Having struggled at times to encourage my kids to keep a diary or write about what they have learned, this is a question I have had put to me with passion and sometimes tears. My answer has been different at different times, but the reasons include:
writing is a form of communication where you cannot be interrupted;
writing allows time for idea formulation and correction;
writing gives you the opportunity to hear what you are thinking;
writing permits you to rerun situations that went badly and provide a different ending/answer;
writing can connect you with others in a deeper way than conversation.
It seems a little paradoxical that something which allows you to step back from the immediacy of verbal communication, can also bring you closer. Perhaps the fact that on the whole conversation can be somewhat haphazard and tangential, while writing allows more lineal, complete and structured communication is instrumental in permitting this depth.
One of the many things I have learned from my husband is the importance of letting someone you are conversing with finish their ideas. So many people feel quite justifiably unheard because the ebb and flow of conversation overwhelmed the contribution they might otherwise have made. Writing allows us to communicate an idea in entirety, with less chance of misinterpretation and without losing the train of thought. Reading another’s written communication gives us time to absorb the ideas they are expressing and think them over without any pressure to give an immediate response.
How Long is a Piece of String?
Having just spent the last 6 months planning to build a house, we had a crisis of confidence as the builder we had been talking to for the past 2 months informed us that our house was not doable within the budget (a budget we had outlined at the beginning of our conversations). Suddenly the dream of our own new home faded and we began to think of buying an existing home instead. Having spent the best part of 2 years crammed into my Mum’s home, all our stuff in boxes, we are all feeling the effects of limited space, limited autonomy and conflicts of interest. Thankfully we all get along well and most of the time these things are not overwhelming, but the prospect of many more months in our current environment is less than thrilling!
A day of looking at existing homes re-enforced the depressing truth that houses within our budget would not meet our needs in terms of space, warmth, or cleanliness. So it was back to the drawing board, the challenge: to see how we could fit our requirements into 2/3 of the original size, and 100% of our budget.
The string is shorter, the room sizes smaller, no garage and no study, but we may just manage it. There will be no oversizing, no extra height stud and no upmarket accessories, but with a smaller size we won’t need so much heating, and it will be quicker to clean. Definite plusses for domestically challenged heat-lovers such as myself.
Thinking through what I have learned in all of this, I suppose the main thing is that life is full of situations where we must cut away the superfluous nice-to-haves in favour of the essential must-haves. Sometimes the items we eventually cut out are the very things we considered to be essential at the start. It is not until we count the cost of these things that we discover the truly essential.
I will give up the hydronic heating, solar panels and garage, but space to live, study and work is my absolute bottom line. I want a bedroom that does not have to be shared with a child. I want a place for my books and other home educating resources. I want a place for our pictures and furniture. It doesn’t have to be big, or trendy, but a well-insulated, comfortable home is my must-have.
What does any of this have to do with creativity or writing? Only that sometimes the idea we begin with fades into insignificance as the work unfolds and the true core is revealed. Inspiration is difficult to pin down, but finds its own voice in the creative process, eventually drowning out the other voices that seemed to be important. That is when resonance is achieved and the subconscious speaks. I have found the iterative process of cutting back and giving up some of the first thoughts, can be the best thing for a story that has lost its way.
A day of looking at existing homes re-enforced the depressing truth that houses within our budget would not meet our needs in terms of space, warmth, or cleanliness. So it was back to the drawing board, the challenge: to see how we could fit our requirements into 2/3 of the original size, and 100% of our budget.
The string is shorter, the room sizes smaller, no garage and no study, but we may just manage it. There will be no oversizing, no extra height stud and no upmarket accessories, but with a smaller size we won’t need so much heating, and it will be quicker to clean. Definite plusses for domestically challenged heat-lovers such as myself.
Thinking through what I have learned in all of this, I suppose the main thing is that life is full of situations where we must cut away the superfluous nice-to-haves in favour of the essential must-haves. Sometimes the items we eventually cut out are the very things we considered to be essential at the start. It is not until we count the cost of these things that we discover the truly essential.
