The Curious Creative Club
A haven for curious creatives, just like me…
Cherish those home comforts…
Hi everyone, how are you all doing? Hope you are hanging in there in these very difficult and challenging times.
This week, as part of the 1.5m people in the ‘at risk’ group in the UK, I’m trying to get used to the fact that the country walks that I’ve come to love are temporarily out of the window for me, and instead of going on a downward spiral of what I can’t do because of this damned virus, as usual I try to go the opposite way, this time focusing on what I love about my home and why actually being isolated here is no great shakes in the grand scheme of things.
The hubs has recently built a pergola too and with the nicer weather, at least I can get out into the garden…
So, above is the post I wrote for the Yorkshire Writers Lunch Blog yesterday – just one of the many creative groups I can’t go to at the moment and if you’re a lover of stories, you will find plenty of local talent here to keep you entertained over the coming weeks.
And perhaps it will also inspire you to have a go at writing a few of your own too, I can’t think of many better ways to pass the time.
Next week I’m writing all about podcasts, a passion of mine that has truly become part of my life, like books only listening instead! There are so many interesting human stories and experiences out there to hear and I’ll be sharing some of my favourite podcasts as well as finding out how people go about starting one of their own.
Until then, please take care, stay in your beloved homes, and keep talking.
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
Keep Calm and Create!
Getting out into the fresh air when I can
Hello!! Well what a week it’s been since I last wrote! Whilst the whole world as we know it has changed, I’m wildly aware of the anxiety it is causing to many people and whilst I’m not usually the type to worry about stuff like this, because I’m classed as ‘in the vulnerable group’ with the double whammy of having had a blood cancer and still on chemo treatment, I can tell you it’s causing my mind to gallop!
Which is why I’m trying even more so to stay away from the noise, the news and those loopy loo-roll stock-pilers who make me so angry I could really let rip if I was actually allowed to go into a supermarket!
It’s nice to get some sunshine beaming into the office!
So, instead I’m forging on with creative projects and other things to keep me majorly distracted and I thought this is what I need to write about this week, to encourage people to take all this extra time we might have on our hands to do something positive out of a bad situation. Plus, as we head into potential further lock down and schools close, parents are going to need some extra ideas to entertain the kids!
For people who have small businesses and are finding themselves with less work or working from home, although it is a difficult time, I think we have to dig deep and be resourceful and use this potential gift of ‘time’ to our advantage. For example, how often do you get chance to remove yourself from the busyness of your business and focus on the bigger picture?
You might do this when you are planning at the beginning of the year or analysing at the end but now might be a good time to check in, assess how it’s going and set out some contingency plans for the coming months.
If you’re a creative business or you deliver workshops etc, now could be the time to plan new product ideas, build up your stock, keep present with your marketing and on social media, evaluate the success of previous workshops etc. There’s lots that can be done to work on your business and it’s important to not let fear of the future paralyse you and focus on what can be done.
For others that are stuck at home, try to not see this as an end to your freedom and go into panic-mode like my mum is currently doing! She’s a stubborn 74 yr old rebel who is thinking about getting some false ID off the internet or suing Boris (despite voting for him and singing his praises!) for age discrimination and yet she’s been the first to lecture me throughout my chemo journey ‘to be sooooo careful’! She really makes me laugh, but it just goes to show how much we take our freedom for granted!
Trust me I’ve felt this fear of being trapped massively myself, having had to semi-isolate since November, away from crowded and public places such as cinema (which I love), supermarkets, sports centres, concerts and theatre (really love) shopping centres, public transport, my beloved creative groups and any crowded indoor events.
It is bloody hard don’t get me wrong but I’m finally getting used to it and you just have to use that good old British community spirit and listen to the advice and think of all the people who have to do this on a more regular basis, like cancer patients and those with chronic health conditions. If we can do it for several months, a few weeks shouldn’t be an issue to keep everybody safe!
One thing is for sure it certainly makes you appreciate your health and how lucky we are to live in a country with food, services, work and a home, there are people in this world far worse off than us.
So, on to what you CAN do to keep yourselves busy! I’ll put some links to previous blog posts at the bottom of this piece which also cover creative tips, techniques and ideas.
Here is my definitive, go-to list in order to keep myself entertained and calmer, hopefully it will provide you with an enjoyable few hours too!
- Writing / Journalling
It goes without saying that writing any worries down helps and that is why journalling in recent years has become so popular because it is proven to help mental health. It doesn’t have to be a big chunk of writing unless that is of course what you would prefer to do but if you’re just starting out, I recommend these approaches:
1)Writing down 3 good things that have happened that day – by writing them down you are re-enforcing the emotion connected to the memory, so you get a double hit of joy. This is something I do regularly and have recently started a hashtag on Instagram to celebrate this; it’s called #seekingsparklesofjoy if anyone would like to join in and keep that good feeling going even further.
If you’re anything like me, choosing an appealing notebook and nice pen helps, somehow it feels more of a treat!
2) Another thing I often do with my son is this, as recommended by Dr Chatterge of ‘Feel Better, Live More’ podcast. Ask yourself these questions;
What was the best thing that happened today?
What have you done for someone else today?
What has someone else done for you today?
What was something that didn’t go quite so well?
What have you learned from today?
My son is 12 and he really enjoys doing this, it’s a way of getting to know about his day and anything that might be bothering him but almost in a little game format that we each do and so it feels less pressured and just a fun thing to do.
This isn’t something we write down, it’s usually a conversation at bedtime, but it’s still allowing us to download our day in a simple way that feels good, and makes you think about how you interact with others.
3) Another thing to try is doing what Julia Cameron from her book ‘The Artist’s Way’ calls the Morning Pages. This is something I’ve wanted to try for a while, and even more so now as I think it would get any anxious thoughts out of my head early in the day so you can then get on with the rest of your day.
This is how Julia describes them, ‘Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages, they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about
anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes
only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.
Karen from our WOW group has been giving this a go, she says; ‘When I’m in the flow with it I find it really therapeutic and it sets me up for the day. As someone who feels very anxious first thing I think it helps to ground me and stop me from rushing headlong into the day. It makes me pause and question priorities and I do feel calmer for it.’
Writing
It’s been an interesting time for authors, I’ve been watching on social media authors who are writing books set in 2020, who are now considering whether to change the time period or add the situation into their stories.
