Blogger, screenwriter, poet, teacher, film festival founder, writer — a lot of creative demands there. Perhaps you’re just tired?
Perhaps I’m projecting?
But you know the drill — keep on keeping on.
Sandra: I don’t know whether to envy or pity you.
leah: Oh, it’s you! Kat! Your creativity has been a support to many others — and I do see how that can become draining. Back to that balance thing again…
Tammy: Sculpting is one of those things I’ve often thought about, with longing. Perhaps, one day…
I would add to “Where ever it is you are going, only you know how to really get there” that we must trust this, even when we think we don’t know how to really get there.
somewhere joe: Your comment is a poem in itself. A somewhat unsettling one, too.
As true poems often are.
Frances, old friend: I’m just going to repeat your advice: “Do it now. Drop all else and follow the path that inspiration takes you.”
Enough for one night; I’ll be back soon!
And thank you all, again. You give me reason to keep on keeping on.
SB, I started web dev & blogging as much for the creative outlet as also for the learning opportunity. It kinda reawakened the part of me who’d forgotten how enjoyable writing used to be in school. And I really enjoy dabbling with digital graphics, so blogging affords me the chance to blend that in too.
Often I think I undermine my own effort by being too wordy or rambling in my posts. But one fix I’ve found for that is to draft entries ahead of time – sometimes several days or even weeks in advance – which allows me to revisit & refine those ideas into something more cohesive.
I don’t feel terribly qualified to give advice, but my recommendation is: Just write. It doesn’t have to be perfect. No need for the next great novel. Just get your thoughts out and keep moving forward. The more you write, the easier, more enjoyable, and (hopefully) better doing it becomes.
Rob O: Welcome to the party!
Now, to go back a few posts —
P.B. (May I call you that? Heh.): I like your poem very much, and I will check out the Writer’s Collective — though I’m older than dirt, myself.
barbara: Bukowski does have a knack — love him or hate him, he has brought a lot of readers to poetry who otherwise would never have considered reading it.
Robert Twist: Welcome to the worlds of poetry & blogging. I love your ‘classic’ advice, which I’d never heard before: “Don’t! Those who should will ignore the advice anyway.”
catnapping: Another familiar visitor — & you already know that your blog is one of my favorites. I love your illustrations! I’m so glad you come here.
Linda: You are fortunate in having family and friends who support your creativity, and your mother sounds like a very wise woman.
sdruthia: “…the ongoing process of self expression is really the process of self awareness.” Yes, I agree.
Wm. Rike: so, too, have I wavered… (interesting name, there)
Nancy Bea: & there are so many ‘common hours’ — but in them are seeds, no?
neha: Old friend, so nice to see you here. So nice to be back.
Natalie| Augustine: I love your ‘Interviews with God’. I’ve tried meditation many times over the years, but the only thing that shuts off the mind-chatter is, for me — you’re right — to focus on the task of making something.
schmutzie: Hi schmutzie!
Sarah: “… Creativity matters most”!
Robert: ” I write poetry. It’s as easy as living a meaningful life. Which is to say hard.”
“I write poetry. It’s as easy as living a meaningful life. Which is to say hard.”
“I write poetry. It’s as easy as living a meaningful life. Which is to say hard.”
God, I love that..
antonia: I’m glad you like the shells. What began as as a decoration has become a signature of sorts. I like it. It’s evocative, somehow.
Coral: Wow — you hear music in your dreams? That’s amazing. Only a few times for me, I think. And I’ve do the poem a day exercise my self, during April. But I agree, it’s rare for me to get something substantial from that. But — it’s an exercise William Stafford recommended, and practiced.
Enough for tonight — but I’ll be back again soon. I’m so pleased to see that folks are still contributing to this discussion.
Finally, I will catch up with you all!
Picking up where I left off:
Ozymandiaz: Hah! Quite the muse you have there. “…find your voice and speak” — yes! That’s it!
Francesca: It’s always a delight to hear from you — a rare delight. “…random words that can suddenly become charged with meaning” — that happens to me, too. Suddenly an ordinary word becomes … extraordinary.
Shann: Organizing readings is a great service — I’m glad there are folks like you to do it. “… celebrate the wonder around us, whether it’s dark or light energy- it’s yours” — there is wonder in darkness, too, isn’t there?
Daphne: Ah, I like that — be messy! Be willing to be messy. It’s a hard one, though.
poet: Brevity. The poet’s mark.
Roswila: “Learn to listen to and value your intuition.” I find that in dreams, too.
T Caber: Pen, paper, camera. Just having them with me hones attention. I can tell I’m avoiding my-self when I don’t carry them.
Edie: Thank you! I’m glad you like my blog.
Rob O: “Just write.”
A fine place to pause.
Hello,
I am a creative director; it is early Monday morning. Before I do the CD thing I am putting in time on a pet blog; a hobbie? Not the right word for it. The original concept of the pet blog was to fill it with literary dead pet stories. Everyone I knew had many stories and promised to write them. If you went to the site you would see that most if not all have a writer’s block. The virtual pet post caught my eye. I would like to link to it on my blog and will alert you when/if it happens. Your site looks very interesting and I will come back and look deeper. This comment was longer than I had envisioned. More later 😉 Oh, if you have any stories…
Very cool site — I’ll add it to my CatLinks – and visit again soon.
Welcome to Watermark!
Hello, I had a lot of things that I needed to say and verse just grew out of them. I like shape, colour and movement too, am gradually exploring the potential of the medium. I like to play music, rhythm flows from that into the verse. Well, I hope it does. I get a bit frustrated with the limits of the blog format, but make the compromise because of the benefits.
