Blank Canvas

There's something amazing about a blank canvas. Just moments ago, I opened a brand new, completely fresh document in Dreamweaver, to start brainstorming for a new website. On one hand, there's a sense of being overwhelmed by all the possibilities and not knowing which to choose. On the other, there's all the possibilities.

I read something yesterday while helping my husband with his homework. In Jack Foster's book, "How to Get Ideas," chapters 5 and 6 are about failure and creativity, respectively. Last night, as I spent 6 hours trying to load my website to its server, the lesson about failure really set in -- Without failure, we cannot learn, and we cannot grow creatively because failing forces us to try out new options, find better ways to do something, and draw inspiration from unlikely sources to meet our goals. Which is what chapter 6, Get More Inputs, was about.

The two things Foster emphasizes in Chapter 6 are 1. Get out of your rut, and 2. Learn how to see. He says to try something new, such as learning a new language, taking a new route to work, re-reading an old classic, find a new hobby, go to lunch with someone different, and just all-around shake up your life. In doing so, you will receive new inputs, which ultimately means new sources of creativity.

Reading those chapters inspired me. I already have a new-things list I update every year. This year, I'm already learning guitar and Greek, which have both been on my list for a while. I've met new people, tasted new foods, and learned to think of things differently. And it's only March.

All of this new stuff you experience, whatever it is, goes into the blank canvas. It's up to you to mesh your new inputs with the old stuff you had jangling around in your brain, and the result is the most brilliant thing imaginable -- creativity.

So, I sit here still, with my bright orange screen glaring at me (a quick "color: #f60" made it that way, but I'm sure it'll change once I play around), a guitar propped up against a wooden artists' easel, and my laptop open to Liquid Story Binder, my writer software of choice. And after the brief moment of fright at all the possibilities, I'm now ready to get my hands dirty, make a few mistakes, and see where they lead me. I'm sure I'll learn something new, and that will inspire something else to spring forth.

Creativity is a wonderful thing, a gift I often have taken for granted. Helping my husband, who wants to be creative but not to expand his horizons to do it, with his homework has helped me see that it's not something you're given, like a gene you can't turn off. Creativity is a curiosity to seek out new information to help you fill your blank canvas, and seeing every one as an opportunity instead of an overwhelming task.