I will give up the hydronic heating, solar panels and garage, but space to live, study and work is my absolute bottom line. I want a bedroom that does not have to be shared with a child. I want a place for my books and other home educating resources. I want a place for our pictures and furniture. It doesn’t have to be big, or trendy, but a well-insulated, comfortable home is my must-have.
What does any of this have to do with creativity or writing? Only that sometimes the idea we begin with fades into insignificance as the work unfolds and the true core is revealed. Inspiration is difficult to pin down, but finds its own voice in the creative process, eventually drowning out the other voices that seemed to be important. That is when resonance is achieved and the subconscious speaks. I have found the iterative process of cutting back and giving up some of the first thoughts, can be the best thing for a story that has lost its way.
Spit & Polish
How do you get an idea polished and refined? How do you get anything
polished and refined? Effort and repeated abrasion is the typical
method.
The effort part is easily understood whatever the metaphorical application. However, apart from the work and discipline applied to our creativity, our output requires abrasion in order to become polished.
That is where critics are so important. Most people lack confidence in their own abilities when they begin producing creative work. So much of the creative is an expression of who we are at the core, that it can be scary, intimidating or overwhelming to invite others to critique it. But our creativity is always changing and hopefully improving. The input of genuine critics is invaluable sandpaper in the polishing of artistic endeavour. The process of creative development can be advanced enormously with the right critical input. As a writer I know that I prefer genuine specific negative criticism to nebulous, vaccuous praise. The former provides friction. Friction forces the inertia of comfort to be overcome by the impetus of discomfort.
My Dad always said the only way to get shoes really shiny was "spit and polish" the method he learned in the Indian Army. I want to treat negative input as the spit and polish to my creative efforts, to gain all the impetus I can to grow and develop as a writer.
The effort part is easily understood whatever the metaphorical application. However, apart from the work and discipline applied to our creativity, our output requires abrasion in order to become polished.
That is where critics are so important. Most people lack confidence in their own abilities when they begin producing creative work. So much of the creative is an expression of who we are at the core, that it can be scary, intimidating or overwhelming to invite others to critique it. But our creativity is always changing and hopefully improving. The input of genuine critics is invaluable sandpaper in the polishing of artistic endeavour. The process of creative development can be advanced enormously with the right critical input. As a writer I know that I prefer genuine specific negative criticism to nebulous, vaccuous praise. The former provides friction. Friction forces the inertia of comfort to be overcome by the impetus of discomfort.
My Dad always said the only way to get shoes really shiny was "spit and polish" the method he learned in the Indian Army. I want to treat negative input as the spit and polish to my creative efforts, to gain all the impetus I can to grow and develop as a writer.
Dealing with the Unknown
Facing the unknown can be a very uncomfortable feeling. Anxiety, fear, doubt and even despair may accompany the questions in our hearts. However, that is not always the case. I know a lot of people who don’t like surprises, but many who do. So what is the difference between the unknown and a surprise? Mostly time and our expectation. As a child I was filled with anticipation before Christmas and birthdays because although I may not know exactly what, experience had taught me that I could expect good things then. Sadly some children learn to dread such events because experience has taught them that a parent will be drunk/grumpy/violent, or absent.
In the unknown lurk all the possibilities of our imagination. For many the imaginings are dreadful and terrible. Sadly, the things we imagine often become self-fulfilling prophecies. As Job said “What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true.”
Some see the unknown full of hope and optimism. Their expectation is that good things are just out of sight.
