Wednesday 19 September 2012

Finding Creative Focus...



is something many people say they want to do.  'If only I had enough time, enough resources, enough ideas...then I would be fine', they say.  'Nothing could stop me creating'.  Or there is another type of issue around creativity... the permanent block.  We all know someone who has it.  'Me?', they cry, 'I don't have a creative bone in my body'.  'I can't draw'. Of course, none of this is actually true.  It's what we tell ourselves, to give ourselves permission to do anything other than follow our creative passions.  We focus on what we think we lack, instead of focussing on what we have, and taking steps to include the things we say we love in our lives.   

I wrote a book about finding your creative focus, partly because people kept saying to me, I  don't know how you get so much done... I would love to be you.  As if I had some sort of secret that made me do more than the average person.  Well... I'd like to let you into a little secret; the secret is, there is no secret.  But there are a lot of ideas, ways of thinking, tools, techniques and approaches that you can learn, and use, to make the most of your time, your resources and your ideas, to make sure that you do spend at least some of your time developing your creativity.  Mainly, I was writing for artists, but then found that singers, writers, playwrights, poets and all sorts of other creative people were telling me that this was a useful book.  And when I thought about it, it made sense.  Creative work is creative work; it doesn't matter what you are doing or making, the process is the same.  Yes, even if you're a nuclear physicist, I suspect, though I've never met one to ask!

This blog is intended as a support to the book. though it's not necessary to have read it to benefit from what's here.  It will dip in there, now and again, as I talk about my approach to this subject.  The blog will offer you prompts for creativity, little exercises to get you started on the work, suggested reading and links to challenge and inform you.  It's intended as something of a drop in centre.  I doubt if I'll post every day, but I will post often.  If you're interested in a particular type of post, then check the labels I use (they are listed at the end of each post); you'll be able to search on them to find similar posts.  All the prompts, for instance, will be tagged as such; searching will bring the most relevant up for you en masse.  If there's something you would like me to talk about, feel free to leave me a note on one of the posts; if I can, I'll reply (not everyone has their preferences set to allow this, however). 

Welcome...I hope you'll stop by now and again, and share things that are helpful to you, as well as learning things that will help you to be more creative in what you do. 

3 comments:

hazel said...

love it so far, look forward to more x

Amanda said...

On my list of visits! :-)

artmixter said...

thanks, guys!