Being creative isn’t about the tools you use or the medium you create in. It’s about experiencing something that moves you and about hearing a voice within you that guides your work.

In the day-to-day struggle to be productive, it’s very easy to lose sight of this. Things like daily wordcount metres or the desire to show your family and friends that you’re spending your time creating a finished product can make it very tempting to approach a new project methodically, especially once you’re past that initial spark and now all that’s left is the tough slog through to the finish line.

Personally, I’m always at war with logic. I’m both left-brained and right-brained, and when I’m not sure how things will turn out, I fall back on planning. But when it comes to my creativity, I over-think things. I over-plan and draw up schedules for my daily wordcount or the optimal number of posts per day. I spend more time thinking about the project, stuck in an endless loop of analysis and contingency planning, and occasionally the futility of the endeavour.

But creativity isn’t about logic. It’s about letting go of the fear and uncertainty, and letting your inspiration out to play. It’s about seeing the truth in something and telling the world that it’s there, regardless of whether you’re pointing out injustice in the world or portraying unicorns in their natural habitat. Your end result may not turn out the way you expected. But if you’re true to yourself and to what is inside you can be creative too.

Related posts:

1. On Building a Support Network As a writer, I spend a lot of time alone....
2. Building a Creative Platform – Part 1 Most people who achieve a modicum of creative success have...
3. The Impact of Equipment on Your Creativity The equipment you use can have a huge impact on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Are you satisfied with your efforts?

It’s easy to be encouraging and compassionate to a friend who says: “Here is my art. But it’s not good enough.” Maybe you remind them that they should celebrate the completion of a project. Or that others appreciate their efforts, including past sales or accolades.

Do you do this for yourself? Or are you dissatisfied because you haven’t made your millions yet?

I came across an excellent article on learning to love yourself and was struck by the difference between healthy and unhealthy behaviours towards your goals and accomplishments.

Healthy – You set goals for yourself that encourage you to grow and stretch. You accept and love yourself as you are but know that you can always be better.
Unhealthy – You are constantly beating yourself up because you believe that you need to overwork or punish yourself for not being “good enough”. You believe you have to achieve these unrealistic goals to be “worthy”.

From Learning to Love Yourself Again by Cindy Sense.

Do you acknowledge what you’ve accomplished so far in your life? When do you allow yourself to celebrate? When you’ve had a once in a lifetime experience? Do you ever celebrate the small steps you had to take to get to where you are now?

If you have low self-esteem, the unhealthy behaviours from above can skew your perceptions and make it seem that you’re worthless and haven’t accomplished anything. Here’s an exercise that might help you gain a more balanced view of your daily accomplishments and successes:

Exercise: A “What I Have Accomplished Today” Journal

Years ago, on a now unfortunately defunct organization forum, I came across this deceptively simple exercise. The “What I Have Accomplished Today” journal is exactly what it sounds. All you have to do at the end of each day is record what you’ve done. Use either an electronic format or a paper journal, but make sure it’s something that you can refer to, especially as each day adds up. My preference for this is a paper journal, and each page represents one day of accomplishments, because I find it helps you to really see what you’re doing. You can also decide if it should just include your creative endeavours, or if you’re feeling particularly self-loathing, you may want to include everything from getting out of bed to eating to going to work.

I’ve used one of these journals off and on for years, and pull it out when I’m feeling particularly insecure about my value and self-worth. And while my self-worth shouldn’t be connected to my levels of productivity, the reminder the journal provides assures me that I can’t allow a blanket self-assessment of being a failure guide my thoughts, which unfortunately on really bad days is what sometimes happens. The journal provides evidence of accomplishments and that every 100 words I write for a story or blog post contributes to my goals and is worthy of celebration.

And this is exactly what I tell my friends and clients who are struggling to believe in themselves.

Will you celebrate your achievements with me?

Related posts:

1. What are your Priorities? A simple exercise to help reflect on your life Are you stuck in a pattern where you wake-up and...
2. The Impact of Equipment on Your Creativity The equipment you use can have a huge impact on...
3. The Argument Against Instant Gratification While waiting for the bus yesterday, a guy in a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Are your creative projects a priority for you?

With work, friends and family demands, it can be difficult to carve out time to make creative projects a priority. But it’s not enough to just say that you want your creativity to be a priority, your day to day life needs to reflect that it’s actually a priority.

Here’s an exercise that I’ve found helpful when I need to tweak my daily activities or if I need to determine what’s eating up my time.

Step 1
Write down what you would like your priorities to be or what you think they are. Include things like your family, pets, household chores, work, volunteering, etc., but don’t forget to include your creative projects.