Most of us have experienced a mixture of good and bad surprises, but for some reason some of us expect surprises to be good things and others see all the pitfalls that go with not being prepared. I am the “surprise me” kind, my husband is the “tell me what to expect” kind. I think that’s why I am less phased by the unknown. I generally imagine that it will all work out for the best. One of my favourite movie lines is: “It’ll be all right in the end and if it’s not all right, it’s not the end yet.” from “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”. I have one relative who lives by the opposite premise, that any good things are entirely temporary aberrations that will soon be swallowed by misfortunes. I suppose we are both right in a way. Life is full of pleasant and unpleasant experiences, following one another by turns. Where we differ is the focus we have. This is a matter of choice and practice. As Viktor Frankl so eloquently put it: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” and “Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Even though our choices may be somewhat automatic, we can change our patterns by learning to think differently and respond differently.
I firmly believe that both I and my relative have options whatever life throws at us. This is one of the things I attempt to portray in my characters. I also believe that with practice, my husband will start to like surprises, and maybe one day I’ll see the benefits of being prepared (or not...after all it is a choice!).
In the unknown lurk all the possibilities of our imagination. For many the imaginings are dreadful and terrible. Sadly, the things we imagine often become self-fulfilling prophecies. As Job said “What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true.”
Some see the unknown full of hope and optimism. Their expectation is that good things are just out of sight.
Most of us have experienced a mixture of good and bad surprises, but for some reason some of us expect surprises to be good things and others see all the pitfalls that go with not being prepared. I am the “surprise me” kind, my husband is the “tell me what to expect” kind. I think that’s why I am less phased by the unknown. I generally imagine that it will all work out for the best. One of my favourite movie lines is: “It’ll be all right in the end and if it’s not all right, it’s not the end yet.” from “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”. I have one relative who lives by the opposite premise, that any good things are entirely temporary aberrations that will soon be swallowed by misfortunes. I suppose we are both right in a way. Life is full of pleasant and unpleasant experiences, following one another by turns. Where we differ is the focus we have. This is a matter of choice and practice. As Viktor Frankl so eloquently put it: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” and “Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Even though our choices may be somewhat automatic, we can change our patterns by learning to think differently and respond differently.
I firmly believe that both I and my relative have options whatever life throws at us. This is one of the things I attempt to portray in my characters. I also believe that with practice, my husband will start to like surprises, and maybe one day I’ll see the benefits of being prepared (or not...after all it is a choice!).
Talent and Skill
Although all of us are creative, we are not all equally talented or skilled. Some technically excellent writers/artists/dancers/musicians are not gifted. Some talented actors/sculptors/gardeners/architects lack the honed skill to really shine. We cannot change the particular giftings or natural talents we are born with, but we can improve our skill and technical ability through application and effort.
Because some natural creative talents are not stretched and developed they are often surpassed by the learned skill of the hard-working technician. So there is hope for us all in our creativity, we can all improve on the base we have and even without natural talent, we can become good in our chosen field, with sufficient effort.
Obviously to keep working hard at developing skill, we must be motivated, either externally or internally. Externally we have critics and co-creatives urging us to do better and internally we have our own desire to improve on what we have done before. None of us remains the same for long, we are continually changing, either advancing through the disciplines we apply, or allowing our abilities to decay through lack of use.
Every week I take (or attempt to take) Dad for a walk round the lake in our city. He is 85 and physically very fit, but mentally decaying fast. One of the things I have noticed is that if he gets exercise, his brain seems to benefit (perhaps due to increased blood-flow, fresh air, meeting other people, or a combination of all 3). However, if left to himself, he would not choose the beneficial discipline of exercise despite having been a marathon runner in the past. It is starting to get to the point where his inertia exceeds my impetus and I see that one day, I too may be unwilling to discipline myself to do better in any number of ways. Knowing that, spurs me on to use whatever span of disciplined existence I may have to develop my skills and improve before decay sets in!
One of the biggest difficulties many of us face is carving out a slot of time to devote to concerns which may bring no obvious benefit to our families or our budget. Somehow the activities and needs of the family, the demands of income earning and commitments to the wider community have a way of sidelining our creative pursuits, relegating them to the bottom of the list. Describing our creativity as work is perhaps a first step in lifting it above the bottom of the ‘to do’ list. Getting the people around us to see it as work may take some time, but in the long run if we see it as work, they will too, eventually.