Which made me think that obviously as a subject, it’s an interesting one to consider and gives a whole new ream of possibilities and characters to write about in these unprecedented times, for example characters could include:
- A health care professional on the front line
- A couple isolated on a cruise ship
- A government minister getting the initial call about the virus
- A scientist depended upon to look at the data to give accurate advice
- A Manager of a supermarket having to meet the demand of customers
- A Café owner who goes out of business
- A come-back singer having to cancel all their concerts
The possibilities really are endless because everyone is effected by this.
You could also just write about it from your own perspective as a historical piece of writing that may come in useful later on or to tell generations about in years to come.
However, if all that is too much and you’d rather not go down that road, use the time to either finally start a draft of the book you’ve always wanted to write OR if you have a personal story to tell, why not start on the outline of that?
If you are a complete beginner and just want to have a go at some fun smaller challenges and short stories, check out Writer’s News coffee break exercises they’re a great place to start to kick-start your writing.
Finally, if you really do have plenty time on your hands, such as those who have retired, why not have a go at a writing course? There are often free creative writing courses via Future Learn, part of the Open University which is a great place to begin and see if writing is your thing!
Photography
This is a brilliant way to be present and focus on the here and now rather than the uncertainty of what may come in the following weeks and also encourages you to get outside on some healthy fresh-air walks, providing it is safe to do so of course – preferably in nature only and people-free!
You could set yourself a themed project, or you could join in with the many Instagram hashtag projects out there (including mine #seekingsparklesofjoy), or set your own and even better, get the whole family to join in. You could even use it almost as a documentary – ‘what we did when corona virus hit!’
Interestingly, nature and the planet doesn’t halt when something like this strikes. The season’s still change, as does the weather, so there is always plenty to see and discover. For me Spring is the absolute best time to observe the re-birth of the countryside; buds bursting into life, the dawn chorus ever louder and skies changing from Winter grey to hopeful blue. All this can influence many creative projects, as it does with my writing, art and photography projects and observing it brings a sense of calm and knowing of our place in the world.
Art
Now you know this is a big passion of mine and for me there’s nothing more relaxing to focus on and get you in to that bliss state of ‘flow’– i.e. where all mind chatter disappears and you can get lost in the task in hand for hours.
Art days can be so much fun for all the family, just spread all your materials out on the kitchen table and get stuck in! Easter will soon be around the corner, why not make some Easter cards to spread a little happiness to your friends, family and neighbours?
At the end of this piece there are posts about certain techniques you can try, from Brusho painting to needle-felting but whatever you choose to do, the fun is just in the playing so don’t take it too seriously.
Learning
As well as the doing, having time on your hands is a great opportunity to learn too. To discover new art techniques for example, there are hundreds of free demonstrations available on YouTube that you can just follow along with step by step.
Reading is also the ultimate treat when you have the time to settle down with a cuppa! Check out my resource section, The Curious Cave, for plenty of creative books that will fire your imagination.
And then of course there are also podcasts, which have been a revelation for me, especially if you have lots of house jobs to be getting on with, I often set these playing in the background and it makes it a lot more fun!
There have been some great new ones I’ve discovered recently, that I’ve added to The Curious Cave and I’ve recently been lucky enough to be interviewed by my friend Lesley who is launching her new ‘The Midlife Manifesto’ in a few weeks on April the 3rd!
This week I’m also being interviewed for the fairly new, ‘2 Northern Lasses’ podcast, hosted by WOW Wednesday members Michelle Cowan and Jayne Adamson. It’s a down to earth, funny podcast all about the interesting career paths people take with plenty of other stories thrown in! I can’t wait to join in on the conversation and I’ll let you know when my episode launches!
I hope this has given you food for thought and you now have plenty of creative ideas to consider trying throughout these crazy weeks to come. Please do let me know if you have a go!
Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, look after your loved ones and your communities, do not go mad on loo rolls and Keep Calm and Create!
Take Care
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
Ps – Update from today’s news is that I’m on further lock down for 12 weeks now! I suppose I really should finish the book huh?!
PPs – here are some further posts below that will be useful for you to carry on creating!
How Photography can lead to creative joy
Why creativity is crucial for mental health
Creative Country Walks; How to get the kids more interested
Getting creative with the kids
It’s never too late to pick up a pen, a needle, a paintbrush, … your dream.
Mindset over matter – choose how you respond to life’s challenges…
Hello! I’m coming in with an extra post following my Uncles Jack’s funeral last week, because I wrote a poem for it and so many people have wanted to read it I thought I’d pop it on here, see further below.
I also had a really interesting week as I finally got to record a podcast interview with my lovely friend Lesley Ellis who will soon be launching ‘The Midlife Manifesto’ podcast on the 3rd of April! Lesley is so open and engaging, I know her podcast is going to be great and I can’t wait to hear the stories of the other guests she’s interviewed!
We had a fascinating chat, all about not letting any traumatic events in you past define you. This is something I’m really passionate about, having had an interesting childhood to say the least, further challenges in my early twenties and thirties and of course the latest spanner in the works – getting through Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and chemo! – no spoiler alerts though, you’ll have to wait for the podcast!
It did also get me thinking though about why some people react differently to these things. I avoided talking about my past script because I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me or to feel like a victim of my circumstances.
My view was simply; I’m not going to let this ruin my life, I was ambitious and just wanted to get over it all and on with life!
I also think that, the family around you have a big impact on you growing up in terms of resilience. For example, my Mum is a very strong woman, having had some very tough times in her life and is part of the ‘keep calm and carry on’ generation. She doesn’t suffer fools gladly, doesn’t create a fuss, has a good sense of humour and keeps herself busy – all characteristics I think I have inherited.
When she was a single parent to me from the age of 12, she worked hard, taking on 2 jobs and the focus was on keeping her head above water financially and looking after us both.
She installed her work ethic into me and from age 13 I had a washing up job in a pub, and then a babysitting job at 14, looking after 3 children on our street including an 8-month-old! – I can’t believe they let me! I then moved on to working in a fish and chip shop but that didn’t last long as I kept burning myself! Next came waitressing jobs and bar work – I’ve worked in many pubs in Huddersfield, before setting off for Uni in Plymouth of all places and I still got myself a bar job down there too to top up the measly grant I got!
Got to love a mortar board and gown! Receiving my BA Hons degree in Public Relations and Language studies.
My Mum continues to be a big influence in my life, and she’s had a particularly testing year with both myself and her brother, having forms of cancer. Both my Uncle and my Aunty (her sister who passed away 10 years ago very suddenly) were also very strong, larger than life characters, full of fun and mischief.
