Eleven

Introverts unite! …separately, and in your own homes.

How many times have I read that, and how many times have I agreed with it? That’s the thing about being a creative. We tend toward introversion, toward staying by ourselves and doing all the things that we need or want to do. Especially when those creative juices are flowing, sometimes it’s easier to just be alone.

But sometimes, that can have the exact opposite affect than we hoped.

Experience Life

We creatives often spend far too much time inside, and we forget there’s a real world out there. We do our work, we keep our heads down, and we create. It’s what we like to do, how we prefer to spend our time, and so it’s how we do life.

Trouble is, for a lot of us, it can be impeding our creativity. Especially writers, and even portrait artists. Our work thrives on knowing people, on seeing them for what they really are. But if we never leave our homes, if we never see people, how would we ever know anything about them? How could we possibly hope to continue in our craft, never expanding our repertoire?

Truth be told, we can’t.

So, if you want to stay creative, and keep creating, get out of the house. Don’t forget that there’s a real world out there, to go and have some real experiences. Go make some friends, go do some things that aren’t generally considered creative.

I honestly believe that it’ll help you to be more creative, when the time comes.

As I’ve said before in this series, art imitates life. It always has, and it always will. But if you want your work to truly stand out, you need to understand life—from every aspect, even the ones you’re not fond of. Perhaps especially those.

For you writers out there, please remember that your characters are not all like you, and that they’re not all the same. They are all unique, and they all need to have their own quirks. But you need to know some quirks, if you’re going to write them.

And for you painters, you artists, remember that no two trees look exactly the same, that no two people are identical—even the twins. But how would you be able to depict them properly, if you haven’t been out in the world to see them?

So go out, my friends. Explore the world. Have a life.

Too many of us don’t.

[love]

{Rani D.}