Because some natural creative talents are not stretched and developed they are often surpassed by the learned skill of the hard-working technician. So there is hope for us all in our creativity, we can all improve on the base we have and even without natural talent, we can become good in our chosen field, with sufficient effort.
Obviously to keep working hard at developing skill, we must be motivated, either externally or internally. Externally we have critics and co-creatives urging us to do better and internally we have our own desire to improve on what we have done before. None of us remains the same for long, we are continually changing, either advancing through the disciplines we apply, or allowing our abilities to decay through lack of use.
Every week I take (or attempt to take) Dad for a walk round the lake in our city. He is 85 and physically very fit, but mentally decaying fast. One of the things I have noticed is that if he gets exercise, his brain seems to benefit (perhaps due to increased blood-flow, fresh air, meeting other people, or a combination of all 3). However, if left to himself, he would not choose the beneficial discipline of exercise despite having been a marathon runner in the past. It is starting to get to the point where his inertia exceeds my impetus and I see that one day, I too may be unwilling to discipline myself to do better in any number of ways. Knowing that, spurs me on to use whatever span of disciplined existence I may have to develop my skills and improve before decay sets in!
One of the biggest difficulties many of us face is carving out a slot of time to devote to concerns which may bring no obvious benefit to our families or our budget. Somehow the activities and needs of the family, the demands of income earning and commitments to the wider community have a way of sidelining our creative pursuits, relegating them to the bottom of the list. Describing our creativity as work is perhaps a first step in lifting it above the bottom of the ‘to do’ list. Getting the people around us to see it as work may take some time, but in the long run if we see it as work, they will too, eventually.
Foreign or Familiar Creativity
What is the fuss about? Why do so many people consider creativity a foreign concept or something other people have, but not themselves? Or something vaguely alternative that might be just a bit dodgy.
I think this comes from the (erroneous) view that creative people are flamboyant, out-there types who live by a different set of norms from everyone else. Of course, many well-known creative people are flamboyant and out-there, but being well-known is perhaps a function of the flamboyancy as much as the creativity.
An average person regardless of their personality type has huge creative capacity, but for most of us the creative side was discouraged because: “It won’t get you a good job/income/life.” Actually having a better job/income/life has a lot to do with being creative. When I was growing up there was a lot of talk about the importance of “lateral thinking”. These days schools emphasize De Bono’s “thinking hats”. What these approaches have in common, is the idea that if we come at things from different angles, we will see more, learn more, understand better.
Creativity is the epitome of approaching things from another angle, letting go of what we’ve done before and exploring new territory. Not that we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater, creativity springs out of what we are and what we have experienced, but in fresh ways and with new eyes.
Creativity is innate and we filter it out at our own peril, turning life from rainbow excitement into dull greys and browns. Perhaps that is part of why so many people suffer from depression. Expressing our creativity fills us with joy. Denying or ignoring it flattens and dulls us.
I think this comes from the (erroneous) view that creative people are flamboyant, out-there types who live by a different set of norms from everyone else. Of course, many well-known creative people are flamboyant and out-there, but being well-known is perhaps a function of the flamboyancy as much as the creativity.
An average person regardless of their personality type has huge creative capacity, but for most of us the creative side was discouraged because: “It won’t get you a good job/income/life.” Actually having a better job/income/life has a lot to do with being creative. When I was growing up there was a lot of talk about the importance of “lateral thinking”. These days schools emphasize De Bono’s “thinking hats”. What these approaches have in common, is the idea that if we come at things from different angles, we will see more, learn more, understand better.
Creativity is the epitome of approaching things from another angle, letting go of what we’ve done before and exploring new territory. Not that we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater, creativity springs out of what we are and what we have experienced, but in fresh ways and with new eyes.
