Friday, June 26, 2009

MY CREATIVE COMPASS: A Beginning

This is the beginning of a more public phase for a very large project I've been work on actively for the past 3 years: the "My Creative Compass" Workshops and Handbook.

"My Creative Compass" is a model for Sustainable Creativity.

Integrating its techniques and concepts into daily life will enable you to pursue your creative dreams while sustaining inner or outer resources, and without leaving a trail of wasted time or broken relationships behind you.

I can't honestly say that I live by this model every minute.  Instead it provides an underlying framework I can refer to as I find my way through often uncharted creative territory each day.

It is my hope it will do the same for you.

The "Creative Compass" model grew from observations of my own and others' experiences working in the arts and endeavoring to live creatively in a consumer driven world, combined with a unique synthesis of concepts from disciplines as diverse as ecology, marketing,  psychology, business, world mythology, agriculture, and women's studies--to only name a few.

This blog and the accompanying www.mycreativecompass.com website [soon to be launched] will provide supporting and supplemental material for the "My Creative Compass" workshops I present at art and music conferences across the US.

It will also offer a window into the writing of the "My Creative Compass" Handbook as it makes its way toward publication and beyond, where I'm constantly applying the ideas and techniques of Sustainable Creativity as I navigate my way through this long-term project.

The tone of this blog is meant to be informal and conversational.  Granted, "conversational" for me means I'll employ whatever vocabulary is necessary to effectively express an idea.  I'll keep it as real and transparent as possible, with no dumbing down.

That said, I have no intention of creating an "Expert" or "Guru" persona for myself, as I've seen others do.  I'm not a creativity coach.  I am an ordinary person with a few original ideas, some personal experience and a bit of accumulated knowledge to share.  You are your own expert.

Life is the ultimate creative project, where somethings work out and others don't. "My Creative Compass" provides a way to glean lessons from disappointments as well as successes.  Both provide raw materials for the next round of the creative process.  In this paradigm nothing is wasted.

Here, you will find a mixture of content related to the Creative Compass, including occasional links to the work and reflections of other artists, writers, and musicians--as well as my own on my other blogs--as these may serve to illustrate "My Creative Compass" concepts more concretely.

You are the real expert when it comes to the life you want to create for yourself, the goals you want to pursue and the uniqueness you bring to these .

"My Creative Compass" is meant to be yours. 

I invite your comments on this blog.  And as with any creative work, your responses and participation are the forces that will bring it to life.