Blogging challenge: day sixteen

Every creative person needs admirers and mentors, but most of all they need other creative people who understand what they are talking about and can share and really understand the experience. Whilst your partner or friends can support you, only another creative person really understands what it feels like to be facing down creative block. Only fellow travellers understand the frustration of not being able to make a character come to life, or get a design to work.

You need at least one person in your life who truly gets what you do and why you do it. If you are lucky enough to have a person like this, you are truly blessed. If not, you really have two choices:

1. Find someone (by joining a writers group or some other group for people who have the same interests as you do), or
2. Invent someone. I know this sounds a bit weird, but imagining you have someone who truly understands you, can be quite useful. How great would it be to have someone you can talk to about your secret fears and your hopes and dreams?

It’s probably better to have a real person to say ‘I know exactly how you feel’ and it could be easier than you think to find that person, or group of people. Once again, it comes down to being a bit more open about what you would like from people around you. Opening yourself to new relationships or deepening the relationships you already have is often a matter of just being a little bit brave and letting yourself be a bit vulnerable.

Is this a crazy idea? Let me know…

Blogging challenge: day fourteen

It’s a myth that creative people are lonely reclusive types, or that they don’t need friends. All the creative people I know have lots of friends and some of them are quite outgoing (in a thoughtful kind of way).

The kinds of relationships that creative people need can be classified into three broad groups and today I’d like to focus on the first group – supporters.

Supporters are people who admire what you do and provide you with positive feedback, regardless of what you do or how good or terrible your work is. They tend to be uncritical about your efforts and think that whatever you do is fantastic.

I am lucky enough to have some friends in this group and it’s great if you can find at least one person who fits this description. This is the person you should turn to when you are feeling low because they will give you total unconditional support.

Do you have anyone who fits this description in your life? I think that for most people, that person already exists, but maybe they are too shy to tell you or maybe they don’t know that you need their support. It can be helpful to talk openly about what you need. If you have a conversation with someone who you think really admires and supports you, let them know how important this is to you and you might find that they really enjoy this role and become even more supportive.