Creativity is innate and we filter it out at our own peril, turning life from rainbow excitement into dull greys and browns. Perhaps that is part of why so many people suffer from depression. Expressing our creativity fills us with joy. Denying or ignoring it flattens and dulls us.
Creative Purpose
All our lives are measured in defining moments. The creative process is a way of pulling such moments out of the daily melee in which they can be so easily lost, and highlighting them, polishing them, bringing out their facets, reviewing their impact. In this way creativity becomes a cathartic process. We can see the point of view of those we do not naturally identify with, as their motivations and assumptions are laid bare. We can understand our own prejudices and inconsistencies when they are portrayed by a character in a book. As we live the lives in the pages, their joys, sorrows, trials, failures and triumphs help us to deal with our own. That is why works of art, books, music, sculpture can evoke such strong emotions in us. They speak to our core, to the "human condition", touching beyond reason to the heart. This heart connection with art (and with creation) is a beautiful gift. Writers, artists, creative people of all kinds, have potential to touch hearts and lives with truth. That is the purpose of all creativity.
Pruning and Paring
Having spent a large part of the weekend denuding the citrus trees of fruit, I have been thinking about the similarities between maintaining fruit trees and improving creative outputs.
The trees have been in Mum's garden for almost 40 years now. Dad always used to spray them for bugs and diseases (until 8 years ago when he was committed), since then they have been fully organic with citrus fertiliser placed around the dripline each year by Mum. The lime and mandarin both have a bad case of sooty mold, the lemon and lemonade trees seem to have escaped that, and have a good quantity of steelblue ladybirds which I assume are munching all the nasty citrus pests.
I started by merely evening up the look of the trees and removing ripe fruit, but by the end I was cutting everything back hard in an effort to remove all the sooty mold affected leaves and branches.
It all reminds me of the "Report of an Investigation" (something like a mini-thesis) I was required to complete during my fourth year at university. At the time I was a bonded cadet with NZTP (the then NZ Tourist and Publicity Dept), and I was majoring in Marketing and Japanese, so the topic I chose was: "Potential for New Segments in the Japanese Tourism Market".
The idea was to produce a useful report of around 30-40,000 words. My first draft was about 150,000. I was extremely fortunate to have a Professor whose former field was English and she gave me some very sound advice as we pruned my work back to something close to the limit.
"Always use a simple word if you have the choice between an obscure, lofty sounding term and a simple one. Always simplify your sentences as much as possible. Usually several short ones are preferable to one long, hard to understand one. Write to communicate, not to impress. The only reason to reiterate someting in a different way is if it is critically important and there's a chance the reader will miss it otherwise. If you want your report to be used, structure it well, summarise where necessary and help the reader to find what they need easily."
Although my writing is now mostly of the creative rather than business reporting kind, I recognise that writing large and then paring back works best for me. I also know that elegant and lofty words may intrigue me, but can sometimes detract from communicating my message. A good table of contents and details kept in appendices can make the whole lot more user-friendly.
So, coming back to the trees, they are mature, have been fed and watered, have been pruned, and next year they will again no doubt produce a bumper crop of juicy, nutritious fruit.
So now I will remember to let my creative ideas mature, stew over them a while before committing them to paper. I will let my mind be washed and fed by GOOD books. I will recraft the words that spill out onto paper, removing the dead-wood. And next year, I may have a book that I and others find refreshing and nutritious to the soul.
The trees have been in Mum's garden for almost 40 years now. Dad always used to spray them for bugs and diseases (until 8 years ago when he was committed), since then they have been fully organic with citrus fertiliser placed around the dripline each year by Mum. The lime and mandarin both have a bad case of sooty mold, the lemon and lemonade trees seem to have escaped that, and have a good quantity of steelblue ladybirds which I assume are munching all the nasty citrus pests.
I started by merely evening up the look of the trees and removing ripe fruit, but by the end I was cutting everything back hard in an effort to remove all the sooty mold affected leaves and branches.