It was unfortunately a very sad ending for my uncle who deteriorated quickly after a fall but up until that point he was fully with it, asking about the children, how I was doing, still cracking jokes and listening to his beloved football team, Huddersfield Town’s matches on the radio, all despite being in horrendous pain for a long time. He is my role model to get to the end of this treatment, be as brave as he was, do him proud and once again crack on with life.
Similarly, when my Aunty died without any previous ill health and also a close friend 4 years back who I worked with as a governor at our local school, it only served to remind me that life is too damn short to take it for granted.
I had this belief anyway, but even more so now and this is why I’m constantly encouraging people to drop the fear and just go for it on creative things they want to try because what is the worst that can happen? It really does not matter if your first go/s turn out to be a disaster, you’ll learn from any mistakes and improve, just like we did as children at school!
Life is too short to waste time thinking. ‘oh, I’d be no good at that’ or ‘I’d like to have a go but my I’m too scared to walk into that group that looks really interesting!’. Joining such groups can literally change your life, I know they have mine! I really cannot imagine not taking part in these creative groups anymore, which is why it has been so hard over the last 6 months not being allowed to go (because of potential infection) but as soon as I can get back to them I will!
And to the people who don’t think they are creative – I hear this phrase soooo many times it drives me crackers! Every human is creative, I firmly believe that, it’s just about finding what really interests you. Creativity isn’t just about art or writing or knitting, it can be so much more than that including problem solving, different ways of working, meal-planning, designing your website or logo, finding genius ways to motivate a team, writing engaging posts on social media, as well as of course the hundreds of other creative hobbies out there.
Creative skills are now in demand, known as the softer skills, work-places are seeking more individuals who are in touch with their creative side to balance out teams, businesses are starting to realise its importance.
Plus, by now if you’re a regular reader, you know that taking up a creative interest is fundamentally good for your well-being and if you don’t believe me, check out an older post here that I wrote on this.
Yes you need to have a positive mindset and a bit of courage to just start, so if this is something you struggle with, talk to friends who you know will offer encouragement and support you, or better still, ask around and see what creative hobbies they do and maybe join them for a bit of Dutch courage?
The best piece of advice I was given when starting out. Instead of trying to create a master-piece. this gave me permission to just play!
Strong self-belief will come later but at the beginning you just need to find something that you really enjoy, something that will keep you returning to it until it becomes a habit (a good one!) that you can’t do without. If the fear is holding you back, have a read of this older post too to help you.
Creativity can boost confidence and build resilience in all areas of life which can have the knock-on effect of transforming your mindset. If you create something that you are proud of, when you initially feared the result, then just maybe you can take on other challenging areas of your life too?
So, on that note, below is my poem for my uncle that took me a while to do to get it right; convey the great man that he was, add in some in-jokes that the family would get and also hit the right note of hope as there were children at the funeral.
I didn’t want it to be gloomy and too sad as that was simply not him. My mum did my uncle and the poem proud, overcoming her emotions and reading it out with pride to over a hundred people who came to pay their respects, proving what a well-loved and highly thought of man he was.
Until next time…
Juliet, The Funny Onion (as my uncle used to call me) x
What we hope for you now…
It’s a complicated journey death
As you take your last breath
And fly high to the stars
We crumble and cry and try to deny
That you are truly leaving us…
You, are welcomed with warm embrace
By treasured relations gone before
Together, protected, a unit once more
There, gardens are filled with spring flowers
And the sun, shines, super-powered
By the love from below
There is no darkness here
No endless pain or fear
Just a world where dreams come true
Town score plenty of goals, just for you…
Neat, clipped greens, wait for you to bowl
No tin knees now, you’re on a roll
Children chase and gather at your feet
A real-life hero, they’ve come to meet
Of course, he misses the ones he’s left behind
But then he searches and finds
He can still keep an eye, through his view from the sky
And he’s listening too,
So still have a chat…he’d really like that
And for us that are left, feeling bereft
With a hole in our soul and missing his smile
Fond memories will stay with us forever
Of how brave and funny and kind he was then
The king of our family,
A legend amongst men…
The difference between physical and creative hobbies and do you feel guilty or not-guilty?
Hi everyone, It’s March! Not that you would believe it here in the UK! How are you all holding up in the continuing crazy weather? I think there has been one day of sunshine since I last posted here!
A rare glimmer of sunshine and daffodils and tulips on my window from my lovely friend – trying to capture the spirit of spring!
It has been a good opportunity to dig into creative projects though whilst hibernating, not least our very first Wow Wednesday #challenge; Myself and Clair who run our local accountability group, Wow Wednesday put together some prompts for a week long challenge for our members to join in and anyone else too. It was an opportunity to get to know them more by asking some deeper questions, find out what motivates them in their work and to get them used to showing up more on Instagram, especially for those with fairly new accounts.
It’s been a fascinating week, so many great stories and really inspiring journeys – you can’t help but feel good and motivated reading them! I’ve been sharing the other members’ posts on my stories too so if you’d like to have a read, click here or simply search #wowwednesdaychallenge on Instagram to see the whole collection of posts.
We also had another Wow Meeting this week with 3 new members joining, and as we went around the table, it really struck home how many had ‘adding in some creative time’ on their list of goals to achieve by the next meeting. Of course, this is music to my ears, but I pondered later about how much this has changed over just a few years.
Not so long ago it feels, spare time was taken up by more physical activities; gym membership, running, a myriad of weird and wonderful classes like boxercise, zumba, High Intensity Interval Training etc. Next came the more therapeutic forms of yoga, hot yoga, swinging in a hammock yoga, Pilates and even back to simple walking and ‘forest bathing’…now that’s more my kind of thing!
It got me thinking though about how sometimes spare time can become a battle between the physical hobbies and the creative ones. Our time these days is very limited; how do we choose and what is best for us in the small opportunities of time to ourselves we have? It’s tricky isn’t it?
I know in my own household, our family is quite split into 2 separate camps, my husband and daughter being very much the ‘sporty’ ones who crave and really need that physical outlet. He runs, plays tennis and football, she swims for a club 6 days a week, plays netball and runs at school – and if for any reason they don’t, boy do I notice the difference in their moods!
Likewise, obviously I have my creative projects and my son plays the drums and keyboard, sings his head off in the shower and goes to singing, musical theatre and acting classes, as well as enjoying creating art with me – and equally if those things are paused for us, I can see the difference, life’s just not quite as much fun and I feel a bit lost.
Fresh air – even better on the beach!
