Are You Creative?

This is my sister's store and business.

Sickeningly talented, isn't she? If you click on events, wait for the slide show to load.

Creative.

To be completely and utterly clear . . . the only way I am ever going to use a hot glue gun is to glue Demon Baby's pants to a chair to make him hold still. I am no Martha, that's for sure. When I took the watercolor class, my painting was . . . awash in color. I love it. But . . . he has nothing to fear.

Most of my friends are creative types. Writers, artists, magazine editors, book editors . . . but oddly enough, I don't think of MYSELF as creative. Maybe because I feel like . . . well, that's just the way my brain works. It doesn't seem "hard" most of the time. I just wake up with story ideas. I like to write about people and characters because I am always wondering what makes people tick. But creative? I don't know.

I want to make a film. I feel like that would be creative. But film school will have to wait until Demon Baby goes off to kindergarten--and I am utterly sure he hasn't been expelled. I like to garden. That just feels messy and dirty, but I know there's an element of creativity to it. I knit. But really . . . knit, purl, knit. I enjoy it as a hobby, but creative? I don't make things like those found at this blog. I'm working on this sweater right now.

I love music and can spend hours fine-tuning my playlists on my iPod. I have a piano in my office. Sometimes I play. Badly.

I think, in the end, I have a messy way of looking at the world. Things spill onto other areas. Nothing is neatly defined. If I were a painting itself, I think I would be a Jackson Pollack.

Thoughts? Are you creative?

The Day Job

See the title of this post?

I don't have one.

I haven't had one in 12 years.

I take some freelance. Some editing. But mostly, I make stuff up for a living.

And it dawned on me . . . when Baby Girl took over the blog, she and I talked about poetry. A lot. We are going to get that book Ewoh suggested. (And everyone go to his blog and wish him well--he's been training and today's his first RACE.)

Anyway, Baby Girl and I read poems. Then I suggested that she be a poet when she grows up. "You could write poems all the time. Maybe teach college English." And then we talked about other things poetry-related. Then it dawned on me later . . . I always do this. By "this," I mean I never encourage my kids to get real jobs. Teaching college English, yes, is a real job, but just being a poet? Chances are you'll starve--but I think that's totally, wonderfully cool. Not starving, but pursuing art, not beholden to the day job. Oldest daughter? Musician. Oldest son? He writes AMAZING comic book ideas (can't draw well, and doesn't like to draw, but those storylines!!!!!!). I've even, in the past, encouraged him to write a comic book with Baby Girl, and have her be the illustrator, since she is a wonderful artist. Demon Baby? I expect him to become leader of the free world. But even that? What do you put on your resume?

DEMON BABY
Job Objective: To lead the Free World, perferably over to the Dark Side
Job History: Demon mischief, general naughtiness. I have a lot of experience with hurling things off the balcony, pouring syrup on the floor, adventures with a can of whipped cream, and climbing on furniture. I have painted purple dragons on the carpet with permanent marker, so I guess that makes me an artist.
References: My mother. Her gray hair? That's my work.

Anyway . . . I just realized with Baby Girl that I encourage adventure more than security. Creativity more than practicality.

Were you encouraged as a child? Do you have a day job? Did you give up a day job to write and did it feel scary or freeing? Share with us.

AND . . . this is a day of monumental importance. The collective loves of my life are in the SUPERBOWL. GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Save the Cheerleader . . . Save the Comedian

Last night, three kids slept over the house, in addition to the four I have. Yeah. Think about it. So while I was up at midnight, waiting for them to settle down and go to sleep, I watched Dimitri Martin on Comedy Central. If you've never seen him, he is really, really sardonic, with a dry delivery, and he is quite funny. I mean, his hobby is composing palidromes. (He's also, you can tell in an instant, super smart.)

Anyway, there was this finale to his act in which he talks about where he gets his ideas. "People are always asking me . . . and so now I am going to tell you." And so he sings this silly song, which is acted out on stage, and includes fairies and wizards delivering him pieces of paper containing one-liners. As a writer who is always asked, "Where do you get your ideas," I always laugh at this part (I've seen the special before). And somewhere in his act is a throwaway line about his not being cool in high school and the cheerleaders wanting to have nothing to do with him, so he turned to comedy.

And in fact . . . I don't know any former cheerleaders who have become writers. I am sure you are out there. But my experience has been a lot of writers START OUT solitary and different . . . and just get more so as time goes on.

Now, another thing about this comedian is he has sold a couple of screenplays. That's another thing . . . I find writers are often talented in other areas. My best friend is a writer, but she also is an amazing visionary when it comes to costume design and interior decorating and baking and art and gaming. Me? I can't draw, sketch or craft to save my life.

BUT . . . I have a secret--well, not so secret now--dream to go to film school when the baby is in school full-time provided no more babies arrive between now and then. So FOUR years from now, say, I want to go to film school to make a documentary. I know what my film will be called. I know my interviews. I know what I want to say and how I want to edit it. I SEE it, and it is something I really, really, really want to do--and have wanted to do for at least three or four years now. I can't claim that I am creative all the way around, but I do think it's within me to work in more than one media. I have written a screenplay (a bad one a long time ago), and I plan on writing one this winter and entering it in this screenplay contest.

So . . . do you feel different as a writer? Not one of the cheerleaders? Do fairies magically deliver you one-liners and opening lines to your novels? And are you creative in another area?