Melissa Dinwiddie | Create the Impossible™ | Innovation Keynote Speaker & Consultant
Empower your team to innovate on demand. Melissa Dinwiddie helps tech leaders Create the Impossible™ through playful, interactive workshops and keynotes. Unlock breakthrough creativity today.
Time for a video! Yippee!
This is totally from the “um.. yeah, that’s kinda obvious” file, but it took me decades to figure it out, so perhaps it’s not as obvious as it sounds. You’ll have to let me know.
Mentioned in this video:
Morning Pages, from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
What will you be doing first thing going forward? Share in the comments below.
PS – Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
“I’m not like normal artists,” she said.
It was my free telephone chat, and the caller was sure her way of being was… different.
“I don’t sit outside and draw every day. I don’t even want to.”
It made me wonder, what is a “normal artist” anyway? The caller clearly seemed to think it was someone who did their art every day. Was maybe driven to do it every day. Compelled.
But is that really what makes an artist “normal”?
A lot of the brilliant, creative people I work with come to me because they wish they were doing their creative thing more than they are.
They dream of doing their art every day, but can’t seem to make it happen. Resistance gets in the way. Their own, personal Sticking Points throw up walls in front of them, and my job is to use my X-Ray Vision Goggles to find the doorways in those walls and help them through. Back to that creative passion that fills them with joy simply by doing it.
My invitation for folks like this is to take my 15 Minutes a Day creative challenge for a month, say, or even a couple of weeks. To notice what changes for them when they commit to doing even a little bit of their creative thing every day.
In my experience, which is also reflected back to me by my clients, Creative Ignition Circle members and Creative Ignition Club members, the very act of carving out sacred time every day — even for just a few minutes (believe it or not!) — keeps your creative thing “front of mind,” and your toe in the Creative Stream.
I (and my clients, Circle members and Club members report the same) find myself thinking about my art throughout the day, fully engaged with it in a way that doesn’t happen for me with, say, a single hour and 45-minute session once a week (which is what 15 minutes a day adds up to). Ideas flow. Energy lifts.
There’s something about just showing up every day that settles the spirit and helps neutralize the Resistance.
Are you ready for my official answer?
Drumroll, please…
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Of course not!
Laureen, an alum of my Creative Ignition Circle and a current member of my Creative Ignition Club, maintains a 4-day-per-week studio practice, showing up at the art gallery she runs in Saskatchewan by 9:30 or 10:00am, and painting at her easel for a good 2 hours or more until the gallery opens to the public.
My friend and fellow artist/coach, Michele Théberge, has a similar schedule — last I checked, she was in her studio 4 days a week.
Other artists I know do their creative thing every other day, or on some other schedule.
If you’re one of the bliss-diverse, like me — what I call a Passion Pluralite (also known as a Scanner, Renaissance Soul, or Multi-Passionate) — with multiple creative passions, you may find the ideal practice for you shifts like the tides.
In “normal life” mode, on an ideal day, I’ll spend the first 20-60 minutes of my day sitting up in bed with my journal, indulging my writing passion. Then I’ll play my ukulele for another 15 to 30 minutes or so, after which I’ll head into my studio and play in the Creative Sandbox with inks and paint, working on my ArtSpark art.
The rest of the day is “work” work: email correspondence, working on my websites, working on new work projects, fulfilling client orders, phone calls with coaching clients and group coaching calls, scanning and processing art for my ArtSpark newsletter. Plus usually a break for yoga or a walk or throwing the football with my sweetie.
After dinner I’m usually back at work. (I find late at night to be a super-productive time for me.)
That’s an ideal, normal day — right now. I love having a regular connection with each of my main creative passions — it makes me happy, and keeps me feeling balanced.
Is that how every day goes? God no! But it’s my Ideal Daily Template, a target I aim for and feel especially pleased when I hit.
And sometimes, when the Creative Obsession Bug bites, when I’m in the middle of an intense project — like creating and launching my Creative Ignition Club and Kit — all of this goes out the window. (Well, not literally. I would never throw my uke out the window. That would be stupid.)