It all reminds me of the "Report of an Investigation" (something like a mini-thesis) I was required to complete during my fourth year at university. At the time I was a bonded cadet with NZTP (the then NZ Tourist and Publicity Dept), and I was majoring in Marketing and Japanese, so the topic I chose was: "Potential for New Segments in the Japanese Tourism Market".
The idea was to produce a useful report of around 30-40,000 words. My first draft was about 150,000. I was extremely fortunate to have a Professor whose former field was English and she gave me some very sound advice as we pruned my work back to something close to the limit.
"Always use a simple word if you have the choice between an obscure, lofty sounding term and a simple one. Always simplify your sentences as much as possible. Usually several short ones are preferable to one long, hard to understand one. Write to communicate, not to impress. The only reason to reiterate someting in a different way is if it is critically important and there's a chance the reader will miss it otherwise. If you want your report to be used, structure it well, summarise where necessary and help the reader to find what they need easily."
Although my writing is now mostly of the creative rather than business reporting kind, I recognise that writing large and then paring back works best for me. I also know that elegant and lofty words may intrigue me, but can sometimes detract from communicating my message. A good table of contents and details kept in appendices can make the whole lot more user-friendly.
So, coming back to the trees, they are mature, have been fed and watered, have been pruned, and next year they will again no doubt produce a bumper crop of juicy, nutritious fruit.
So now I will remember to let my creative ideas mature, stew over them a while before committing them to paper. I will let my mind be washed and fed by GOOD books. I will recraft the words that spill out onto paper, removing the dead-wood. And next year, I may have a book that I and others find refreshing and nutritious to the soul.
Thoughts on Bullying
Today my husband went to school for half a morning with my son. That may not seem like a very unusual thing to many people, but we Home Educate. My sons have both been attending technology classes at a local school once a week for 2 terms this year. They have found it quite eye-opening.
The reason my husband went to observe today is that one child from another school that attends these classes has been intimidating most of the other kids.
I well remember during my own school days (from about the age of 11 on) being a butt of rude comments, exclusion and spitefulness from most of the "in-crowd". Some of us 'outsiders' hung out together and pretended it didn't matter, but to us it did. When on one occasion a new girl joined our class, I became one of those who verbally bullied her. In part perhaps it was the relief of no longer being bottom of the heap. A wise teacher pulled me aside and confronted me with what I was doing, and the new outcast soon became one of my friends.
One of the sad realities of life is that people trample on other people to elevate themselves, those that get trampled become participants in trampling others, if only it means they themselves will not be on the receiving end of more torture.
Bullies continue their bullying because there is greater payoff to bully than not. The bullied either avoid the bully, collude with the bully or oppose him or her. Avoidance is often impossible, the bully senses fear at 50 paces and always finds the bullied somehow, usually somewhere well out of sight of all legitimate authority. Colluding is easy and results in safety. Becoming one of the bullies gives some degree of reprieve (the code of silence descends and no one wants to be the first to break it and draw the bully's focused attention), it is a way out of the trap and gives the bullied person a taste of the drug that the bully enjoys. Opposition however is hard. It requires courage, determination and stamina. These characteristics are not natural to most of us and usually take years of discipline to instill. For any child to oppose bullying they need help, from teachers, or from parents. In an ideal world, all the bullied children would cooperate in opposing the bully, but as we all know we don't live in an ideal world and if you have been hurt or belittled, or seen others hurt or belittled with no recourse, taking the risk to oppose a predictable bully with unpredictable allies is not likely to be the choice of most.
As Edmund Burke may or may not have so aptly pointed out: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".
The reason my husband went to observe today is that one child from another school that attends these classes has been intimidating most of the other kids.
I well remember during my own school days (from about the age of 11 on) being a butt of rude comments, exclusion and spitefulness from most of the "in-crowd". Some of us 'outsiders' hung out together and pretended it didn't matter, but to us it did. When on one occasion a new girl joined our class, I became one of those who verbally bullied her. In part perhaps it was the relief of no longer being bottom of the heap. A wise teacher pulled me aside and confronted me with what I was doing, and the new outcast soon became one of my friends.
