How has your creative summer been so far?

Hello from the West Coast of Canada!

I hope your summer is shaping up wonderfully! I took this selfie last night aboard our boat anchored in Boundary Bay. My husband and I watched the sunset and hoped to see a few last shooting stars. The city lights were probably a little bright, or we were a day too late but any time on the water is magical.

Feel free to share your summer creative stories and adventures, I would love to connect with you – Christine@dailycreatives.com.

I’ve had a busy July writing an ebook about my creative journey, (so far). In case you have not heard about that yet, please read on to discover some lovely reviews.

Reviews for the ebook Fruitless at 40: Rediscovering my Creative Power

“If you identify with creativity you will be interested in Christine’s story of the changes she made in her life over the past six years. There is something for all of us; for those in their 40’s – you may identify and take heart that you too can change, if you are younger – this is a blueprint and a cautionary tale, and if you are, (like me), well past your 40’s – there are many ah-ha moments when I saw my life and reflected on my journey through ‘early’ midlife.”
-Linda Hermanson
Creative expressions through Social Work, Beading, Knitting, Doodling, Cooking

“Love it! A wonderful, encouraging, motivating and inspiring book. Very insightful and truly personal. I am so glad to have been with you for most of your journey – sometimes more and sometimes less – and am very much looking forward to the exciting next chapters which are laying ahead of you. Hope I will see you on a book tour in Hong Kong, soon :-)”
-Andrea Niess
Creative expressions through Fashion Apparel Manufacturing, Travel, Music, Cooking

• If you are interested in learning more about this ebook, check out a few preview pages at Preview Fruitless at 40
• If you have not my survey yet, add you voice at What does creativity mean to you?
• Check out the creativity discussions going on at the Daily Creatives blog, or on the Facebook page
• Daily Creatives is also on Instagram and Pinterest – be inspired there as well
• If you are ready to have a copy of my ebook, check out Fruitless at 40 at the Daily Creatives blog or at Gumroad directly for Buy my book, purchasing options

Cheers and happy creating!

Book Launch! Fruitless at 40: Rediscovering my Creative Power

I am not fruitless anymore. Through the writing, learning and practicing of the past 6 years, I have come out the other side with more wisdom, creativity and passion than I knew was possible. I know I am not alone in this type of transformation. Everyone who enters the decade of being the age of 40 comes through it changed. I didn’t realize how much better I would feel and how much more I like myself as I move through these transitions.

This e-book represents an overview on 10 topics that I feel are essential at this time of life. This is my story, so far, meant to provide inspiration and encouragement about each of these areas for further personal exploration and maybe discussion. For I am still learning each and every day.

• What am I grateful for?
• Sleep, job #1
• Do I say nice things to myself?
• I am what I eat
• Who did I connect with today?
• Is perfectionism driving?
• I can’t soar like an eagle if I hang around with a bunch of turkeys
• Have I practised creativity today?
• I hate to admit exercise improves my mood
• What did I learn this week?

I hope you will join me on this important journey. I want to start a global conversation about creativity and the role it plays in our everyday lives. I think this is a critical topic. If we light this spark and start to see more of our ideas come to completion, imagine the world we can create? This transformation starts with how we feel about ourselves, the creative practices in our homes and the love and care for our relationships. We will be the change we want to see in the world. I am sure of it.

Join me by celebrating  your creative journey with my e-book: Fruitless at 40: Rediscovering my Creative Power.

Add your voice to the survey – What does creativity mean to you?

Please feel free to share this post with your network.

Connect with me, I can be found in these places:

• christine@dailycreatives.com
• My blog Daily Creatives
• Daily Creatives on Facebook
• Daily Creatives on Instagram
• Daily Creatives on Pinterest

Happy Creating!

-CW

What is your creative superpower?

If a child was asked what their superpower was, they would wonder why they had to pick just one? This child could easily convey their strengths, listing them off one by one. They would not feel too boastful. They wouldn’t worry what the person who asked the question thought about their unique superpowers. This child might even think it ridiculous to worry about such things.

At what age did we loose the ability to easily identify what makes us feel special? Why is naming our valuable contributions to the world such a vulnerable process?

I think a world where we knew what we were good at and what we struggled with would be a special place, maybe a utopia of sorts. Just think of what could be gained from this kind of honesty and co-operation. Instead of putting others down for admitting a weakness, we could match that characteristic up to another’s strength. We could act as if we cared for one another and that solving problems together, was of utmost importance.

