Sndbox Challenge 1 - Where is My Favorite Place to Create?

in #sndbox7 years ago

my creative space.jpg

Where do we come up with our work and Steemit content? @Sndbox has asked this question in their “Where is Your Favorite Place to Create? challenge**.

Place is very important to me and always has been. I’m deeply effected by the beauty of a place, the overall energy of it and some places inspire me while others exhaust me. I’m also a person whose creativity works actively 24 hours a day and so my ideas for Steemit, solutions to problems I’m trying to solve and inspirations come wherever and whenever my mind has a little room to roam. The spaces this occurs are many and varied - in my car while driving to run an errand, while fiddling in my studio, in conversation with a friend and of course while out in nature.

My content on Steemit arises from my art-making in some form as well as my explorations into self-mastery. I’ve tended to focus on something that will move me forward in some way to write about, express, share. I often have to nudge myself to “get to it” because of this embedded challenge but once I’ve started putting some thoughts in motion, the ideas quickly develop. I usually have 5-6 posts in process or ideas in the works that I can explore as my interests dictate.

For my on-the-go thinking I use a Recorder app on my phone to capture my thoughts. Sometimes I use these drafts for posts but often it just helps me move along further or think through an idea.

ruth in studio.JPG
me in my studio

Having said that, I also have specific places that I turn to regularly for creating content. Obviously my studio is the primary place and if you’ve ever seen my posts chances are that you’ve seen my studio many times. It’s the place where I spend the most time and is where all my ceramic work is made as well as much of the creativity that fuels my work and life. Making stuff tends to give rise to making more!


   inspirations come wherever and whenever my mind has a little room to roam

For the early stages of an idea for a piece I want to make, I created a private space for myself that has the peace and quiet I need to draw up my ideas (see header photo). My studio is a fairly active place with lots of passers by and studio renters walking through so several years ago I divided up my office and made a small space all my own where I can close the door and focus. There have been times I’ve pretended I wasn’t there when deliveries arrived or people knocked on my door. Ideas are so magnificent and easy to visualize but the hard work of taking them from ether to matter takes focus and headspace.

When it comes to writing for Steemit up until recently I’ve put together my content at my desk in my studio office but the more I’ve written for Steemit the more I’ve itched for a different space to write. For some reason that creative space I made for my art work isn’t really where I want to write.

office photo copy.jpg

This spring I moved around my bedroom and moved a tiny table and chair into it and this is where I most often write these days. It’s the only space in my life that’s truly all my own and I love it here. It’s upstairs at the back corner of the building so it’s completely removed from my studio and the goings on in my house. Plus my bedroom has this sweet combination of peace and fertile imagination juju so it’s my favorite.

tiny but all mine
writing space.JPG

Once I’m editing though I often either move to my office desk or sit in this big old chair at home that Lucy and I can snuggle up in. When the weather is colder this is my absolute favorite morning spot to write.

me and lucy writing.JPG

And lastly, a huge place that my creative spirit is renewed is out in nature. Hiking is great, but if I don’t have time, even just a walk in the park or a 45 minute drive through the Gorge can be enough to cleanse my being and recalibrate so I’m right with myself and the world again.

a trip to the coast is always a sure way to fire up my creativity, Lucy at Acadia Beach, Oregon
img_3500 sf.jpeg

Many thanks to the @sndbox folks for this fun opportunity as well as all that you are reaching for on this platform and beyond!
** caveat: I’ve taken liberties with this challenge making it what I wanted rather than exactly what was asked for including many more photos and interpreting the subject as I pleased. No disrespect intended, just couldn't help myself.

FOOTER.jpg

Sort:  

I love how this flows from ideation, to note taking, to creativity and writing, to editing and reflection. Need to create a flow that will work for me too. Your blog is powerful in such a way that it is more than just a how-to. This addresses a more important concern for budding bloggers. We need a flow if we are ever going to contribute well here with decent consistency.