One of the sad realities of life is that people trample on other people to elevate themselves, those that get trampled become participants in trampling others, if only it means they themselves will not be on the receiving end of more torture.
Bullies continue their bullying because there is greater payoff to bully than not. The bullied either avoid the bully, collude with the bully or oppose him or her. Avoidance is often impossible, the bully senses fear at 50 paces and always finds the bullied somehow, usually somewhere well out of sight of all legitimate authority. Colluding is easy and results in safety. Becoming one of the bullies gives some degree of reprieve (the code of silence descends and no one wants to be the first to break it and draw the bully's focused attention), it is a way out of the trap and gives the bullied person a taste of the drug that the bully enjoys. Opposition however is hard. It requires courage, determination and stamina. These characteristics are not natural to most of us and usually take years of discipline to instill. For any child to oppose bullying they need help, from teachers, or from parents. In an ideal world, all the bullied children would cooperate in opposing the bully, but as we all know we don't live in an ideal world and if you have been hurt or belittled, or seen others hurt or belittled with no recourse, taking the risk to oppose a predictable bully with unpredictable allies is not likely to be the choice of most.
As Edmund Burke may or may not have so aptly pointed out: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".
Creative Success
What does it mean to be successful in your creativity? My father was an artist, still is to some extent. Now that he no longer functions well mentally, he must be pushed to draw or paint, but it's still there. He has the perspective, the composition, the artistry, even though he can only hold a 1 minute conversation at best and usually very repetitively. His artistic ability and the skills he developed have not gone. He has not been particularly successful in financial terms as he and my mum have always had the tendency to give paintings away. Every hospital Dad has stayed in in NZ has a painting of his; he gave away many of his expensive art books to the school he taught at; he gave time and energy to helping young bone carvers learn the techniques he perfected over the years, and his ex-pupils speak fondly of their time in his care. He was and is a generous man. Even now when I bring him fruit, he wants to share it with me. Dad shared everything he had without thinking of the cost. He gave away his beautiful violin to a violin teacher so that her pupils could use it. I have regret about that now that I have children of my own, but I know he would not feel a second's regret.
Dad had a few exhibitions during his active painting years, quite a few in the UK, very few in NZ. He wasn't ever very good at promoting himself, Mum did her best on that, but Dad was wary of "gimmicky" things. He could be quite disparaging of artists who employed what he perceived as gimmicks, populist appeal, or sensationalism. Dad gave up a "successful" job as head of art at Isleworth Polytechnic, to become head of art at Wanganui High School in 1973. He never regretted the move, loved going home for lunch rather than battling London traffic, enjoyed being hands-on with the kids and was such a popular teacher (especially with the rebellious kids), that during my time at High School, many kids were nice to me just for his sake!
Even with so many talents (acting, singing, playing guitar, painting, sculpting, bone-carving, teaching) he was faithful to use and develop them all. He loved God, though we argued often over his perception that somehow God had less information about situations that displeased him than he did.
Dad was, in my view, a very successful artist (he never compromised his art for profit), teacher, husband and father. Of course he was not a paragon of virtue he had a temper, was strong-willed and "always" right.
How does this relate to my writing or your artistic endeavours? Only this, to be a successful creative person does not necessarily mean making a lot of money, or even being widely popular, it is about being honest, being loving, making the best of what you have and being generous enough to pass on the good stuff, not just the leftovers.
Dad had a few exhibitions during his active painting years, quite a few in the UK, very few in NZ. He wasn't ever very good at promoting himself, Mum did her best on that, but Dad was wary of "gimmicky" things. He could be quite disparaging of artists who employed what he perceived as gimmicks, populist appeal, or sensationalism. Dad gave up a "successful" job as head of art at Isleworth Polytechnic, to become head of art at Wanganui High School in 1973. He never regretted the move, loved going home for lunch rather than battling London traffic, enjoyed being hands-on with the kids and was such a popular teacher (especially with the rebellious kids), that during my time at High School, many kids were nice to me just for his sake!
