Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Kerry Says: Find Your Creative Space

Recently, I've been giving a lot of thought to my creative space as an integral part of my process as a writer of poetry. In researching the psychological need for creative environments, I came across several interesting articles, which I thought I would share with you today.




PsychCentral.com has an interesting article entitled, Creating an Environment that Nurtures Your Creativity, which introduces the topic thus:  If you’re a photographer, your most important environment might be the great outdoors. If you’re a writer, you might prefer coffee shops or libraries for weaving your stories. If you’re an artist, you might have an entire garage dedicated to painting or sculpting. Or maybe you don’t have a hub but several spaces where your creativity blossoms. Your environment is a precious resource — among many — for cultivating creativity. What you surround yourself with and consume can ignite your imagination (or stifle it). The article goes on to cite what selected writers and artists have said about the importance of creative space.





PsychologyToday.com stresses the need for solitude in the creative process: What's really blocking our joy in relationships, our creativity, and our peace of mind? One surprising answer, in this age of alienation, is a lack of solitude. Meaningful alonetime, it turns out, is a powerful need and a necessary tonic in today's rapid-fire world. Indeed, solitude actually allows us to connect to others in a far richer way. We live in a society that worships independence yet deeply fears alienation: our era is sped-up and overconnected...Yet in another, more profound way, we are terminally out of touch. The need for genuine and constructive aloneness has gotten utterly lost, and, in the process, so have we. This really struck a chord with me. I posed a question on OLM recently regarding where our poets like to write poetry and was struck by how many said late at night, during hours of insomnia. 





There is a lot of hype around creative, ergonomic office environments but I am more concerned about the creative space we as poets create inside our own minds. We may surround ourselves with books, interesting pictures and objects, even set up our desks in front of an open window, but most of our creative process goes on inside our own heads.
Therefore, for this challenge, I ask that you give some thought to this concept of Creative Space in your writing. Whether your approach to the theme is literal, figurative, symbolic or zen is entirely up to you. However, I ask that you write something new, to fulfill the challenge aspect of this prompt. Our Linkys do not expire and this challenge may run over to Thursday or later. I will be certain to follow up on all poems linked to the post.

Warehouse photo credit: _Hadock_ via photopin cc
Spiral staircase photo credit: seier+seier via photopin cc
Creative Interior photo credit: ali edwards via photopin cc


20 comments:

Kay L. Davies said...

Ooh, interesting, Kerry. I came up empty for Open Link Monday, but might be able to do this one.
K

Anonymous said...

Kerry, I've been a bit heavy lately, so hope you don't mind a wee bit of tomfoolery in this space ~

Fireblossom said...

and....yet more tomfoolery!

Kerry O'Connor said...

It's all good with me - I could do with some levity round about now...

hedgewitch said...

A great challenge, Kerry. Off to see what bubbles up in my small cauldron of creative space.

Ella said...

Thank you Kerry! I am about to get my first- all to myself space-soon!
This is a wonderful challenge!

Anonymous said...

I'm happy to participate in this challenge today. I've been working on this poem all week, and this challenge has helped me shape it into something much better than when I started.

Mark Kerstetter said...

Uh, "anonymous" is me. Eventually I'll get this internet thing right.

Susan said...

Thank God for the foolery, because I get heavy on this one. Balance is great! Thank you, Kerry, Thank you.

Kay L. Davies said...

My "creating" space looks a lot like the last photo. In fact, we just assembled a metal cart like the one on the far side of that desk this week, albeit for another room.
This is a good challenge, Kerry, I'll see what I can do.
K

Anonymous said...

Creative space is a real gem of a topic for writers and other creative spirits. :)

Marian said...

dark, literally.

Hannah said...

Deep post, Kerry...very inspiring. thank you. :)

Kenia Santos said...

Late reading but I'll try writing. Thanks Kerry <3

Gina Gao said...

This is a very inspiring post, thank you.

www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Memory as creative spur is what drives my poem 'Joy' (and the guitar instrumental - also called 'Joy' - that follows it).

Kerry O'Connor said...

Dick, as touching as your poem was, it did not respond to this particular prompt. Please feel free to share your poetry on Open Link Monday which is not as prescriptive as our prompts.

Margaret said...

Wow - this one I pondered for quite a while. Then just made myself sit down, close my eyes, and try to explain HOW I write. It isn't perfect, but came out better than I thought. ANOTHER poem I would NEVER have written if it were not for challenges such as these. Thank you.

Ginny Brannan said...

My friend Margaret read I piece that I posted today, and suggested I stop on over to share. She thought it might fit the bill for this prompt. Just of a bit of metaphor on how ideas start slowly and find their way to paper. I personally don't have a specific place where I need to write, but do prefer that quiet time when I can hear the ideas, those "drips" in my head!!

N. R. Williams said...

Hi Kay
Great topic. Currently I haven't got my own space and it really affects me negatively. We are planning to move this summer to a two bedroom. I'll have an office. I am looking forward to that.

Sorry it took so long to come around. Thanks for your comment on my post. So sorry you regret not having kids.
Nancy