Hi there, this is Teller. As we quickly approach the end of the year we will be entering a very hectic time. I will spend much of October preparing you for NaNoWriMo. November will bring with it the marathon sprint that actually is NaNoWriMo, so I will be encouraging you all the way! Then it will be December, a month that will be dedicated to giving and love. However we still have the month of September to plow through and what better time to talk about Creativity than the month leading up to so much frantic activity. So lets get down to it shall we? It’s time to dive back into our semi-yearly topic here on the Dream Anvil, the Creativity Loop.
Many of you who are new (that’s most of you) have probably wondered to yourself why The Dream Anvil’s logo is a ring. Why not something, you know, like an anvil? Well it’s time your questions were answered! What? You didn’t ask that question? Who cares, it’s getting answered anyways!
That ring is a representation of what I have dubbed the Creative Loop. This is a topic very near and dear to my heart and the basis of the Dream Anvil. First, I believe that every one of us can be creative. Yes even you. We may not all be able to sculpt like Bernini but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that we dream and create, and all of us have the capacity to create something. Each one of us shapes and molds, we paint and write, sing and dance, every single day. It brings us joy. It allows us to escape from our world for just a moment. Everyone creates in their own little ways. Be it a doodle or a little ditty you just made up in your head, we all make stuff. What separates us from the other species on this planet, is our ability to turn our dreams into a reality. What you make and how good it is, ultimately is up to you. That is what that ring represents, the creativity and its vast potential inside us all.
Yet why is it that some of us seem so much more creative than others? How can an author write words on a page that transport us to another world? How can a painter capture the light reflecting of his subjects eyes in such a way that makes our hearts stop? It’s all application and hard work (and a good smidgeon of talent). Do you think that the Sistine Chapel was painted on a whim? Or that the Lord of the Rings came about as a happy accident? Of course not. They were crafted. Forged with the fiery passions of their creators. We look at them as they are now, masterpieces, and think that the artists who created them must have always been able to make such high caliber work. We doubt that we ourselves will ever be able to craft anything on par with such works. My answer to this doubt is, “So?” So what if you can’t paint as well as Michelangelo? Who cares if you can’t write as well as Tolkien? What you make is yours. It is unique and it is yours alone. Once you learn that and accept it, then you are ready to create. And once you begin, you will quickly realize that the creative process is a journey. One that starts with a rough idea and is gradually transformed into something that is real and tangible and uniquely your own. The creative process is a journey. From start to finish you will learn things about yourself and about your art as you travel it.
This is the second aspect that the ring represents, the creators journey. Just like the ring, a creator’s journey is never truly over. You will quickly discover that new projects will bubble up from the ether as you work to complete your first piece. New ideas, new stories, new and different ways of going about your next project will open up to you as your talent and imagination grow. If you let it, your creativity will be limited only by your imagination and your desire to indulge it. The journey doesn’t stop. Hence the term, the Creative Loop, and the ring.
So there you have it, the answer to your long sought questions! That ring is my personal view on creativity. It represents the creativity inside us all. It demonstrates the creative process and the never-ending journey that accompanies it. Over the next few weeks we will explore each of the four phases that go along with the Creative Loop. Since I am a writer I will make many analogies back to my own experiences, but the Creative Loop is for everybody. Whether you’re a dancer, a singer or a baker we all have a few things in common when we create. That’s what we’ll be looking at, the process from start to finish. Next week we’ll start off by trying to figure out where our ideas and dreams come from. See you then!