Why Finding Creative Community Is Important
Connecting with fellow creatives in meaningful ways
Hello and welcome, my lovely creatives! I hope you had an inspiring week full of beautiful art.
I was dealing with a nasty cold the better part of this week so had to cancel everything and I didn’t even have fun fever dreams to make up for it. Am I the only one who appreciates bizarro fever dreams? But I’m on the mend and hoping to make up for this time of rest with some fun things, especially since the leaves are starting to turn, which is my absolute favourite time of year.
I’m still creating a list of books and podcasts and whatever else I can think of that focuses on creativity and inspiration. Are there any you love and would like me to include? Reply to this email or let me know in the comments!
For this week’s letter, I’ve written about having a creative community, which I’ve written about before, but this is a little bit of a different take.
Dear Lovely Creative Person,
I saw a writer ask in some group how important building a community was to a writing career. I don't know what their reasons were, but they didn't seem to want to be in any way involved with a community. Any community.
It seemed so strange to me since I love my community of writers and creatives not to mention my fabulous readers. I can't imagine not wanting to have at least a slight connection to any of them.
If you’re wondering why having a community of creative peers rocks, here’s a list:
Moral support. Being a creative can be a solitary existence. And it can be very difficult to stay the creative course if you feel alone in your pursuits. Having people who know the difficulties and who can cheer you on (see my newsletter about having a cheerleader or ten) can make all the difference. Ah yes, you’re reminded, this is why I toil away on this project.
Guidance and knowledge sharing. Everyone's on a different path but sometimes we can help guide each other. Our knowledge bases vary so it makes sense that we can guide each other in ways things worked but also in ways they didn't. Finding others with similar interests may help you work through a problem area with your creative projects.
Finding inspiration. Often creatives can inspire one another to become even more creative. Like the Group of Seven or the Surrealists or the Beat Poets, if you put a bunch of creatives together they’ll often inspire one another and push one another to create even more work.
Seeking collaborations. When you have more creative people around you, you might find someone who wants to collaborate on a project with you which could broaden both of your horizons.
Building a community doesn’t have to be scary, and it doesn’t have to be a large community. Even just having a few fellow creatives in your corner may be just enough to keep you inspired and creating your art.
Much love and community building,
t :)
Inspiration Of The Week
This week’s inspiration is similar to last week’s from author John Green in that it’s finding inspiration in a place you wouldn’t have expected.
Fanfiction is a place where many people wouldn’t expect to find something beautiful or moving, and yet, when this meme came up, I stopped short when I read “we deserve a soft epilogue, my love.” How lovely is that? Do I care that it’s from Captain America fanfic? Not in the least. It’s beautiful.
What inspired you this week?
Creative Prompt For The Week
This section is a weekly prompt to nudge you to do something creative this weekend. Sometimes we want to do something but just don't know what to create so we need a starting point. I'm going to help the creatively challenged by providing a word, phrase, or some other starting point where you can focus and create something. If you'd like to share it with me, please do, but there's no pressure. I'm here to inspire, not judge or tell you how or what to do.
Your prompt for this week, should it inspire you, is:
CREAKING CHAIR
I once found a decrepit old wooden chair, which was shaped like a throne, out in the middle of a small forest. It didn’t seem to have a home. It was just out there for no apparent reason.
Over the years, I’ve imagined many different reasons why that throne was out there. In every iteration, it had a natural creak to it. Even though I didn’t touch the actual chair with anything other than my eyes and my imagination, I can still hear it creaking under the weight of whatever faerie or deity originally put it there.
Some ideas for creaky chair inspiration: draw a chair with so much character that you can imagine exactly how creaky it sounds, write a poem about a long line of rocking chairs and how each of them sounds as different as their regular passengers in the family who uses them, or perhaps you can make a small video with audio of your favourite chair’s comfortable noises (why am I picturing a Wes Anderson-esque video? but you do you!).
I hope you have a fabulous week of inspiration from someone in your creative circles.
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