I might poke my head out of the Creative Obsession Cave for a few minutes here or there to play a tune, or splash some paint, but a daily practice? Ha!
And then there’s this: as a Passion Pluralite, the focus of my creative passion shifts around. Bliss evolves, as I like to say, and the trick is to keep following it.
That means that if my guitar is calling to me more loudly than my ukulele, I might spend my time with it and put my uke aside for a few days or weeks or months. And if I get jazzed about a project using textiles, my paintbrushes may sit neglected for several weeks while I play with my sewing machine.
Ultimately, for me, I’m happiest when I keep my toe in the Creative Stream by doing something that exercises my creative expression every day, though what that is almost doesn’t matter.
You might be different.
After all, there are no creativity police who are going to cart you away for not “doing it right.” Oh, there are plenty of people who will tell you there’s a Right Way (theirs, of course). But it’s not true.
The only real rule is this:
So if, like my caller the other day, you feel like you’re “not like normal artists,” relax. Rest assured that as long as you’re doing what feeds your own soul, your “abnormal” way of being is just fine.
In fact, it’s the perfect way for you to be.
Tell me, what is your normal? What your Ideal Template (daily or not) for keeping your toe in the Creative Stream? Share in the comments below.
PS – Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
It started off very innocently.
A simple idea, really. Just a little tool box for creatives, to kick-start them into a daily creative practice. Just for one month.
A kit to get them creatively ignited…
And my goal is to get everyone with a hunger to create doing their creative thing.
So I dreamed, and tinkered, and started working like mad.
(Thank goodness for circuit-breaker boyfriends!)
But as these things so often do, what started off small and innocent, quickly grew to something much bigger and… well… downright powerful!
Here’s how it happened:
Me the Innocent: “Hmmm… My Creative Ignition Circle members get so much out of the group interaction, on the phone and online… Wouldn’t it be awesome to offer some kind of online forum and maybe a couple of conference calls for the first group of Creative Ignition Kit buyers?”
Me the Manic Dreamer: “Yeah! But you know, a forum is so dry and… linear. So un-aesthetic. What would be really awesomelicious is if we could create some kind of hangout that feels more like the secret Facebook page where Circlers hang out. Where we can post pictures and videos and have them show up right there in the feed, instead of having to dig through a bunch of text to find stuff we want to look at.
Me the Innocent: “Ahh, yes. That would be great! I wonder if there’s anything like that available…”
Mmm… That dangerously delicious question: “I wonder…?” When Me the Manic Dreamer gets hold of a notion, it all-too-often triggers an obsessive-compulsive quest to Figure Stuff Out.
[Read: Manic searching of the Net-that-is-Inter for a Facebook-like platform for my Kit buyers, followed by discovery of said platform, followed by Multiple Unsuccessful Attempts to make platform play nice with blog software, accompanied by much gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair.]
Usually followed by a moment of throwing my hands in the air and giving up entirely.
[Read: Firm decision to Just Stick With a Forum, dammit.]
Followed in turn by an upsurge of renewed determination. I Will. Make. This. Work.
And extreme-sport-like climbing of technological learning curves.
[Read: Several manic-obsessive insomniac nights and early mornings putting. Up. A. Brand. New. Website. {creativeignitionclub.com, in case you’re wondering}]
A week ago, it was a “hmm… wouldn’t that be nice someday?” dream that I didn’t quite believe was possible.
Today, it’s an actual reality.
A home for anyone with a hunger to create and a big heart. (Because it’s about supporting each other, having each others’ backs, lifting each other up so that each one of us rises with the tide.)
A way to spread the deliciousness of my Creative Ignition Circles out to more people.
(Because after all, there’s only one of me, and I only take 4 members in a Circle at a time.)
Now, instead of offering an online forum and a couple of conference calls just for the first group of Creative Ignition Kit buyers, I am delighted to announce the Creative Ignition Club, where people can get sparked by the Kit (included with every Club membership), but stay stoked by the community.