In an ideal world, according to the experts like Dr Rangan Chatterge, we need a healthy dose of both, but that’s not always possible, and whilst I do love my creative work, I also know that if it all gets too much, a walk in the woods is the best prescription for me, to just breathe in some fresh air and have a change of scene that’s ideally green; there’s a poem in there somewhere!
I wondered if doing these different types of pass-times gives us a different chemical rush to our brains? I tried to find some comparison research out there, but it doesn’t really exist, only separate articles about the benefits of each.
For example, Healthline.com says; ‘Endorphins are only one of many neurotransmitters released when you exercise. Physical activity also stimulates the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These brain chemicals play an important part in regulating your mood.’
And according to Forbes.com, in terms of creative hobbies; ‘It’s not just being ‘in flow’ that helps your happiness. Repetitive creative motions like knitting, drawing, or writing help activate flow, and are all tasks that create a result. And when you succeed at creating a result, no matter what it is, your brain is flooded with dopamine, that feel-good chemical that actually helps motivate you. Whether or not you’re aware of your increased happiness, the hit of dopamine you get after being in flow will drive and influence you toward similar behaviour.’
The above makes sense to me and is perhaps why it’s on the lists of many of our Wow members to add in some creative time. Like-wise the exercise fans amongst us also go back for the same reason, but maybe that generates a quicker response of chemical-rush in the body and therefore may be more attractive to some – to get that ‘hit’ quicker, especially when people are lacking in time.
Some of our lovely WOW team who I asked for their thoughts this week
I also tapped into our member’s thoughts about all this and we had a really interesting conversation. I asked them to use one word to describe how they felt about it each activity; physical and creative, and if they HAD to choose, which one would they pick? It certainly got everyone talking and only a few could actually choose between the two (I’ve put a 1 next to their preference)! The results are below and then I’ll explain further after…
| Physical | Creative | |
| Anna | Awake | Fulfilled |
| Clair | Necessary | Treat |
| Sue | In my body and in the moment | In the moment |
| Lucy | 1 Sorted or Together | Absorbing |
| Carrie | 1 Positive, motivated and connected | Calm and peaceful |
| Kelly | Necessary | Indulgent |
| Karen | Necessary | Luxury |
| Lynda | Feel good afterwards | Sense of satisfaction and achievement |
| Rachael | Invigorated or calm, strong and grounded | 1 Excited and fulfilled |
Several things came out of this conversation that I found interesting:
- Physical feels necessary, justified and important for health and doesn’t induce guilt when doing these activities, more the opposite if they don’t. It can take more effort to push ourselves to do it, but afterwards we feel better. Creative feels luxurious, a treat and some people do feel guilty spending time on these activities, less so the ones who do creative work.
- Physical can satisfy both body and mind needs, releasing endorphins to feel good, they feel energised, cleansed and invigorated and like they are ‘winning at life’ and that it counteracts indulgences – maybe the view of physical exercise in Society and the status it is given, makes people feel like they need to exercise in order to feel successful in life?
- Creative satisfies several mental needs but not overtly physical (although likely to be benefiting from dopamine release so could be beneficial physically too without being conscious of it). People report feeling ‘in the flow’, meaning they get lost in the task in hand and ‘mind chatter’ or ruminating thoughts disappear. I liken it to ‘active’ meditation. They feel calmer, relaxed and absorbed when taking part in the creative task.
- The added bonus is that people are creating ‘something’, so there is also a sense of achievement at what they have produced. Although similar could be achieved physically I presume if taking part in a race for example, winning a match or the personal sense of achievement?
- There is also a beneficial connection between the 2 types of hobbies in that if we feel stuck creatively, e.g. with an idea or writers block for example, going out for a walk or run and getting moving can generate movement also in our mind again, unblocking our thoughts and freeing up ideas, so getting physical can in turn help the creative process.
- I also think how the two types are perceived depends on how naturally active you are during the day or whether you have any health issues that prevent you being active? I know that I could cope without a physical hobby but not a creative one, but that is because I’m normally quite active anyway, if I sat at a desk all day I may feel very differently.
Some other interesting insights;
Carrie picked physical because she felt it satisfied both her physical and mental needs, which is interesting as she is also a writer and therefore very creative whereas Rachael chose creative and that is her line of work as an artist and designer.
Kelly said if she had to choose, her head would choose physical, but her heart would choose creative.
Lucy definitely felt that by creating the time to exercise she was winning at life and felt more together in her head space, therefore that was her favoured choice.
Clair was conscious of the connection between exercise and ideas and also inspiration such as taking photos whilst out in the fresh-air. A run or walk is her go-to if she gets stuck in her creative work.
Sue was the one to first recognise the ‘guilt’ aspect, surprising herself that she’d feel more guilty indulging in a creative hobby than a physical one, this led to most of us feeling like this but unsure as to why!
Finally it was interesting that many of them found it too difficult to choose between the two types, proving how much we value our hobbies, and the time we choose to spend on them.
In the end I suppose it doesn’t really matter; however you make the most of your precious spare-time, so long as you enjoy it, that’s what matters, preferably without feeling guilty about it.
I think that this slightly guilty feeling is down to how creative hobbies used to be viewed; maybe a bit old-fashioned, uncool and too indulgent in family life with plenty of things on the ‘to do’ list but this has changed and is continuing to. Following advice around mental health, there’s a positive to slowing down the crazy pace we live at and what is scientifically recognised as good for your well-being.
You only have to look at the number of creative courses and books now on offer and the millions of creative Instagram accounts, challenges and Etsy shops to know that creative hobbies and businesses are increasing massively and it’s on an upwards trend.
Doing a combination of doing both physical and creative hobbies would be the optimum outcome making us in to more healthy, motivated, relaxed and happy humans! – we just have to carve out the time and prioritise – stop scrolling and watching everyone else living the dream and do it ourselves instead!
I’ve been busy painting this week, starting to prepare for Art Group’s exhibition at the end of March! he swirly one is Jake’s attempt at acrylic pour
Whilst I’m on my chemo journey, creative hobbies are pretty much all I can do and thank goodness I’ve got them in my armoury of distractions! However, once I’m over treatment my intention is to get back in the pool, I’ve never been fond of getting hot and sweaty and prefer the rhythmic flow of being in the water, I find it really therapeutic and have always been a water baby.
Looking forward to diving back into the pool, just not maybe as accurately as my daughter!
I’ll also be back to my dog walks – I need to get this middle-aged body back to full-fitness as I can honestly say I’ve never felt as old or unfit in my life after chemo! Hopefully this double dose of physical and continued creative projects will get me back to peak health!
