Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I'm Not Crazy (Again)

Really, I'm not! It's amazing how many times I have to rediscover this truth. I love the craft community. I was just reading this great article on Make and Meaning about the creative process, and it is so affirming that I feel a sudden burst of happiness and that calm you get when you feel like you're not weird, you're you, and all is right with the world. Ah.

I've read so many foofy blah blah articles and books about the creative process that don't really describe exactly what happens, but have this pie-in-the-sky language that I just can't relate to, which just makes me feel weird, and then here is this one with kooky descriptions that I totally GET. I really don't know how the writer did it, figured out how to express it, but it's fabulous. I feel a kindred spirit, and affirmation.

There's an overused, messed up word: affirmation. Remember the craze for affirmation books? I have several of them. For the inner child, the women who do too much, etc. And gosh darnit, people like me (Stuart Smalley reference--who is now our senator). Well, this noodling playful expression that comes from specific personal experience is exactly the kind of affirmation that works for me.

What affirms you and your creative process?

1 comment:

Chris said...

I'm so late! Haven't been reading, and hardly writing on the net, either.

Thanks for this link. What a great site!

I don't know what gets behind my arty motivation, but it's some kind of feeling thingie, like, there's endless possibilities and I have the illusion of complete control over the process. Usually starts with an idea about what I want to SEE, and then I try to do it.

Affirmations do next to nothing for me.