After all, my Circlers continue to meet up online, even after their 2-month session is over. A community of passionate, loving, supportive creatives has already started sprouting. Let’s water it!
Glad you asked!
It’s open-heartedness and sharing. It’s playfulness and experimentation. It’s vulnerability and safety. It’s validation and accountability and empowerment and self-love.
In a nutshell, it’s a vibrant community of creatives. And a lot more.
Lots of stuff. Here’s a snapshot:
There’s a Forum that’s much richer and juicier than your typical online forum. A digital home where we share what’s going on in our creative lives, help each other brainstorm, work on whatever gets in the way and push each other forward toward our biggest visions for ourselves.
Daily emails to inspire you and keep you on track (very brief, to keep the focus on your creative time!)All that (and more) for $54 for 1 month, $72 for 3 months, or $198 for a full year. (And the first three members who sign up or a full year get a 1/2-hour private phone or Skype session with me.)
That’s just a taste. Just words. You really have to experience it to know what it’s like.
Or soon, at least. Monday, to be exact. That’s when I’m opening the doors to new members.
(But if you already know this is for you, sign up here to get on the waiting list, and I might just let you in a day or two early…)
As for me, I’m headed to bed for some much-needed rest…
PS – Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
It’s ironic that just last Sunday I wrote about slowing down.
No sooner did I click “publish” than I dove straight into what Goddess Leonie refers to as the “Ride Ze Wild Donkey Technique” for getting stuff done.
In other words, I’m heavy into manic creation mode for my newest goodie, the
I dreamed up the idea for the Creative Ignition Kit back in May, but kept it simmering on the back burner while other projects took priority.
Part of me wondered if I’d ever get it done. There’s a school of thought that if you don’t act on an idea right away, you might as well give up on it altogether, and almost 5 months went by and I still hadn’t brought it to life.
But I knew this was something special. I knew I was still excited about it – it just needed to germinate for awhile before it could sprout.
I also knew I wanted to bring it to life in the fall, maybe in conjunction with my November birthday. And then when I remembered that November was National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short), I had my deadline!
It’s perfect timing: A month-long creative challenge, toolbox and support community all in one, brought to life just in time to surf the wave of NaNoWriMo. But for creatives of all kinds who want to take on a somewhat less-intimidating challenge than writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days!
So now I’m riding the wild donkey, madly creating content, building the website, wrangling the code (who knew I’d end up becoming such a techie geek?).
My M.O. is to power through intense bursts of creativity, then collapse in a heap. After a recuperation period, I’ll usually coast for a bit until the next donkey comes along and I hop on again.
In some ways, it’s a highly productive working style. People frequently remark on how much I seem to get done.
Unfortunately, it can come with a very high price: exhaustion, burnout, even illness.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Since adapting my “Live An Abundant Life NOW” approach, I’m managing to build a little more sanity and humaneness into my (still admittedly somewhat manic) creation process.
Some examples:
True, I was up wrangling with web code for the Creative Ignition Kit site til after 3am this morning (regular and adequate sleep is one area where I still could use a lot of improvement!), but in general my quality of life is much better than it has been during similar creative bursts.
In his new (and highly-recommended) book, Uncertainty, Jonathan Fields spends much of a chapter addressing the syndrome of “creative addiction”: is it necessary to drive oneself into the ground in order to create greatness?
He writes on page 164:
The lure of creative-obsessive behavior pulls you toward a single vehicle of creative output but ends up pushing you away from everything and everyone else in your life. connections you once had to people and activities, even those you claim are the most important things in your universe, wither and eventually die of neglect. Stepping out of your something-from-nothing bubble turns into pain, so you stay in, where you know your trusted muse will always arrive at some point to offer up the next hit. It becomes a “chicken and egg” thing fairly quickly.
Have you been there? I have. I started making art soon after I married. The relationship was already on shaky ground, and I dove into my art partly in order to escape. Which served to distance me from my (now ex-) husband even further, perpetuating the cycle.