I’d be really interested if you notice a difference between the two types of hobbies too, for example how do you feel after each one, such as exercise may make you feel refreshed, a creative hobby more confident? Please comment below any thoughts on this.
I hope you’ve found this interesting, I know I certainly have, it’s been good to get deeper into understanding how people view and feel about creative hobbies, now I just need to work on how I can encourage people to feel less guilty about it all!
And my ultimate creative dream? To have a rainbow-coloured beach hut where I can write and paint and run creative retreats in – now if that doesn’t persuade people to spend time on a creative hobby…nothing would!
Until next time…
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
P.s For all those loving a creative hashtag challenge, don’t forget #marchmeetthemaker challenge by @joannehawker has just started! You can either join in the daily prompts or have a look at who is out there, so many take part now and it’s a great way to make new connections.
What’s the occasion? How to make the most of it!
Hi everyone, how are you all doing?
Fresh out of Valentines Day, I’m in the mood to get creative with occasions but I’m not talking about the obvious, seasonal ones like Christmas, Mother’s Day or Easter; obviously they have their place but it’s already a saturated market out there.
I’ve had a niggling idea in the background for quite sometime now to use words, or more importantly positive messaging in my art cards. I’ve done a few before, but want to take it further.
It’s something I’m very familiar with, I’m a sucker for a positive message placed up in my home to keep me focused or make me smile. And in a World where we could really do with some extra positivity right now after a week of more crazy, stormy weather in the UK, the Corona virus continuing to spread and the awful shocking news this weekend of Caroline Flack’s suicide, it seems even more appropriate to put more positivity out into the Universe.
So, I’ve been working on some positive postcards, simple messages you can send with a gift or flowers or just on their known to let people know that you care and are thinking about them.
Playing about with some ideas yesterday whilst storm Dennis raged!
I’ve tried to think about what message would have felt good for me to receive whilst going through treatment, and came up with this; ‘Here by your side for the ride’ which could be used actually for all kinds of challenging circumstances.
I’ve thought about all kinds of situations, from celebrating to encouragement…I want these postcards to raise a smile, hopefully be placed somewhere in their home and make people feel loved and supported. These are just the first few samples, I have many more ideas and can see this really working to bring my joy or words and art together.
Other occasions can spark creativity too… I currently need to come up with a poem for my forthcoming Uncle’s funeral in March. I did one for my Aunties, very shocking, sudden death almost 10 years ago which I also read out – I did so well until the last 2 lines!
This time I don’t feel strong enough to get through reading it out, so my Mum is going to and whilst of course it’s a really sad occasion – he was a legend in our family, I want to do him proud and the self-critic level goes up a notch, making me try even harder to do my best. I’m hoping the time pressure will kick in soon and I’ll create a master-piece!
So, what other occasions could there be, how about these for starters?
- Passing exams or driving tests
- Engagement, marriage or even divorce
- Moving house or overseas
- New baby or adoption
- Pride event or LBGTQ support messages
- Promotion, New Business, New job or Retirement
- Completing a sporting race or activity
- Reaching some kind of goal or overcoming a challenge or illness
- A simple Thank you
Could any of these work for you in the creative work you do? Or, you could go for a more unique and specific idea with less competition out there and so your work becomes more visible, for example a thank you card or work of art to a Step-Dad or Step-Mum – I know myself I am always struggling to find decent step-family cards.
For those who are just starting out and maybe not at the selling stage yet, the best way to practice and gain feedback is to send personalised cards, poems, crocheted gift or whatever your creative skill may be, out to family or friends for their birthdays or occasions – nothing feels more special than receiving something hand-made and hopefully they’ll be so thrilled, the news will spread of your talent, and then you may even start to get some commissions – now wouldn’t that be great?
Also, for those of you not familiar with this, soon it will be time for the Instagram Challenge #MarchMeetTheMaker – which lasts the whole month of March is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your work to the Instagram community and beyond. It’s a really fun challenge that also lets you connect with so many other like-minded creators, some of which may do the same thing as you. It’s run by Joanne Hawker and for more information, click here
I’m so looking forward to getting into Spring, the better weather and another month closer to finishing my treatment journey which will hopefully end at the end of April, providing no more troublesome hospital admissions!
Cross everything for me please! Because of what happened back in Jan, (neutropenic sepsis on my birthday no less = 5 day stay in hospital), I’ve decided to be stricter with myself, just behave and become even more of a hermit BUT that means I’ve no excuse to get on with creating art and writing pieces when I’m up to it. In particular I need to crack on with my art club exhibition pieces which happens at the end of March, and is always a great event!
In the meantime, I’m taking in the odd winter sunshine, awesome sunrises and chilly Yorkshire views , providing further inspiration of course for my artwork too.
My recent nature pictures taken for my @soothedbynature account and me all wrapped up!
If this has inspired you to create any ‘occasion’ pieces, I’d love to know about it in the comments below, or if there is anything you would like support with on your creative journey, please do message me, I’d love to be able to help…
Until next time…
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
P.s the next WOW Wednesday Meeting is after half-term holidays on February 26th at Miriam’s Kitchen Table, 9.30am – 11.30am. New members always welcome and for more information click here.
Guide to choosing your word…and how to make sure you love it!
Hi All,
Now that the longest, dark, ‘Let’s all hibernate and drink hot chocolate’ January is out of the way, I hope some of you are starting to re-emerge like me, bleary eyed and thinking about the next 11 months ahead, but gently does it yes? Here’s a great way to start…
There is some beauty in winter….when we peek outside!
I’m a big fan of choosing a ‘Guiding Word’ for the year, to help you do just that, guide you through the coming months of 2020, in all kinds of ways.
In recent years as people seek more ways to be pro-active in how they choose to live their lives; the practice of selecting a guiding word or also called ‘word of the year’ has increased hugely and is much more effective than creating a long list of new year’s resolutions that last all of 2 weeks!
“For me, words are a form of action, capable of influencing change. Their articulation represents a complete, lived experience.”
—Ingrid Bengis
As a writer, I’ve always believed there is a great power in words and never more so when choosing just one! I’ve enjoyed choosing mine for the passed 4 years now, and speaking from personal experience, it really has helped shape my daily, weekly and monthly intentions.
So, what are the benefits of this seemingly simple practice, can choosing a word really make such a difference? Absolutely YES and here’s why:-
- It encourages you to really think about the direction you want to take this year, how often do we take time out of the doing and think of the bigger picture? This can be a fun way to start, that can then lead on to more specific intention setting.