What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
I paint, I do paper cut-outs a la Matisse, I write, I do crafts, I take photographs. In one sense it’s very easy, because there’s always something to be made from whatever crosses your path. Sometimes it’s not that easy, because of practicalities. I think it’s more easy than difficult, because I couldn’t imagine a life where I wasn’t making something. It’s like breathing or eating. It’s just what I am, who I am.
What supports — or undermines — your creativity?
The only things that really undermines it, are practicalities; not enough space, not enough money. Sometimes, too, it would be nice to have someone to share it with. There are so few. I’d like to be able to do things with other people.
I don’t know what to say about the supports. I suppose I support it, life supports it, everything I do, see, touch, feel is part of what builds it up and feeds the beast.
If you could give a friend one piece of creative inspiration (advice, or a poem, or a painting, or a book, or whatever occurs to you) what would it be?
It might seem a little trite, but there’s this quotation from Marcel Proust: “The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
I get the feeling, a lot of times, that people feel that whatever they’re doing, or however they’re doing it, is somehow inadequate. If they can’t paint like Rembrandt, then they must be no good. If they can’t compose like Bach, they can’t be any good. This attitude is sad, because it prevents people from enjoying making things, however complex or simplistic. I’ve seen far too many people who take no joy in creative pursuits of any kind, because they think there’s no value in it if they aren’t producing masterpieces. I’ve seen far too many people who feel they aren’t artistic because they “only make crafts”. They don’t see the aesthetic beauty in practical things, or even what might exist in kitchen witches, hat boxes, stencils on a windowglass, or colouring with crayons in a dollar-store book. I’ve met far too many people who make nothing, express nothing, because they have been socalised to believe that aesthetic and creative pursuits are worthless; they don’t see the practical nature of aesthetic things, and anything that isn’t hard science is somehow useless.
I could go on.
My point is, the reason I picked that quotation is, that I would love for everyone to be able to open their eyes and see past whatever blocks them from enjoying something creative, even if it’s just making sand castles or stick people drawings on diner napkins.
I love your blog about women bloggers. I am also a woman blogger. What inspires me. Well, life. I get my creativity from life. I explain my world through imagination. I am a writer a poet a sculptor and a house remodeler…I do a lot. I am varied. My best advice, there is not such thing as failure, it is always better to try than to not. I linked to your blog on my blog page (www.womanremodeled.com/blog.html
Thanks
I’ve visited your blog before, but this is my fist time looking around more in depth. I like the clean open space of the page, and your respectful attitude toward blogging and other writers.
I’ll be back! Your poems are very interesting.
Hello all,
I’m Susan the gal you’d hardly notice (If you’ve read my intro comments to Sb’s controversial poem, you know I’m being a smartass). Anywhoo, I am really glad I found my way here. I’m loc wearin, veg head, Quaker momma.
What do I creative? Well, my skills are limited mostly to writing. I’ve learned to used technology so I can pursue my love of reading and writing and to persuade others that they’d love it, too, if they gave it a chance.
Well, I’m forgetful, scattered-brained and I procrastinate. I get in my own way.
I’d give a friend a book. I like my poetry but I wouldn’t put a friend in a awkward position of feeling obligated to say she’s likes poetry. Plus, I’d rather have a book, too.
I can’t remember if I’ve commented on your blog or not, SO, I know now that I have.
I enjoy reading your posts and commentaries.
What makes me creative or drives me to create? Well…my attempt at writing is fueled by my reaction to something specific. I don’t think I’ve evolved enough to create off the top of my head.
There are two sides of me, the rant and rage side then there’s my poetic side. My poetic side can be a little dark but then there are times when I paint serene pictures in verse. I’ve created two blogs that show both sides.
When I want to become grounded I visit sites like yours.
~Dee
epiphanist: “… shape, color and movement …” — an artist friend looked at the pictures on my wall,and said that those things, and mood, are clearly what I like, too. I think I’m just beginning to realize how the “limits of the blog format” affect my writing, keeping me to shorter lines…
Lonita: “new eyes”, and all you say about them — yes!
Lauren: I’m glad you like the Women Bloggers page; it’s one of my goals here, to point folks to other blogs — especially those by women — that they might enjoy. And thanks for the link!
Christine: Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you here again.
susan: forgetful, scatter-brained, procrastinator — me too!
~Dee: What a nice thing to say!
I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve commented on this post. I think it may be time for a new “Introductions” post — this one is a year old, and has over eighty comments now. It’s a little intimidating…
Yes?
Pepek here, as in pepektheassassin, from My Uncle Pepek’s Journal. I think I’ve known you previously from Montana Raven. Why have I not bookmarked your site before now! I have spent much of the morning surfing your blog, and I love you. Ok, so much for passion. So, I guess I am # 75. I live in Salt Lake City. My Sunsign is Taurus, but my rising Aries saves me. Half Albert Schweitzer, half Micky Mouse. I write. I poet. Sometimes I post pictures of my grandchildren.
Pepek here, as in pepektheassassin, from My Uncle Pepek’s Journal. I think I’ve known you previously from Montana Raven. Why have I not bookmarked your site before now! I have spent much of the morning surfing your blog, and I love you. Ok, so much for passion. So, I guess I am # 75. I live in Salt Lake City. My Sunsign is Taurus, but my rising Aries saves me. Half Albert Schweitzer, half Micky Mouse. I write. I poet. Sometimes I post pictures of my grandchildren.
Pepek: Just as you were commenting on this post, I was preparing the new Introduce Yourself post. Welcome!