Whether you’re in a love relationship or not, the fact is that this kind of creative-obsessive behavior does not make for an abundant life.
“Never go into that creative-obsessive cave without a rope, a timer, and someone at home who’s been told to alert the authorities if you’re not back at the agreed-upon time,” writes Jonathan Fields.
Here are his specific suggestions for “psychic circuit breakers” (from page 170 of Uncertainty):
(Mental note to self: Clearly, staying up to work while my sweetie head off to bed at 11pm is a recipe for getting stuck in the aforementioned cave… As if I didn’t already know that…)
My overall goal – for me, for you, for everyone – is Creative Abundance. Which requires balance.
If your life is out of whack because you’re not doing your creative thing enough, the Creative Ignition Kit is designed to help you bring the scales into balance. (Sign up here if you want first dibs and early-bird pricing.)
If your life is out of whack because you’re stuck in the creative-obsessive cave, try out the circuit breakers above.
And tell me, which do you struggle with more – not enough time in the Creative Zone, or too much time in the obsessive-creative cave?
PS – Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
During the decade+ that I spent building up my wedding art business, there were many years when I made my living from the art I made for clients, but I didn’t make any art to feed my soul.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. Once a year I did make art for me: at the Friends of Calligraphy annual spring retreat.
Every year (with one, painfully memorable exception), I removed myself from daily life for 5 days to convene with 29 other calligraphers and artists and just create.
The retreat is totally non-directed: We work together for the week in one big room we call the Scriptorium, but each person brings whatever project or projects they want to work on. People paint, practice lettering, draw, read, write, sew, embroider, take photos, work on scrapbooks…
It’s heavenly, and I’m always incredibly productive during those 5 days.
Part of the reason is, of course, that I’m totally removed from daily life and distractions – I have no obligations to anyone but myself, and (gourmet!) meals are provided, so I can focus 100% on whatever project I want.
But another part of why the Retreat is so magical is the fact that it’s done in community.
I could rent a cabin somewhere and take a solo retreat.
In fact, there was a week years ago when I had a beach house all to myself between weekend teaching gigs in southern California. I had nothing to do but rest, walk and make art. And yes, I was productive.
But there’s something about creating in community with others that has a magical, energizing effect.
There’s almost an electric charge in the air at a creative retreat, just from being surrounded by other people engaged in doing their creative thing.
And it doesn’t even have to be in-person
The power of community is, well, powerful, even if you’re not physically in the same room with other people.
Case in point: I gave a telephone Playshop a few weeks ago – essentially a 90-minute bubble of time for participants to play and make art. And even though the participants couldn’t see or talk to each other, several commented to me afterwards that they were inspired and energized just knowing there were other people on the line who were also playing and creating at the same time.
In a similar vein, Jonathan Fields mentioned in his talk at the World Domination Summit in June that he uses a meditation timer iPhone app that shows how many other people are using the app right now. Just knowing that somewhere on the planet, 5 or 23 or 317 other people are also meditating is inspiration and motivation all in one to sit down and meditate yourself!
That’s also where the power of online challenges comes from. The combined energy of the group is like a wave – you can just grab your metaphorical boogie board and ride along. It’s much easier – and more fun – than to trudge forward on your own through what often feels like a desert.
12 days from now is the 2011 start of one of the most famous of online challenges: National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo (or even NaNo) for short.
Every November, thousands of authors and would-be authors from around the globe (200,500 last year) commit to cranking out a 50,000-word novel, from scatch, in just 30 days.
Sounds a little crazy, huh?
In fact, it’s a stroke of genius.
In addition to providing a way to keep track of your progress, the NaNoWriMo website offers an online forum for participants to exchange advice and writing tips, as well as ways for participants to meet up for in “real life.”
But even if they never post to the forums or join a group write-in, everyone who signs up for NaNoWriMo gets a certain amount of propulsion just from knowing that other people – hundreds of thousands of other people – are right there with them, putting in their daily 1,666-word writing commitment. (That’s how many words you’d have to write every day for 30 days to get to 50,000.)