Step 2
Next to each item from step 1, list 2-4 actions that reinforce these as a priority.
For example, one of the items on my list are my two dogs, Chloe and Basil. Next to them, I list things like feeding them and taking them out for daily walks.

Step 3
Write down your typical daily activities, as they occur. Be honest with yourself, and include things like eating, sleeping, work, tv, video games, reading blogs and newspapers, meeting friends for coffee, going to the bar, etc. This list should reflect not just your best days, but your least productive days as well.

What does this list tell you about what your priorities really are? Are they where you expected them to be? Were you surprised by anything on the lists?

Over the next few weeks I’ll explore different options for aligning your life with your goals, including techniques for carving out more time for your creative projects and looking at procrastination.

Related posts:

1. Exercise: Celebrate Your Accomplishments What is success? How do you measure it? Define it?...
2. Mama Said There’d be Days like This Tips for dealing with days when you're having trouble being...
3. Mindfulness and Productivity When I first started reading about increasing writing productivity, I...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

From io9: Tor Editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden On the Future of SF Books
Interview covers electronic publishing, online serialization, and the future of reading formats.

From Salon’s Broadsheet: Is it ever OK to tar your kid in print?
Battle brewing between author Julie Myerson and her portrayal of her son as an alleged drug addict. Article examines the repercussions to the son and the morality of writing about your children in a way that portrays them in a negative light.

From lifehack.org: Ten Great Ways to Crush Creativity
Tongue in cheek look at how a corporate leaders’ behaviour can impact and destroy innovation and creativity in their department or organization.

Pictures of Neil Gaiman’s personal library
I saw this linked on John Scalzi’s blog. It’s a bibliophiles dream room.

Related posts:

1. Link Roundup – August 23-29 2009 Eye Magazine (Toronto weekly): Nine Inch Nails – The...
2. Link Roundup – September 6-12, 2009 From John Scalzi: Rationilizations Run Thick Comment on rationalizing why...
3. Link Roundup – Sep 28 – Oct 4, 09 From Editorial Ass: Robert the Publisher’s Gem of the Day...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Shortly after discovering online fiction archives, I posted my very first short story. I received some lovely comments, but it wasn’t the smash hit I had hoped it would be. Nobody knew who I was, and although the story was decent, it wasn’t blow-you-out-of-the-water-fantastic. This kind of experience is shared by many new authors, and I began to notice the people who had the most success had worked on building up a creative platform. What this means is that the more creative work you produce, the more people are going to have access to your work and are going to be supportive of future projects. It also means that you’re going to have more practise and experience, and ultimately, will have a more professional end result.

Building a platform is going to take time, but unlike dreaming about the day your career will take off, it will have a direct impact on your life and will help you achieve your dreams.

In part 2, I’ll post some concrete techniques for internalizing this concept and give you the push you need to stop dreaming and start creating.

Continue to Part 2

Related posts:

1. Building a Creative Platform – Part 3 Read Building a Creative Platform – Part 1 and Part...
2. Building a Creative Platform – Part 4 Establishing Yourself as an Expert Read Part 1, Part 2...
3. Building a Creative Platform – Part 2 In Part 1, I introduced the benefits of building a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

That isn’t to say that you should go out and buy the most expensive gadget or art supplies. Or that you need to own every single tool before you can get creative. But the tools that you use greatly impact creativity and can even impede it.

A few months ago, my husband bought a new camera – the Canon T1i. Our old camera was fine – it was considered pretty high end for a non-pro camera, but I was never happy with the pictures that I took with it, so I rarely used it except on vacation. I would see something that I wanted to capture, but then when I would try to take a picture of it, it would look nothing like how I’d want it to. I remember when I received my very first camera when I was about 10 years old, and how extremely disappointed I was when the film was developed. To this day I’m sad about the quality of those photos and how they made my vacation look so dull and lacklustre.

I always thought that the crappy photos was because I had no photographic talent. Then I played around a bit with our new camera. My husband Jeff and I were at a national park with our two dogs, and we were just sitting around after a full day of hiking and a late lunch, enjoying the view of the lake. I picked up the camera sitting next to me and I took a picture where the dog closest to me was in focus, and the dog next her (further away from me) was blurred as part of the background. Then I reversed the focal points so that dog #2 was in focus and dog #1 (closest to me) was blurred.

Both pictures looked great, and I was amazed.

The new camera didn’t suddenly turn me into a pro, but for the first time in my life, I had a camera that did what I wanted it to do. Ever since then, I’ve been taking random pictures, including the ones posted here. Having the right tool for taking images I’m not embarrassed by is one of the main reasons I finally started a blog for creativity and personal development. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years, but I always held back, and was never quite sure why it never seemed to come together until recently.