I particularly liked the recording of ideas as they come. They come to me in the weirdest of places and timings. Thus a note taking app or recording app will indeed be useful before my restless mind wanders off elsewhere. Thank you for all your help @natureofbeing, more than anything else; for the inspiration.

thanks for the thoughtful comment @steemitph and I'm glad you found the post to be useful! I suppose that we morph our habits to suit our creative process as needed and I'm always tweaking it to make it feel easier. Best wishes with the note-taking/recording- I think you will find it very helpful!

Thanks for the shout out @natureofbeing! This is great. I like that you've carved out a niche for your creative-self in your bedroom and around the house. I find that I hop between chairs depending on what I'm writing, drawing or listening to. (In an NYC one-room apartment, it's a little tricky). I need to force myself out into nature!

Isn't it funny how different chairs make a difference?! Do you find you can do anything of substance at a park or in a cafe? I haven't had a lot of success with actual work although I can do some good thinking in those contexts.

I upvoted the post last night and was about to write a comment that I urgently had to go to pee. When I returned, I forgot what I had planned to do. Just a few minutes back, I realized I had some unfinished business to attend to so here I am on your post again. I like the new place you build for yourself in your house to write a lot. And I really like the ornaments displayed on the table. Gives it a very inspirational feel. For some people, separating their work and writing areas is very important as it helps them manage the two easily. Since writing is my work, I have trained myself to write and feel inspired anywhere I want so I can write in busy coffee shops, busy rooms, around family, in the car, sitting in the lounge and anywhere. However, I best write when I am alone in my room or in a quiet park :)

I love hearing that as a professional writer you are so adept and well-versed at writing that you have great flexibility about where you can put it into action! There's hope for me ;-). I'm like that with art creation usually and can do it anywhere but it's because I'm so well-practiced at it so I can use 10 minutes or 2 hours, whereas with writing I really need to be intentional about what I'm doing but perhaps with more practice I'll have that ease that you do. Thanks for your continued support @sharoonyasir, I appreciate it!

Everyone has their own talent and yours is art and ceramics for sure and man are you good at that! You are amazing but what draws me more towards you is your genuineness and nonjudgmental attitude. I am working on being mindful these days so nonjudgmental people is what I need around me. So glad to have found you here :)

such kind words, many thanks :-), glad to know you here too!

I admire your room and office and the magnificence of arranging in a shop makes you rest and work hard and definitely its Pretty nice post . Thank you so much

thank you very much :-), this was a fun post for me since I'm kind of a nomadic creator and really love my little places to work!

Business people are good at offices. And I'm lazy, and I like to create only in nature :)

Do you eventually transcribe your thoughts you've recorded? (Or do you end up just listening to them at a later date...only if there is a specific project that comes about?)

I listen again to at least part of what I recorded and if it's good stuff then I transcribe it or parts of it. Often it serves to jog my memory enough that I don't need to actually transcribe. It's been an invaluable tool thought!! I've tried dictation apps but they are too clunky and get in the way of my creative thinking in the moment. How about you, do you record your thoughts?

My room and NO ONE is allowed to open my door.

My haven is where I create answer and any small opening disrupts my flow.

I totally understand!! Small disruptions can completely derail my thinking or train of creativity and I lose it for the time being.

Unfortunately, my mom gets the brunt of my annoyance since she likes to invade my room.

I love all of your spots! And I totally understand why you don't mix your writing space with your art space - I don't do it either ;) Non-stop mind here as well as you know, most of my work I do it having my computer on my lap sitting on the couch. @creutzy was telling me off during my master's "and how you're going to write like that, you need a proper desk", but 2 bachelor's and now 2 master's, I all passed them from the couch hahaha I'm a couch potato, in all meanings, and it works for me apparently!!!
The recorder app sounds useful and smart but me, as an anti-tech old school gal, I just make lists - that fill the apartment at some point hahaha!

sounds like yours is a mighty productive couch!! good for you :-)

ahaha sure is! ;) Thank you!

Love that photo of you sitting in the chair with the streams of light shining down and ur lil pup sitting in heaven beside you.

A Blessed Life~*~

:-) it's a blissful spot and she is in heaven, you're right! Indeed a blessed life! thanks

I can FEEL it!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70733.96
ETH 3563.16
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.76