NaNoWriMo may be one of the best known, but it’s far from the only community challenge out there. Not into writing fiction? Me either (though who knows, I may add that to my list of passions someday, Passion Pluralist that I am!).
Never fear – there are challenges galore for every creative pursuit you can imagine. Just do a Google search, and you’ll find hundreds. Thousands.
Many people have written to tell me they’ve taken on my own little 15 Minutes a Day creative challenge.
So far, though, there hasn’t been a very conscious sense of community around it.
That’s about to change.
At the end of October, just in time to ride the draft coming off of NaNoWriMo starting November 1, I’m going to offer a special new goody to help you stick to your creative commitments to yourself.
It’s called the Creative Ignition Kit, and I designed it as a 30-day creative recharge, to get you – and keep you – doing your creative thing for a full month.
Because you know you want to.
You know how much better you feel when you actually do the creative thing you’re most passionate about… but which is all too easy to put off.
And keep putting off.
Posting my 15 Minutes a Day creative challenge out there as an open invitation was great, but I realized I wanted to give you more tools, more of a sense of community and connection, to help you stoke that creative fire and keep it burning.
So I created the Creative Ignition Kit.
It’s a challenge with a much smaller goal than a 50,000-word novel.
The goal is just this: that you make time every day for 30 days to play in the Creative Sandbox. With your Bliss of choice, whatever it is.
Whether you paint, or draw, or write, or play guitar, or take photographs, or sculpt, or make jewelry, or write songs, or do macrame, I want to see you doing it regularly. Ideally every day.
Because I know how much happier that makes YOU, and I know that when YOU’RE happy and energized, everyone around you feels it. And let’s face it, that makes the whole world go better.
If you’re ready to stop pussyfooting around, I invite you I challenge you to commit to just one month of doing your creative thing every day – even for just 15 minutes.
The Creative Ignition Kit combines a special (hand-drawn) journal for you to keep track of your commitment (and importantly, how it feels to keep that commitment), with daily check-in emails to keep you inspired and on track (very brief, to keep your energy on your creative work!).
Plus there are inspirational videos every week.
And an mp3 meditation to help you get grounded and centered and ready to work play.
And “Purely Optional Prompts” in the journal pages to give you something to springboard off of, if you’re drawing a blank.
And because I understand the power of community, this initial, “Riding the Wave of NaNoWriMo” offer of the Creative Ignition Kit also comes with a private online forum to connect with other creatives who are taking the challenge. Get advice and moral support, and even share what you create with other challengers.
I also appreciate all too well that the best-laid plans are sometimes disrupted, so I’m including a special “Emergency Pack” to be opened only if you fall off the wagon and miss a day of your commitment.
Taking on a creative challenge, after all, should not be a tool to beat yourself up! It should help you feel successful and empowered! So if you “blow it,” I’ve got you covered – just crack open the “Emergency Pack” and I’ll help get you back on track.
I’ve even created a commitment certificate for you to print, sign and date, to get your commitment to yourself in writing.
Last, but not least, for this first time that I offer the Creative Ignition Kit I’m including 2 hour-long telephone chats for participants to ask questions, get coaching and advice, and just connect with other challengers. (And yes, they’ll both be recorded, so if you can’t make it you’ll still get to listen in after the fact.)
The shopping cart will be open to the public for 2 days only, Monday, October 31 and Tuesday, November 1.
But if you sign up on the list below you’ll get a chance to buy before everyone else, and at a lower price.
Sign up now for first dibs and early-bird pricing on the Creative Ignition Kit.
That’s it for this dispatch! I’ll keep you posted.
Now go get creating!
Q: What if I’m up to the challenge, but November’s not good timing for me?
A: You can still buy the kit, and either change the rules for yourself to accommodate your schedule (for example: “I commit to 3 days a week for 20 minutes”), or if you prefer I can set the 30 days of emails to start for you at a later date. Note, however, that the forum will only be up and running during November and for a short time after.
More questions? Just ask!
PS – Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
