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“Bereshit bara…” thus the book of Genesis opens. “In the beginning…”
Creating is a daunting task. But it’s also full of joy and meaning and mystery.
How do Creatives make the first move, write the first word, fling the first brush stroke, peel back the first layer of clay? What inspires them, what moves them, what drives them?
These are questions I wrestle with every day. Beginning anew with a blank page or a fresh idea, battling fatigue and weariness and distractions and discouragement and lack of motivation. I want to know how other creative people create and about the forces that drive them.
I’ve asked 13 Creatives to share with us what gives them the courage to create. They are writers, authors, teachers, professors, doctors, waitresses, pastors, painters, musicians, editors, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands. I just like to call them Creatives.
The series is intended to be a conversation, a meditation, and an inspiration.
Ross Gale is a writer and editor from the Pacific Northwest. 
These questions are excellent. Expect something soon Ross.
Awesome, I can’t wait!
Hi, thank you very much for visiting my site..Great project here! Those are questions you could apply to painting or drawing too, and I grapple with the answers weekly 😛 Best wishes & congratulations on your continued creativity 🙂
Anne, Yes I hope that creatives of all type can wrestle with these questions and ask them in their communities. At least 2 of the 13 Creatives are incredible painters and drawers.
Glad to see you’re advancing an important discussion, Ross. For what it’s worth, here’s an ongoing, exclusive artist interview series on the creative process that deals with many of the questions that you raise: http://sparksandashes.com/category/sparking-creativity/ .
Thank you for sharing!
Ross……Thanks for visiting my blog, Artistmum.wordpress!
I really appreciate it and am always interested to see who visits. Funny that you came across my blog because I am an artist and deal with the creative bug all the time…..only it’s a good bug. I’ll figure out how to send a link to one of my posts dealing with the need for creation. I think I recently dealt with that question.
Since my computer no longer works, I have been using an iPad……wonderful piece of equipment but I’m still learning.
Thanks again!
Ross – thanks for following my blog. The issue of creative struggle and courage to create seems to come and go in waves with me. I’ve written about it on my blog in the post entitled Finding Creative Euphoria. Sometimes the method I talk about there actually works but at others I’m like so many creatives…I need deep and powerful emotions to stir up the muse and produce something worthwhile.
I look forward to your posts!
What Pushes a Creative?
As basic as I can determine, it is an outward bending of the inward.
Whether it is physical art, depicted in paintings, sculptures, or light shows; whether you write prose, poetry, or dirty dirges; or if you paint a smile on your face when you are unhappy, but you want to please the world anyway; you are expressing what you feel needs to be said in one form or another. The medium is nothing more than an application to make it palatable for a larger audience, even if it an audience of one.
If it is an expression of self-expression, positive or negative, or one of beauty that you want others to see, it is something that you need and want to be seen in the light of day, even on the darkest day. It’s a trickle of sunlight through your soul.
Barbara Blackcinder
Thank you so much for posting this!