Recently, Bev Downs asked me to write an
article for this newsletter “to inspire folks starting the new season?” I
immediately flashed to images of big yellow school buses, bright orange
pumpkins and rolling hills of that fabulous natural phenomena called Fall
Foliage. It’s the norm in the area of the country where Bev lives and I had the
opportunity to see it years ago.
But
it’s not the norm in West Texas where I live. We really don’t have a Fall
season here. For me, the new season means slightly lower temperatures and time
to plant my garden with lettuce and peppers. Spinach, tomatoes and beets go in
later. We don’t have an Autumn to speak of and very little that could be called
Winter.
And
the Creativity Coaching Association is an international group with members and
readers in Australia and New Zealand. For those folks, it’s the beginning of
spring, is it not?
So,
I had the quandary of deciding which season to focus on. Then I realized that
as creative folks, we all have seasons related to our creative life. Some are
obvious, like the season of a symphony orchestra. Others may not be so
noticeable. So I challenge you to consider what are the seasons that surround
your creative work? Do you have three creative seasons in a calendar year or
five? Maybe a preparation time or ramp-up time, a completion time, say when the
show is hung or the film finished and then a down time before starting again.
Or is your creative life one of revolving deadlines? Have you ever considered
that your creative calendar may start in November or even May? What would your
own creative calendar look like? What seasons would it have? Think back over
the last few years. Do you have more going on at one time of year compared to
others? Recognizing the seasons in your creative life is one more way to
enhance your creative time. I’d love to know what your creative calendar looks
like.
This first appeared in the September 2012 Creativity Coaching Association newsletter. You can see the whole newsletter here.
