There’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while (say, a year or so!) and I’m finally committing myself to getting around to it – starting a series of posts on creativity. Specifically on creativity books.
I’ve amassed quite a collection over the years and, I am ashamed to say, have never finished working through any of them. One of them I haven’t even started reading.
Why now? Two reasons. One is that this blog is badly neglected. Two posts back I wrote ‘Perspectives of an Australian regional journalist’. I had to – it was a uni assignment for my post-cadet journalism course. I even included a photo of myself (again, only because I HAD to) in all my chubbiness. Even though it was a uni assignment, it felt good to post again, and of course, I’d been ‘meaning to get around to it’ for a long time.
Then I posted the planner post, which felt to me kind of like a non-post. Making the video was fun and I’ll definitely do more, but I’m also wanting to be authentic on here, explore, find community, and grow. The way things used to be in my blogging world, all those years ago.
The other reason is a fascinating chat I had with a friend last week on creativity, blockage and manifesting things.
My friend is an artist. She paints gorgeous whimsical illustrations. You can see her work at www.sharninormal.com. She hasn’t done anything for a while and I asked her why. So we ended up talking about blockages, which bought to mind the creativity books I had sitting around.
Blockages – let’s face it. When it comes to creativity, we all have them. I have them up the whazoo. Most of them limiting self-beliefs. Like labels – I am no artist. I would feel a fraud to call myself an artist. It’s only the last two years I’ve felt comfortable calling myself a writer – and that’s only because I’m legitimately being paid for legitimately writing, even if it is ‘just’ journalism. I love the job, and people appear to enjoy my feature stories, but it’s not easy.
I remember going through years of existential angst and a yearning to create, but not knowing how or what to create. That was over a decade ago. That horrible hunger has gone entirely, perhaps because I am writing on a regular basis (again, even if it’s for work). But, in some form, I want it back.
The subject of creativity has always fascinated me. What is it? Where does it come from? How do you get it?! Particularly the ‘how do you get it?’ question. All of my life, I’ve wanted to be a writer. And I’ve always associated that with so-called creative fiction, aka fiction novels. (Isn’t all writing creative? It’s coming out of pure mind no matter whether it’s fictional or not.)
One of my oft-uttered phrases is “I don’t have a creative bone in my body”. By this I mean, yes, I can sing, play musical instruments, draw, but it is always someone else’s composition in the first place. I am a good copyist when it comes to drawing, but when it comes to drawing or writing something out of my imagination? Hmm. What I am lacking, really, is imagination. Can you be creative without imagination? Can you grow imagination starting from nothing? So many questions!
Hopefully, my journey will answer some of these. I am starting with Eric Maisel’s book “Coaching the Artist Within.”
Yes, today I am embarking on a journey. I don’t know where it will end up, but I’m excited and curious to find out where I will visiting and exploring on my odyssey. Maybe I will make friends with fellow-travellers on the way.