Happy New Year, creative friends! I love this opportunity to hit the refresh, reset, refocus button. Frankly, it takes a few weeks into January before I feel I have solid footing on the new year.
But it’s never too late to consider your current creative edge.
The theme of my 2015 Annual Report was Thriving at the Creative Edge. At the beginning of the year, I posted a rallying cry to identify, focus on and live at your creative edge.
Rather than goal setting, or choosing a word of the year to focus my efforts, I prefer to think about my current creative edge. If you’re looking for a way to be more creatively satisfied this year, read on.
What’s a creative edge? A creative edge points us toward a specific and actionable focus. It’s that place in your writing, art or professional work where you:
- need to improve skills
- feel uncomfortable and out of your depth
- are hyper-engaged
- learn the most
- grow rapidly.
When someone comes to me for help getting ‘unstuck’, I invite them to find their current creative edge. It takes courage and commitment to be at the creative edge. But it’s the best place to be, because it’s where we create, where we find our originality, and where we grow as artists and people.
It’s often the place we avoid. An edge I’ve been avoiding is learning software to help me with my illustration. I know I need to know how to use Adobe Illustrator and/or Photoshop. But I blow it off year after year because I don’t want to spend more time at the computer. I prefer to be at my drawing, painting and essay-writing edges.
Still, when I reflect back on 2015, I see that I was at my creative edge a lot. I worked on many projects that forced me to learn, be alert and grow past my perceived limitations. It wasn’t always easy, but I saw a direct impact on my coaching and teaching. My own art, business and personal edges contribute to my edge as a coach. Even if we are working in different genres, I am right alongside my clients in taking risks, trying new things and hitting ’send’.
So many things happened for my creative work in 2015 that I couldn’t have anticipated. A word of the year or a set of goals wouldn’t have helped me navigate all the unexpected things that happened. But my creative edge was both focused enough and and broad enough to help me feel an ongoing sense of engagement, challenge and satisfaction
2016 Creative Edge
My creative edge for 2016 is Visual Communication. I know that sounds like a college course. For me, it points me in the direction of communicating my ideas using fewer words and more illustrations. I’ve been experimenting with micro-essays that accompany my Instagram art posts and have really loved it.
With that focus in mind, I will continue to build on 2015’s creative edge. My focus last year was making things I could sell. I produced my Writual Blessings deck as well as a series of paintings that I sold. I have several ideas for things I want to make in 2016 and beyond including an illustrated book, a series of greeting cards and prints, and card decks.
Define your creative edge
What was your creative edge in 2015?
How did this creative edge grow you?
What is your creative edge for 2016?
My 2015 Annual Report is a round-up of how things went at my creative edge this year. It includes revelations, resources and a deep dive behind the scenes of my creative, coaching and travel adventures. Get your copy here.
Hello Cynthia,
I just adore your newsletters, so glad to be a part of your world. (-:
For many months now I’ve been attempting to write a book, but from what I understand from a few women in our writer’s group, I struggle so with connecting the dots. I’m great
at imagery, (don’t care for much dialogue) but I skip all over the place. The reader gets lost and is unsnle to follow my story line.
Any words of wisdom would be a tremendous help. Thank you.
Respectfully,
L.D.Dyer
Hi Lorie!
You might consider plotting your novel out scene by scene. I have done this with index cards. I wrote about it here:
https://www.originalimpulse.com/organize-book-index-cards/
and a bit more about sorting out chaos here:
https://www.originalimpulse.com/sorting-content-book-draft/
Hope that helps! Thanks for being in my world!
Creative Edge. Can I have more than one? Yes! I suppose so!
Creating stuff for sale.
Creating community creative classes.
Another book.
Try some more video.
But, honestly this year I want to learn to FOCUS. Do that which is most important. I struggle with this. So, if I had to pick. I want to finish ONE book project. Some sort of book, even though I have lots of ideas!!!!
It boils down to this: draw and write every day!
Suzanne,
Is it uber ironic that you have several creative edges and also a desire to focus? I was grappling with that, too, wanting several edged. I finally knocked one off the list and my main edge is combining visual and words for powerful impact, like this creative edge image here. Along with those I am writing micro-essays. At the end of the year I will really be able to see if I have made progress there and think I will be more satisfied than if I had tried to excel in several areas.
My coach assigned Essentialism to me, and I am slowly getting into it. It’s kinda painful to think of letting go of some things to do others, but I ultimately believe it’s good for me.
http://www.amazon.com/Essentialism-The-Disciplined-Pursuit-Less/dp/0804137382