Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Cross-training and the IWSG

November! Who could have thought it would show up. I write this on the first so don't know how I'll be feeling on the morning of the sixth. I hope all is well and good in the world. It is another meeting of the IWSG - my favourite day of the month! So pour a cup of coffee, tea or scotch and let's have our meeting. 

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts for the November 6 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Lisa Buie Collard , Kim Lajevardi, and JQ Rose!

The optional question for this month: - What creative activity do you engage in when you're not writing?

Wowza! What a great question. I think of all the creative activities I get up to as a form of cross-training. I think I wrote a post on that many many years ago - I'll see if I can find it. My card says Writer & Artist on it. So I guess that means my main other outlet is my oil painting. I've just dived into to it big time in the last two years (although I've played with it forever) and am now starting to actually sell the odd painting. A friend of mine is an established painter who wants to be an author and as I'm an author who wants to be an established painter we have been working with each other. It is wonderful and one of the best things about it is seeing how we can find translatable practices in each. For instance if you are working on a novel and spend an inordinate amount of time on one section (usually the opening) your novel as a whole will be unbalanced. Likewise when painting you must move around the canvas, not just focusing on one aspect. In all artistic endeavors we try to find our voice or style, and must trust that it will emerge, like our signature it cannot be imposed. Something we can see clearly in one discipline will help us with another - we develop different muscles and all add up to being as authentic and free as possible. I'm quite excited as I will be taking a three-day painting workshop this month in a town a few hours away. I will stay there (in a motel probably) and be able to immerse myself fully in the world of painting. I'm hoping as well to get into a two week residence for playwrights in the spring. Nurturing the artist within is essential for my well being.

Besides the writing and painting I quilt, make dolls, direct plays, cook elaborate dishes, garden, and knit. In this time of intense social media I want to be a creator not a consumer. All of them speak to a part of me that adds up to the whole of me.


I think that I do not consider creativity as separate from my life as a whole. I think we were made to be makers all of us - whether it is the art of parenting, negotiating a truce, drawing a flower, or singing a song - we were born to express ourselves - to see beauty and delight and bring it to the attention of others.



4 comments:

Liza said...

Lovely post, and lovely painting. We are the sum of our parts and I love the idea of being a creator, not a consumer, although I think I need to work a little harder on that. Wishing you a happy IWSG day Jan and an inspiring month ahead.

Lisa said...

Painting classes, too cool! Direct plays, even cooler!

Margot Kinberg said...

I love the idea of cross-training for writing, Jan. Any creative endeavour that we do helps open us up to those possibilities, and that's got to improve our writing. I know I feel refreshed when I do something musical, or take a good photo, etc.

Nancy Gideon said...

LOVE your comparisons! Creativity is an exercise of mind and hand coordination.