BlissQuest: 12 Secrets Book Club Begins

Last night, we had a couple of inches of snow;
this morning, we woke to this.
(And it's still coming, as you can see.)

Listening to: A perfectly named band for today's creativity book club.

Bliss: A walk last night in the snow under a star filled sky with a bright, almost-full moon. Very cold but worth it for the quiet and the utterly still beauty.

Today we being the Twelve Secrets of Highly Creative Women book club with Jamie Ridler (who will be an interview toward the end of the month here on SharedBliss).

The first chapter, or secret, is about owning your creative self.

I write every day. I love to explore color and shape through our house and photography. I try to infuse my dress with style and whimsical jewelry. People, I think, think of me as "creative."

And yet, I know there is so much more in there wanting to come out.

So many books, so much more photography, so many poems, paintings, songs, dance...

When I was younger, one of my coping mechanisms to deal with my life was to hide, for the most part, my creativity. I was protecting that part of me that I instinctively knew was the most vulnerable and the most important.

As I grew into my late teens, though, the coping mechanism turned in on me, which is what outmoded coping mechanisms will do, and by the time I was out of college, I not only didn't write, but I also no longer danced (always a very big part of me); I never sang in front of another human; I couldn't remember the last time I had picked up a pencil or a paint brush; and I didn't even care to listen to music, because it awakened parts of myself that felt easier to keep asleep.

I think this happens to a lot of women, unintentionally or not -- a lot of humans, actually. As they go through college, they "get with the program." It's hard to think outside the box of degree, job, marriage, house, kids...and for a creative type, it can be necessary to do so.

Write, write, or die.
--H.D.

Because one thing that creativity can be squelched by is too many obligations to other things. Life is about choices and it's critical in this case. What does Oprah say? You can have two of the following but not all three if you want extraordinary things: family with children; meaningful work; a large social circle with a lot of activities.

I was lucky. I was in this stale place not expressing myself and getting more and more depressed, because that's what happens to a creative who doesn't create -- they self destruct.

And then along came my partner, Marcy. Like the bright light of sun after a long night, she lit my way and held my hand and guided me out of the dark place. She would tell you I had to do the work, but I would say she showed me how.

Now I know I can't go without writing every day or I go a little batty. Now I know I am a poet at heart. Now I know that music is as vital for me as food. Now I know my body loves and needs to move.

I didn't know that if you want to write and don't...
not writing will eventually erase who you are.
--Louise DeSalvo

I am committed.

But I am ready for the next step: I am ready to rid myself of distraction. I am ready to discard the things that get in my way; I am ready to become the force of creativity that I know I can be.

But how? How do I take this next step?

That's where this book club comes in. I'm excited to see where it takes me, where it takes all of us.