If you look in my bio, there are different creative paths listed at all times. The titles change, but they basically embody the same creative routes. I may call myself a writer, doodler and crafter on one day and an author, poet and crocheting gal, but they are all the same thing: creativity.
Over the years, I’ve found that my creativity takes a lot of shapes. It all leads to one thing though: writing.
Being creative in any way makes me a better writer, or better, a writer.
But how do I keep all my creative engagements separate? How do I give myself space to do them all?
I have two tricks up my sleeve for that.
The first is space.
My desk is a space where I do all my crafting and a lot of my writing.
I have journals at the ready, and brushes and my favourite pens.
I don’t need to do much to get ready to paint. It’s just a matter of one hand goes left, the other right, and within seconds I can draw or glue stuff in my art journals.
If I don’t feel inspired to create, my desk is where I go. I open up a page in my latest art journal, grab a bag filled with paper snippets to collage, and glue it in.
Or, when I have a bedridden day due to health, I grab my notebook and start sketching before I write a little poem and my to do list.
It’s all about creative triggers and about safe spaces to create in.
There is another thing about space too. You can create separate spaces for your creative work, like one desk for writing and another for drawing.
Where you sit fuels what you create.
My second trick is opportunity
This is not the right word, but it fits well enough. What I mean with this one is that I always have things with me the opportunity to create.
First and foremost in this is my notebook combined with mechanical pencil. Basically, all I need is my notebook, and I know it’s a safe space to create in, even while sitting in a coffee shop drinking cappuccino, doodling the vase with one flower on the table.
I also have a small bag with essentials that I can take with me when I want to work somewhere else, in- or outside of the house.
It contains leads for the mechanical pencil, washi tape, scotch tape, a ruler, scissors, a little tin with watercolours and a water brush and a glue roller.
And don’t worry about loving several creative exploits.
There is one saying that has carried me throughout my creative life and that is this:
Creativity Begets Creativity
This line has proven itself right so many times. When I’m stuck with my writing, I make something in procreate, and before I know it, I write something. When I want to make art but I feel blocked, I write a haiku or other tiny poem, and all of a sudden, the fear is gone and I can grab my watercolours.
This is what makes living a creative life so insanely powerful if you let it.
Those last four words are crucial. Without allowing, your creativity remains locked in a cage.
Set it free, and soar. Knit something, paint something, write something and go back to making sketches. You’re not betraying your one true creative love, you’re expanding it.
And that’s the beauty of this process of trusting your creative work.
It always expands when you feed it, no matter if you write the most insightful poetry, write or crochet a granny square.
Creativity begets creativity.
Let it.