Since it is a bit of a leap to think of a single superpower, let alone what a creative one might be, I’ve shared mine. You might wonder what this list of qualities has to do with creativity. I think these things are the foundation of my creativity. Without them, I would not know where to start. It is by knowing where to begin that I can eventually get into the flow state, where the magic might happen.

As I look over the words on the left and compare them with the words on the right, an interesting pattern appears. If I practice a healthy measure of being ‘curious’, I am in a good place. It is when that goes too far with ‘too many questions’ that I get into trouble. Knowing when to draw the line seems to be the key, a skill I am always working on.

I have many other things I am working on. Ideas and practices that have become quite important to me as I move into this midlife phase. I have discovered, by accident that this is a highly creative time, probably more than any other time before. What a wonderful surprise to find that being more creative has empowered me in all areas of my life.

Join me for the unveiling of my creative journey so far. Here are the ways we can connect:

• Sign up for my email list at Daily Creatives, the mail chimp sign up form is on the left side of the screen
• Send me an email with your superpowers! Christine@dailycreatives.com
• Share this post with like minded creative folks or anyone in your network, I have been surprised to see where creativity is hiding in some people
• Take my survey – What does creativity mean to you?

If you have done all those things already, thank-you. I am deeply touched by the honesty of the comments and feelings being expressed about creativity. It is such a passionate topic to be discussing.

One final note – my book has launched! Join me at Daily Creatives and get your copy of Fruitless at 40: Rediscovering My Creative Power. (Yes, I almost did change the title to superpower!)

More information about Who is CW can be found at Daily Creatives, along with a bunch of other great content.

Happy Creating!

It seemed like a good idea at the time…

On Mother’s Day weekend, I was alone in my own house. My husband took our 2 kids camping and I had about 48 hours to myself. For those of you that live with at least 3 other people, you know what it means to have that much time to just be. But I had a bigger agenda, other than just hanging out, doing nothing for no-one.

My plan was to conduct a solo strategy session. Goal setting, big ideas, brain storming and generally answering some questions about what was I doing with my life? Out of those days and my membership with fizzle came a 30-day challenge. What could I create in 30 days to test out if my ideas had any relevance to anyone other than me?

I had been working on an e-book for months at that point. It seemed like a good idea to just finish it and the rest of the challenge would be easy peasy. Oh the best laid plans. Turns out, writing a book, even one of only 17,000 words or so is not that easy. Add in the complexity of everything else required to bring those words to life and this challenge is proving to be, well let’s say challenging.

Not to mention that my family only went away for 2 days, months ago. We had some very busy stretches of time since then. I also have a full-time job. And lots of other interests which I didn’t want to drop completely. I can’t exactly order take out every night and eat restaurant lunches. All of this is to say, I do not have a great deal of extra time. So what was I thinking?

As with all other cases like this, it seemed like a good idea at the time. As you can probably tell, I have not given up, nor will I. I’m going to see this one through to the end. Please checkout the details of my ebook project at:

Fruitless at 40: Rediscovering My Creative Power.

If you have taken the creativity survey, I thank-you so much. This has been a challenging, but fun ride so far.

Happy Creating!

How often do you practice some kind of creative activity?

Close to half of the respondents to my survey have answered this question with “weekly”. Over 30% claim a daily practice, with the least popular answer of “monthly” coming in at an even 25%. I think this shows that even with such busy lives, we are able to carve out some time to work on creative projects.

Based on the comments, there is a group of people who don’t really distinguish creative time in their life from any other time. In other words, they associate creativity in some measure to anything and everything they do. This is a really interesting concept which I will touch on in greater depth in my upcoming book. I am starting to put myself into the “creative all the time camp”. But it has been a journey to get to that point.

As of 6:30am on the West Coast, there is 97 responses on my survey. My target was 100, which I am sure to reach. Thank-you to everyone who answered the questions, the extra comments are bits of gold, which I treasure.

I’ve been a part of survey’s like this before at my job. The task was to ask ski resort staff to comment on certain aspects of their uniform, which my company was providing for them. Well over half of the respondents took some care to write long comments about the uniform, performance and features they wish it had. The experience felt like Christmas morning, reading through the heartfelt sentiments.

This survey has been even more intimate. One person used the word vulnerable to describe the creative process. I totally agree and it makes me even more thankful that so many people would open up their private thoughts on this subject.

I look forward to more discussions in the coming weeks. Thank-you again for your participation. Happy creating!

Do you enjoy these creative practices?

Question #3 from my survey; this one is super interesting. When I put up the multiple choice answers, I focused on the things I was most interested in at the moment. I was curious to see the other ways people practice a creative spirit. (Maybe I should have phrased it that way!) In any case, the comments reflect many other activities and even, “ways of being” which are self defined as creative. I love it. Just the spirit I was hoping for.

