Liz G & Me: Writing About Creativity

Very shortly after deciding / realizing / admitting — in Fall 2014 — that it was time for me to start the process of working on my own book about creativity (and stating that intent, out loud, to actual humans), I happened upon a social media post informing me that best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat Pray Love fame was releasing a new book... ABOUT CREATIVITY. 

My first thought?

”Nooooooo!”

"Oh well," I thought. "Fuck it. Never mind." Elaborating with "I'm sure she's making the same exact main points as me (only better), plus she's got a readership of approximately nine gazillion people. Why bother?" 
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The truth is: it's actually great news that the topic of creativity is becoming more of... a topic; an actual piece of identifiable SUBJECT MATTER that more people want to think, write, speak, teach, and learn about. Much to my surprise, people are seemingly very interested in -- and hungry for -- truth, information, and resources regarding creativity.

Having it remain in the margins and shadows as a fringe self-help topic, or weird innovation-themed hyper-motivational crap, or the exclusive domain of a very few people doesn't do me (or most people) much good. I'm so grateful for the people ahead of me who took the time to write, speak, and role model important, powerful, myth-busing truths about the nature of creativity in a way that's more accessible and public.
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I ultimately decided I would still pursue the construction of my own book -- with the temporary stipulation that I would *not* read Gilbert's "BIG MAGIC: Creative Living Beyond Fear" anytime soon, because it might derail me during such a vulnerable beginning phase. I did listen to some of the Big Magic podcast in 2015, but that's it.
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Well, as of this writing, that was about 2 years ago! BIG MAGIC is out in paperback now. I grabbed a copy of the hardcover on sale the other day, so... I'm starting, apprehensively, to crack it open to random pages, read a quick nugget or two, then snap it shut and not worry too much about it!

So far, I love and agree with everything I've read. I feel strong enough now -- two years into the mess of beginning to organize, carve-out, clarify, and understand my own ideas -- that I can SEE and FEEL my own special [different-from-her] voice, life experience, emphases, expertise, obsessions, and take on the subject.

I also recognize where we overlap, which is a positive thing; evidence that I'm part of something bigger and potent. One really exciting difference is that my book will be filled with MY ACTUAL ART. My drawings and the stuff of my sacred compost heap (aka: notebooks) can actually communicate my major points about creativity better than any typed words could ever do on their own!

Why "Inner" Studio?

2016

Typical conversations about or exposure to art, artists, and artistry are often focused on the OUTER elements: the output, the finished piece, the product, the performance, the PR, and the pay-off. Other times, it's more on technique, equipment, materials, or concepts -- which are also externals. 

Somehow, the essential underlying issue / question / topic of CREATIVITY itself is usually left out.

This habitual omission perpetuates its own ignorance, and contributes to so much anxiety, ambivalence, misinformation, grief, and alienation around the topic of creative process, art, artists -- leaving many children, teens, and adults fully discouraged from even trying to participate at all.  

Nurturing, growing, developing, and applying natural creativity is not prioritized in public education -- to put it mildly -- and "Creativity" is generally not offered up as a subject of study and discourse.

Why not?

One of my missions in life is to get more people thinking, learning, and speaking about creativity... and speaking the language OF creativity.

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We're all born creative, but then -- for most of us -- that creativity is "educated," socialized, shunned, and shamed into exile by the dominant people and institutions in charge of our development and lifestyle.

This is a cultural crime and a social justice issue with many serious consequences upon our individual and collective health, happiness, and sanity.

Inner Studio encourages a mindful exploration of the very nature of creativity itself. This is an inside job, requiring INNER attention, contemplative focus, guidance, support, resources, and community.

Another reason I chose INNER for my studio name because I view creativity as a key, activating ingredient for actual transformative success in our inner work.

To me, “inner work” refers to any conscious practices rooted in facing any dysfunctional, cruel, oppressive, or abusive aspects of our culture, society, history, and upbringing that currently operate inside of us and how we live our lives. 

Examples of "inner work" include, but aren’t limited to: Recovery from addiction; healing from abuse or illness; trauma therapy; prayer; meditation; addressing one’s own internalized white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, and other biases; exploring one’s intersections with privilege and oppression.

Without creativity at its spiritual center, inner work can fall short of its potential depth, impact, magic, grace, joy, meaning, and longevity.  

WHAT IS CREATIVITY anyway?

Why does it matter so much?

I have so much to say about this! That's why I'm writing a book about my ideas, observations, experiences, and suggestions regarding creativity and anti-creativity culture.

-DANA

The Secret Life of Notebooks

My 20-year ongoing (and deepening) relationship with doing stuff -- thinking, feeling, asking, answering, emoting, reflecting, envisioning, processing, remembering, planning, organizing, shaping, discovering, rethinking, and AIMLESSLY MESSING AROUND by hand, on paper = the very foundation of my skill, knowledge, ideas, advice, and forthcoming work about creativity. Establishing a notebooking habit [with some guidance] is my #1 piece of advice for an accessible, non-elite (no art studio or masters degree required) cheap/free doorway to becoming fluent in your own Creativity dialect and developing new synapses in your brain, which can transform your life. 

In 2016, I started THE SECRET LIFE OF NOTEBOOKS, a series of occasional bite-sized posts (a bit of writing + one image of my own art) about notebook-keeping as a simple yet powerful way to exercise and develop your creativity. 

The series still lives HERE, but may eventually migrate to this site. 

Estrangement from paper is a huge mistake, and goes right along with all the other trends in terms of increasing separation, distraction, and depression — chronic estrangement from physical tactile reality and the intelligence of our hands i.e. the interdependent intelligence and mechanics of nature and spirit that defines life on the planet.

My highest recommendations for starting your own notebook-filling habit are all books: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and literally anything by Lynda Barry — but especially What It Is, Syllabus, or Making Comics.

-Dana