Yeah, I know, creativities is not a real word. I can see the squiggly red line under it from my 'Spell Checker' saying, hey, idiot, that isn't a word I know. Well, sometimes the words we know just do not convey the meanings we want! I found this runs true in Chinese as well as Taiwanese. The rules of language try to keep us within bounds set up to keep us all understanding each other. Otherwise we would all speak gibberish and never understand each other. But as anyone who is an artist or writer or any other creative practitioner has found, sometimes thinking outside the box gets us where we feel we need to be.
I have been finding that crossing 'creativities' is very rewarding.
First, on a personal level. I have really enjoyed writing but I am also starting to find that there are other things I had never tried that I am beginning to enjoy. Learning to play the guitar, while frustrating, is still very interesting. Sketching has also peaked my interest. These new interest in other creative avenues have had an influence on my writing and promise to help it grow.
On another front, I have found that working with those outside of writing has had a different influence. In working on the book covers for books 1 and 2 in the Way of the Horse series, I met a wonderful designer who sadly isn't with us anymore. Digital Donna helped me so much and I consider it a blessing and honor to have been able to work with her digitally, having never met her in person. She was a very kind and dear person and I miss her, even today. We worked hard on the first cover and came up with a good design that made me appreciate working with another realm of the creative arts. When it came to book 2 though she really wow'd me when she hit it on the first draft. I just sat back and said, "That's it!" It was SIMPLY awesome and still gives me goose bumps to this day thinking about it. She also helped me get the Series cover designed as well.
Lately, I went looking for another designer and I teamed up with Aidana WillowRaven. It was a bit different process with Aidana but JUST as rewarding. I haven't seen anything yet and it is all I can do not to drop her a line to ask for a progress report, but I am confident that something will be coming soon, and that I will be pleased with it. While Aidana was interviewing me on my book, I also had a 'oh, wow' moment and felt the creativity just flow from our discussions. She gave me some GREAT ideas for my book to enhance to the visuals that she was going with. It was simply awesome!
So, what is my point with all of this? I guess what I learned is to let go of what I wanted to see as the author for the book cover and just give them a few ideas that you have, including the synopsis. Let them run with it and see where you both end up. It is a really neat journey that I really look forward to with each book. The experience has enhanced my outlook and shown me to look for things in my book that can be brought out visually that can help bring expectations to the readers minds.
The other thing I learned, this crossing over helps each of us to take some time away from writing and try other things, use other parts of our creativity and venture into the unknown. It seems to add to the tool box and hone our tools.
