It has been quite a while since we’ve had a submission to the Insecure Writers Support Group. As Wednesdays are the scheduled days for my blog post, I thought I would talk about insecurities that plague all creatives.
I’m not sure that it matters what you do whether it is writing, art in its many forms, music, photography, crafting or any of the other myriad of ways people express themselves, everyone arrives at the same point. What to do with your work? I know I am at this spot and I am certain that I am not the only one.
Some people are content with the creation process. They can spend hours creating and making something out of nothing, without further thought to what to do with their items. If you visit their homes, especially those in the crafting areas, to find their walls covered with the displays of their work and it is beautiful. The value is in the work and how it makes them feel; it is a good thing. If music is their thing, they appear to be content to make it for themselves and their families.
I am not one of those people.
Other people are able to create their work and find ways to market it. Regardless if they stay true to the creative process (this is where we create to popular demand or not) their main goal is to have their work be seen and judged, by the public. They are relentless in their pursuit of that elusive “success”.
I am not one of these people either. Apparently, I fall somewhere in between.
Creativity is a process, a soul bearing process, that can be difficult to send out into the universe. I also believe that the things we create can contribute greatly to the human experience. If we dare to share.
This daring to share comes with great risk to both our souls and our creativity. It is, for me, one of the scariest things when I hand someone something that I have poured myself into only to have to listen to their opinion and judgment about that item. The first time I presented my work at my writing group asking for critique, I spent a few days in recovery, not that the critique was a problem and people weren’t polite. No, in fact, they were incredibly helpful. My soul simply was battered and needed to be soothed.
Regardless of where each of stands with our work, we risk something when we take some type of raw material and use it to make something without knowing where the end result will be. This is creativity.
Only you can decide whether that risk is worth it.