- It can help you make decisions when you are swamped and overwhelmed e.g. which decision fits best with your word? For example, if you chose ‘focus’ to become more single minded in your work to try and make a behaviour change, does it then make sense to agree to a new project you know you don’t have time for and will shift the focus from what you really want to do?
- On those days when we’re just not feeling it or things are going slightly wrong, your word can pick you back up and re-energise you, reminding you of the long-term goal and taking you away from the negatives of that day, a chance to re-set
- When used well, you’ll find your word spreading across all areas of your life and having a wider positive impact
- Focus and purpose are key elements for humans in terms of well-being, when we have things to aim for that feel good, it naturally releases endorphins and encourages us to repeat these actions, eventually turning it into positive behaviour change, it just take practice.
So now I’ve convinced you of the feel-good factors, how on Earth you go about choosing a word without searching through the entire Oxford Dictionary?
Firstly, you need to examine what you want the word to do. ‘Words of the Year’ are usually chosen to motivate you and use as a way of helping to change something for the better or to strive towards.
So, for example, if you spend all day rushing around looking after everyone else, then the word ‘self-care’ may be an option but if you’ve already built that into your life, then it’s not really going to challenge or inspire you, more just a reminder to continue to do the same.
In my experience, I go about choosing a word in the following way:
- What do I want to improve on or change? This could come from a little evaluation work of last year such as; what went well and not so well and what do I want to stop, start, continue doing?
- Have you got anything big coming up this year that could have an impact on your word choice? e.g. getting married, moving overseas etc
- Next, it’s time to jot down ideas, just a simple long list of words at first and then leave it for a while, ideally overnight.
- Come back to your list and narrow it down to just 6, by leaving it for a while, it’s easier to quickly eliminate as some will naturally no longer feel right.
Then go on to asking yourself the following questions for each one…
The mind-map for my words this year – get the coloured pens out!
- Can my word stretch to be useful across all areas of my life – this is really important I find to embed it fully and to have maximum impact, (unless it is very important to you to address just one aspect of your life right now). I generally mind-map it out with the word at the centre, and all aspects it links to shooting off from it, that way I can truly integrate it into all areas.
- Does the word excite me? This may be more for the writers out there but I’m finding myself increasingly trying to find less a ‘generic’ word, the one I picked last year was incredibly useful, but the word itself didn’t thrill me and it bugged me a little!
- How can I make this really work for me, for example as a visual person and artist, once I’ve chosen my word, it gets made into a piece of artwork that goes on my fridge, so I see it every single day. It could be that you write it in your diary with examples of your day that relate to it or seek out podcasts along your word theme – whichever works best for you
This should have helped to single out the most appropriate word on your list, but if not, just sit with your reduced selections for a few days and one will soon rise to the top!
- When you’ve finally picked one, talk about it! It’s a great fun exercise to do with the family and get the kids involved. Plus, it helps you ‘own’ it fully by talking to other people about it and even better to get friends involved and sharing their words too – you can then check in with each other and see how it’s going throughout the year
- Finally, don’t be afraid to change it, or have a few…yes this breaks the rules slightly but it big life changes happen, your word may no longer be appropriate, or you may want to create one every 6 months rather than a year, it doesn’t matter – this is about something that will really work for YOU, no-one else, so just go for it!
So with all this in mind, and because I‘m used to this practice now, my word (s) came to me in the middle of the night and instantly felt right for what I’ve been through this last year and will continue to go through until my chemo treatment ends.
I’ve also been a rule breaker as I have one main word and then 2 supportive words! But there are reasons which I will explain below!
My main word is RISE;
supported by Re-Energise and Surprise….
bear with me!
Firstly, anything that comes to me in the dark hours is usually right and I instantly get a gut feel about it, most of my best ideas come to me at this time…and then I have to make sure I remember them in the morning!
Secondly, my word last year ended up being in hindsight, bizarrely accurate. It was VALUE and was all around health, finances, my time and people BUT it wasn’t exactly an enticing word and made me think of a budget supermarket range!
I love words in 3’s that are either alliteration (like The Curious Creative Club!) or rhyming and so this roles off the tongue nicely BUT of course it has to have deep meaning too!
Rise, as you can imagine is all about coming out the other side of this cancer/ chemo journey that has literally flattened me at times both physically (see footnote) and mentally and also a number of other situations in our family, there is an awful lot going on at present off the back off a pretty deflating 2019.
Like I say though, I like to stretch my words across other areas, so Rise also applies to raising my game across all my creative projects as I’m always striving to do better and to also rise above negative situations and distance myself a little.
As an Empath and Highly Sensitive Person (click for questions if you’re interested), I’ve noticed this last year as bad news has surrounded me left, right and centre, I’ve felt drained taking it all in and trying to help people and fix problems – I have to realise that things can’t always be solved, people have to want to help themselves, and so in some cases I’m trying to just take a little step back before it all becomes too much, particularly on top of treatment.
I’m a positive person myself, but sometimes you have to surround yourself with as much positivity as possible too (and not feel guilty for doing so) and thankfully I have many friends and family who are there for a much-needed humour boost!
That doesn’t stop me though from fighting for things I believe in or standing up for others who are less able to do so.
As my confidence has grown this year, mainly through writing this Blog and setting up our local accountability group – WOW Wednesdays, I finally have the self-belief that what I have to say can be important, inspiring and useful – I want to continue to believe in my voice and try and get rid of that comparisonitis feeling – another way to rise up I think and also learn from the inspiring people around us.
As my friend Tamara says;
‘We become taller by standing
next to tall people’!
I also loved the quote that Nadiya Hussain said on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast recently where she tells her children constantly ‘Elbows Out’ rather than elbows in; basically meaning create your space in the world rather then shrinking and staying small – a great mantra for anyone I think.
Now on to my supportive words – Re-Energise relates purely to my body, which has been well and truly battered through chemo, even just 5 sessions in I can feel the difference in muscle strength already which freaks me out a little. I know after all this it’s going to take some time to get back to full strength and feel confident that my body will now behave itself and feel strong again!
I’m no great exerciser though; dog walking and 1 Pilates session a week is about my limit but it’s that funny rebel thing again, now swimming is not allowed (infection and picc line!) it’s what I want to do the most! I used to swim a lot and it is very therapeutic so I’d like to Surprise myself by getting back into that, and might even set myself a charity challenge.
Surprise also relates to pushing myself to get back ‘to normal’ as quickly as possible, getting back on track with all my creative projects, adding some new ones in and then ultimately surprise myself and my long suffering family and friends (hearing about it all the time!) by finishing my nemesis THE BOOK – now that really would be the ultimate surprise!!
