Creativity, Crafts, Books, Movies, Greyhounds & Favorite Things

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For the next few weeks, I’m reading the book Creative Thursday by Marisa Anne.

Creative Thursday is a book about learning to make creativity a daily habit. Over the last few years, I have made creativity a priority, but just like any habit or practice, it requires consistent attention.

Chapter 2, Moving Through (and Accepting) Resistance, is very appropriate for the period I find myself in…a transitional time. I’m moving from part-time work to full-time work. That creates a tension because a new schedule and new practices have to be adopted. Marisa talks about the many forms of resistance from time constraints to fear. One of the suggestions is to “be willing to not make a very good start.” This is an idea I was introduced to earlier and has been a powerful tool in my creativity practice. I find it freeing to realize that much of what I start will not be good and that it is not only okay, but essential. Instead of thinking about it as “not doing good work,” I like to think of it as “playing” or “trying something new.” Giving myself permission to do this has been very helpful to me because it helps me rid myself of both fear and perfectionism.

Chapter 3, Finding Inspiration, offers suggestions on how to find inspiration. I must say, when it comes to painting, this is not a problem for me. I feel like I can’t live long enough to go through all my ideas. I do find that writing my blog is another story. One thing I find helpful is to plan out my posts a little in advance. Then, if I can’t think of something to write, I have a few days to look for an idea. If that fails, I make myself write something regardless. I do this because I set the intention to post daily in order to keep my momentum moving forward. I don’t take myself too seriously. If it’s a lousy post, oh well. For me, moving forward is more important than making sure everything is “just right.” This is an attitude I’ve adopted only in recent years, and it’s been huge for me.