I’ve had similar experiences in other areas, ranging from cake decorating, making jewellery, and even make-up application! I remember in high school saving up money for what looked like a vibrant eyeshadow, only to find that when applied, it looked washed out and barely there. Since then, I’ve invested in good quality brushes and I stick to brands that have strong pigmentation. They’re a bit pricier, but I personally find it worthwhile (although I’ve also found no-name brands over the years that are just as fantastic).

Personal Development Tip

Is there a project that you’ve always wanted to embark on but never really got going? If you’re not sure why you just can’t seem to get it off the ground, it’s worth considering you’re being obstructed by the tools you’re using. One way to test out the idea is to embark on a test run. Go through the steps, create a prototype, and then assess the final product. If the result falls short of your expectations and hopes, it’s very likely that the tools you’re using just aren’t giving you what you need.

If on the other hand you can’t complete or start even the rough version, then all the tools in the world won’t be able to change the situation, and you’re going to have to resolve other issues such as creative block, procrastination, etc., which I’ll be addressing in future blog posts.

But, just think about it – if it really is about the tools you’re using, then that’s fantastic, because it can be such an easy thing to resolve!

What have been your experiences with tools? I’d love to hear your experiences with this!

Related posts:

1. Tip: How to Get Great Profile Pictures of Yourself Following up on yesterday’s post of images I use in...
2. When to stop tinkering and start working Previously, I’ve written about the impact of equipment on your...
3. Exercise: Celebrate Your Accomplishments What is success? How do you measure it? Define it?...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m also an extrovert (and a bit of an exhibitionist) and after spending my day working from home, my husband is inevitably faced with a flood of conversation. I want to tell him about my day and about how one of our dogs kept losing her ball under the couch or how I’m just not sure what one my characters is trying to tell me. I know I’m lucky that he finds my babbling to be one of my endearing qualities, but I also know that he can’t be my sole support when it comes to my creative endeavours. He experiences creativity in a very different way than I do, and sometimes he just doesn’t understand my perspective or need for validation. What he can do is encourage me to put myself out there and submit stories to publishers, continue finding ways to work from home so I can focus on my novel, or point out the flaws in my project plans. He keeps me grounded, which is why we work so well from a relationship perspective.

From a creative perspective though, I need something more. I love talking to people about the creative process, and I’ve made some fantastic friends online who engage in picking apart their own methodology. I need critical feedback and I’ve found a helpfully brutal critique group. I also need to be nurtured, and I’ve been reaching out to friends who can fill the role of cheerleader or who will listen to me brainstorm when I’m stuck.

As an artist, if you feel alone, think about the different friends and acquaintances you have. Make plans to have coffee and see what their reaction is to your creative projects. Or try engaging people you’ve met online by sending an email with something you’re working on. One of them might just surprise you and fill a role that you didn’t even know needed to be filled. For example, the other day, one of my friends offered to read everything I’ve written. He’s a voracious reader, and even though I warned him he would be receiving unfinished first drafts, he seemed excited and interested in seeing what I was putting out. For me though, it means that I need to turn out something, anything, by the end of today (which thankfully I have), and adds a level of accountability that I need in my life. This blog serves a similar role and it inspires me to continue creating and finishing new things to post. You may find that you need different things in your life, such as someone who will text message you every morning saying “get up and write” or maybe someone who will go to art shows with you.

Be aware though that you can’t ask a person to fill a role they’re not capable of filling. If you turn to someone looking for validation, but all they give you is criticism, then stop turning to them. All that’s going to do is destroy your confidence and discourage you from completing any work. Or if they’re great at listening to you talk about the minute differences in materials you work with, but never add anything to the conversation, don’t get frustrated with them. Instead, be as specific as you can about what you need from them and then respect their decision about how involved they want to be.

And finally, don’t forgot to appreciate the support you receive, whether by verbally thanking the person or gifting them with something you’ve created just for them, becuase their support will feed your muse and help you accomplish your goals.

Related posts:

1. Building a Creative Platform – Part 1 Most people who achieve a modicum of creative success have...
2. Building a Creative Platform – Part 2 In Part 1, I introduced the benefits of building a...
3. Building a Creative Platform – Part 3 Read Building a Creative Platform – Part 1 and Part...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Very few speeches are this touching and meaningful.

Related posts:

1. The Argument Against Instant Gratification While waiting for the bus yesterday, a guy in a...
2. The Impact of Equipment on Your Creativity The equipment you use can have a huge impact on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.