So, I hope the above gives you an idea of how I use mine, some practical tips of how to go about choosing a guiding word, especially if you are new to this, and that it inspires you to have a go too – what have you got to lose?
I’d love to hear what your word/s are and what they mean to you this year – please pop in the comments below!
Rise, Re-energise and Surprise is my mantra this year and I’m looking forward to getting it painted up and shouting at me in my kitchen!
Until next time…
Juliet The Curious Creative x
Footnote; Rise couldn’t be more relevant this last week as I went into hospital on my birthday no less (you couldn’t make this up!) for 5 days, due to Neutropenic Sepsis! Quite a scary experience but as usual the NHS were fantastic…I’m now becoming a hermit from any winter bugs out there as I do not want to repeat that experience any time soon! Onwards and Upwards!!
The results are in….
Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to update everyone that’s been following along on my Hodgkins Lymphoma journey, because the interim scan results are in and it’s great news – all the tumours (I had 5) have been well and truly zapped by the chemo and have gone!
The PET scan shows I have no evidence of cancer there, although it can’t fully pick up some cells that may be lying dormant…. which is why you have to continue with the full treatment to the end. What it does mean is that we can drop one of the medicines, Bleomycin, which can have some nasty effects on your lungs, so the sooner it goes the better and the rumour is that this knocks off some of the nasty side effects too…here’s hoping!
So, since I told you all about my diagnosis and the start of the journey, pre-chemo beginning, I haven’t filled you in on how it’s gone so far and I thought it might be useful for others out there to hear what it’s really like, especially those who may be starting their own chemo journey soon.
Firstly, let’s start with the positives; the people, all the medical and volunteer staff involved in my care have been amazing, and there are a lot of people!
Here are the team; Haematology specialist nurse – talks you through all the treatment, organises key scans and referrals for additional holistic treatment, financial help, wig appointments and is there to answer any questions, no matter how bizarre, all the time, the picc line nurses who insert a fine tube that goes in through your arm and up around into your chest and stays in until full treatment is finished and make sure you treatment gets in without any pain and keep the line infection free; the chemo nurse team – these are the guys that keep you calm, comfortable and entertained on treatment day, administer the treatment and look out for any reactions and do all the blood tests prior to treatment too; the volunteers on the unit keep you topped up with tea, toast, and lunch; the doctors; consultants and more junior doctors who review you after each cycle, check all your blood results and make sure you are ok for your next treatment and if not give you meds to get you there! And finally, the therapists at a place called The Well Centre (in Barnsley), who give you 6 holistic treatments to supplement chemo and make you feel a little more human, for free!
As you can see it’s a lot of people and that doesn’t even include the staff that do the various scans and tests you need along the way. When you add up all those who help to get you well, it makes you incredibly proud of the NHS. So many people complain about it going wrong, and yes, some appointments that should take an hour can take half a day instead, but overall, I couldn’t have asked for better service and care.
Now onto the harder parts, I‘m not going to lie, chemotherapy is one of the hardest physical and mental things I’ve ever been through.
I was partly prepared; I have family who have been through it but boy is it a complete roller-coaster. And I’m lucky, the treatment I have, called ABVD is one of the most effective treatments out there for Hodgkins, and quick in terms of results – it’s only taken me 2 months to get to this point of success but part of me suspects that’s because it is such aggressive, full-on treatment.
My treatment plan runs every 2 weeks, I have chemo on a Friday and the side-effects mainly hit me in that first week from Sunday to Friday. On the first 2 days I’m mainly buzzing on the steroids that they give you prior to chemo, which have had some interesting, enlightening moments – not least finally coming up with an ending for my book!
The reality of side-effects though is that you don’t have much control over them because you can’t take many medications to quash them, such as paracetamol and nurofen because they artificially bring your temperature down, and you need to keep an eye on that for infection purposes. One relief I have had is that is hasn’t made me sick – the drugs they give you for that, have worked for me, thank goodness!
My main bug-bears are constant aching (kind of like flu), loss of appetite, intense headaches, restlessness, horrible taste-buds where food just tastes gross, hot flushes, ridiculous tiredness and insomnia – essentially I’m going to need some cosmetic surgery after this because I look like I haven’t slept for a month!
But the good thing is, I get a week’s reprieve before it all starts again. In the 2nd week I feel far more human, still tired, but much more my self and able to do stuff, rather than trying not to have a fight with myself, forcing myself to eat or just laying in a zombie-like state watching TV! The challenge on the 2nd week, is trying to fit in as much fun as possible, in-between the next round of appointments.
The mental battle throughout this is just as hard, trying not to be miserable when feeling rubbish and trying not to be angry about the fact that there are few places I can go when I do actually feel well enough to get out.
There are several times already when I have been neutropenic (where your blood white-cell count dips too low, making our immune system practically none-existent) which has required me to take extra injections at home and meaning I have to be extra careful to not expose myself to any bugs out there – i.e. become even more of a hermit!
The next challenge is the hair battle. I’ve been weirdly lucky to keep it for longer than I thought, I normally goes after the 2nd treatment and I’ve just had number 5. I cut it shorter into a bob (like the main picture) a while back to prepare and it’s lasted a while like this but now it is really thinning on top and I know I’m going to have to be brave at some point soon and shave it off, but I’m scared to death about doing that.
From normally long, to wig choosing, to lots coming out on each wash, to my current half-scalf look – the hair loss is a trial in itself!
It’s hard enough not feeling yourself and feeling ill but your hair is so much part of your identity and I know that when I have to face myself eventually with no hair in the mirror, it’s going to be shocking and to me, it will just look awful.
I’ve got hats, scarves, the wig etc so I’ll have to get used to them. I know it’s temporary and I know it will grow back, but that will take months and I just think it’s the cruellest thing for people with cancer to go through, on top of everything else.
So, whilst of course I am so happy the treatment is working and all this is not in vain, I’m also very aware that I’m not even half way through yet – I have 7 more sessions to go, there are still more challenges and side-effects to overcome, follow-up appointments and what I can only imagine for anyone going through this to be that eternal fear – will it come back?, before I can finally begin to get ‘me’ fully back – but I am writing this on my bad week so I’m sure I’ll feel more positive again next week – see what I mean about it being a roller-coaster?
What I am immensely grateful for is the other huge team around me of family and friends that are sending supportive messages, helping out with the kids, calling in to keep me distracted, dropping in flowers and other lovely gifts and telling me all their news (because it’s way more interesting than mine!) – it all helps to keep me motivated so thank you!