Even with so many talents (acting, singing, playing guitar, painting, sculpting, bone-carving, teaching) he was faithful to use and develop them all. He loved God, though we argued often over his perception that somehow God had less information about situations that displeased him than he did.
Dad was, in my view, a very successful artist (he never compromised his art for profit), teacher, husband and father. Of course he was not a paragon of virtue he had a temper, was strong-willed and "always" right.
How does this relate to my writing or your artistic endeavours? Only this, to be a successful creative person does not necessarily mean making a lot of money, or even being widely popular, it is about being honest, being loving, making the best of what you have and being generous enough to pass on the good stuff, not just the leftovers.
Creative Tensions
One of the tensions with writing is the need to be solitary and focused whilst still connecting and interacting with the outside world. Creativity demands a capacity to observe and interpret the world in ways that bring a response from the audience. This is true whether the creativity is expressed through acting, writing, painting, sculpting or some other form.
My mother is a very gregarious person who simply loves people of all sorts and enjoys interacting (sometimes to the detriment of her health). She does not think she is very creative, but I suspect that at some point in her life she or someone she looked up to, divided people into "Pragmatic" and "Creative" and these two camps were never to be overlapped. My view of things (as a more naturally shy person and more inclined to observation than interaction) is that we are all a mixture of these things and can all learn to express our creativity with the right encouragement, just as we can learn to overcome shyness or self-centredness. What really makes the difference is whether we have sufficient motivation to do so.
For children creativity is as natural as breathing, but they can very quickly lose their motivation to be creative if they do not see value in pursuing it. For adults who have given up on creativity, I think the way to rediscover it is to look at it from a different perspective. Some have a very narrow view: "I can't paint a realistic flower/animal/person therefore I am not creative." There are 2 misconceptions here, first: I can't do it now, therefore I will never be able to; second: art is the only way to express creativity.
Creativity has numerous expressions and provides an additional dimension to seemingly pragmatic tasks. The creative teacher finds ways to repackage a unit of learning so that it appeals to different learning styles; the creative cook finds alternative ingredients to substitute for something unavailable; the creative manager finds ways of involving staff in improving the outcomes of the business; the creative sportsperson devises ways to make training enjoyable. Whatever we spend time doing we can do better if we look at it creatively, playfully, with fresh eyes.
My mother is a very gregarious person who simply loves people of all sorts and enjoys interacting (sometimes to the detriment of her health). She does not think she is very creative, but I suspect that at some point in her life she or someone she looked up to, divided people into "Pragmatic" and "Creative" and these two camps were never to be overlapped. My view of things (as a more naturally shy person and more inclined to observation than interaction) is that we are all a mixture of these things and can all learn to express our creativity with the right encouragement, just as we can learn to overcome shyness or self-centredness. What really makes the difference is whether we have sufficient motivation to do so.
For children creativity is as natural as breathing, but they can very quickly lose their motivation to be creative if they do not see value in pursuing it. For adults who have given up on creativity, I think the way to rediscover it is to look at it from a different perspective. Some have a very narrow view: "I can't paint a realistic flower/animal/person therefore I am not creative." There are 2 misconceptions here, first: I can't do it now, therefore I will never be able to; second: art is the only way to express creativity.
Creativity has numerous expressions and provides an additional dimension to seemingly pragmatic tasks. The creative teacher finds ways to repackage a unit of learning so that it appeals to different learning styles; the creative cook finds alternative ingredients to substitute for something unavailable; the creative manager finds ways of involving staff in improving the outcomes of the business; the creative sportsperson devises ways to make training enjoyable. Whatever we spend time doing we can do better if we look at it creatively, playfully, with fresh eyes.
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