As of 8am West Coast time, the survey has 37 responses – excellent! Thank-you so much for taking part. If you have not joined in yet, please add your voice to the conversation.

If you are curious, here is the full list of additional practices so far:

• music
• writing
• fashion
• food
• entertaining
• gardening
• jewelry making
• woodworking
• crafting
• building
• beading
• pottery
• blogging
• business
• costumes
• signs
• painting
• parenting
• relationships
• health & well being
• up-cycling
• problem solving
• poetry
• scrap booking
• flower arrangements
• crochet

Amazing honesty in the responses, thank-you so much. I am honoured to be connected to so many creative people. Rightly so, many times it has been noted that “creativity is a way of life”. For many of us, it can’t be separated from our daily life. It is present in everything we do. I think that is pretty evident by this list.

Speaking of creative projects, enjoy these photos from a recently completed silk scarf I knitted. The pattern and yarn came from LoopsClub in Tulsa. I’m a member who receives a kit each month. Because there is always another project on it’s way, I stay focused on getting projects finished. For me this is a good incentive. Otherwise projects sit on needles for years, waiting for me to complete them.

How important is creativity in your life?

Wow! 14 people have completed my survey – What does creativity mean to you? That is awesome, thank-you. If you have not taken the opportunity yet, please add your voice to the conversation! I am learning so much about what the creative experience feels like on a personal level.

When I was thinking of the questions for the survey, it was tricky to generate ideas which would prompt meaningful answers. Everyone is so different and lived experiences would likely run a full spectrum of possible responses. Yet, there seems to be some patterns developing which I had not thought of in my original assumptions. Interesting stuff. When my survey is complete, I’ll post the aggregate graphs so everyone can see the clusters.

The second question of the survey relates to how important creativity is. I think that even if there are differing opinions about what creativity means or what kinds of activities should be deemed creative, everyone seems to have a sense of it’s importance. In my answer choice for “important” I included the bit about “balance”. For me, the really creative things I want to do, must be balanced against a whole bunch of stuff I have to do. For example, cooking a new recipe at dinner is somewhat creative, but all the old favourites and the dishes are not so creative. Not to mention all the grocery shopping and recipe research which had to be done ahead of making dinner.

Maybe creativity will have greater importance in everyday situations if we place more value on it? Shelley Berc wrote a good piece entitled, “Creativity in everyday life“, on her blog called, “The Creativity Workshop”. I’d never given much thought to adding creativity into my everyday tasks, simply through perspective. It is worth a try.

I’ve always thought it was important to have a space in order to “be” creative. This was a priority for me, long before computers came on the scene. So I still keep a space, is only a desk for now. Maybe one day it will be a whole room again. But for now, even my desk is hard to claim as my own. I often end up on the couch or in my bedroom. Good thing I need very few supplies for writing!

Do you think of yourself as a creative person?

I’m curious. When someone says they self-identify as being creative, what do they mean? I think of myself as a creative person, I would use that label, or agree with it if someone asked me. I create all kinds of things and have creative thoughts. But, I was speaking with someone who I think is really creative and she hesitated to characterize herself in that way. She clarified that she considered herself “crafty”, but not creative. She thought the term “creative” applies mainly to artists.

That got me wondering, is the word creative only applicable to someone who has a certain set of skills? Do you have to be paid or commissioned for your efforts? Are some pursuits not serious or special enough to be considered creative? Is knitting less creative than painting?

I was reading a comment online from a woman in Scandinavia who said that you had to earn the right to call yourself creative. Since she had completed her schooling, (in photography), she was now “allowed” to use the term creative to describe herself, but she only did that in her professional work. Do people commonly have such limiting beliefs about the concept of creativity?

There have been many articles written which detail lists of common characteristics among creative people. While these are interesting reads, these traits are not unique to creative people alone. In fact, many smart people have these abilities. So maybe we are all creative, if we have attained a certain level of success? But there were so many highly creative artists who didn’t achieve any notoriety until after they died.

If we think back to childhood, everyone was creative. Children are creative beings. As a parent, I had the wonderful opportunity to relive that as I watched, played and created with my kids. And now I can see what happens to all that innate creativity. It gets schooled out. My children want to get rid of the lego, put away all those art supplies, cast off all those projects which once filled them with hours of joy.

I am not worried, they will come back to it, as I did. Hopefully it doesn’t take them as long as it took me.

This is the first, in a series of 10 questions about creativity. If you are interested in my survey, please follow this link. I would love to hear your thoughts, here or there.