Just some of the lovely gifts I’ve received, including handmade jewellery from my friend Rachael of Pippi Silver, green fluorite earrings from Gale Barker who runs the writing group I go to and my friend Gemma wrote to my heroine Author, Clare Mackintosh, who then sent me this lovely note! Feeling very spoilt!
A little bit of sketching is helping to keep me calm!
In the meantime, on my good days, I am trying to be as productive as possible and last week went especially well. I went back to one of my writing classes (it’s in a house so allowed!) and used my chemo-fog brain, continuing when I got home to do my ‘homework’, met up with some Wow Wednesday members for lunch and brainstorming about the upcoming Vision-board Workshop we are doing, got out in the sunshine with the dog, wrote two small writing competition entries and my first blog post of the year on my writing goals, took part in some of the #30daysketchbookchallenge, mind-mapped out my guiding words of the year (blog to follow on that next week) and finally met the lovely Sam Bunch for brunch at the weekend!
Sam wrote the fabulous ‘Collecting Conversations’ book a while ago and so I connected with her via Instagram and it was so nice to meet up with her in real life! She was up here promoting her new book – Menopause – The Hot Topic at Read Bookshop in Holmfirth and the event went down a storm with 40 women! We could have literally talked all day long about every topic under the sun – don’t you just love it when that happens?
Our fabulous WOW Wednesday group just keeps growing and growing!
Today I, a little-shakily from lack of sleep, headed back to our Wow Wednesday group, I begged the doctors and they’ve said I can go so long as I’m careful. Last time we had 6 new members and today another 2 new ladies! It’s going great-guns and I don’t want to miss out – it may just require a power nap in the afternoon to recover from lots of inspiring chat!
So, I’m hanging on to these positive days and it certainly helps you focus when you have a small window of opportunity to crack on with what you want to do. This weekend it’s my birthday coming up so I’m hoping for nice weather to get out into some fresh air with the family and a few other lovely things planned, so come on weather gods, play nice!
Until next time…
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
Ps for those who don’t know my diagnosis story and want links to symptoms and support, please read my initial blog post here
Write; Lets get back to it!
Hi everyone!! Firstly, Happy New Year! 2020 blimey, it seems to be going really fast already! Hope you all had a nice relaxing Christmas. Mine was all good, a humongous Christmas dinner cooked by my Mum and the hubs, visiting friends and generally lazing about playing board games with the kids.
And then all too soon it was back to it, with chemo round 4 on Jan 3rd and after just kind of getting used to the side effects, this one knocked me for six with a whole set of new symptoms, including insomnia! Likes to keep you on your toes it seems.
Finally after a good night’s sleep I was back out in the fresh air!
Anyway, I’ve finally got sorted with sleeping tablets before I really do go insane and have no eyes/energy left but the one upshot of all this, (always a positive to be found you see if you dig deep enough!), was that I finally came up with the ending from my novel, which has been evading me for many months!
This came from learning to add my own novel to my kindle, so on those dark, windy nights, wide awake, listening to seriously the loudest owl ever in this parts, I managed to re-read my own book over a few nights and get back into it.
I’ve now got to get it typed up whilst feeling good again, quickly before I forget it! I also created a whole list of intentions for this year which is a dichotomy of actions pre and post, end of treatment, trying not to be too unrealistic, but I can’t help but just write them all down and hope that I achieve at least 2/3 of them! I think it’s because I love a list!
Just on that, and I know I will be speaking for many creative writers and makers on here, the big question is, have you got your stationary sorted? It’s pretty much the first rule of the New year isn’t it?
We cannot possibly begin without, fresh, white, untainted, beautiful paper to write all our hopes and dreams on?
Well I certainly can’t anyway! So, in my arsenal of stationary products are the following:
- New family 2020 calendar, where all our stuff, appointments, shopping lists etc goes on and I spend at least a few hours of writing it all very neatly until the rest of the family destroys it!
- My Planner – myself and fellow ‘Wow Wednesday’ members are currently in a cult of planners where we all have the same one from Paperchase because it has so many sections – oh the possibilities, for us to get excited about! Here’s where we drill down the details on a day to day basis and get those lists ticked!
- My Project book, so this is where, if you have a multi-portfolio business or set of hobbies like me, planning comes into its own, with tabbed sections for each hobby / project, to get the over-all big picture and strategies for the year down. A place to brainstorm all those ideas, mind-map and really plan! I also use this for the writing classes I attend.
- Dr Chatterjee’s new book – ‘Feel better in 5’, obviously not a typical note book as such but it has a daily checklist at the back to tick off my 3 daily, 5 minute ‘health snacks’, so I will be using this regularly – I’ll explain more on this later.
New stationary at the ready!
Members of the WOW Team; Clair, Rachael, Kelly, Anna and Rachael… planning 2020 in style!
Now all my tools are ready….and in pristine condition, I feel better putting all my ideas into solid places and can start putting them into action!
I have so many plans that I’m excited about, it would take too long to write about everything, so I’m going to split them up over a few Blog posts instead.
For today’s blog I’m focusing on my first creative passion – Writing! Here goes…
- The Book, I know I’ve started to sound like a broken record BUT now that I have the fire in my belly again from re-reading it, I have to get to working on the second draft and finish the book enough to edge it close to send to professionals one day… and that starts with finishing the first draft and getting the ending nailed on.
- The Blog, Is now a year old!! This will continue every 2 weeks for now and I’m so happy with how this has been received since it started. I’m currently on 3,672 visitors to the blog and website, which blows me away! And I’ve no idea if that is good or not in blogging terms but I don’t really care, it’s grown organically with just links from my socials and maybe at some point I’ll learn a little more strategy to widen and increase my audience, but I’m in no rush for that, and my biggest thrill is when somebody makes a comment or recommends it to a friend to read.
This year I want to continue to improve my content, hope it is striking a chord and most importantly encourages people to take the leap and get creative – that is my number one aim in all of this and always will be! I’d also like to do some more local creatives interviews in March like last year, so if you have an interesting creative story to tell, please do get in touch.
- My Writing Workshops, As soon as I am able to get back out into public places, a new list of dates will go up to deliver my new writing course ‘Writing from Personal Experience’ which I’d just started before my diagnosis! The feedback from the first one was great, so I can’t wait to continue with this as it’s such a buzz for me to see the light-bulbs go on with the encouraging tasks I create! So do watch this space on that one if you too would like to join in.
Whilst I can’t deliver these in public at the moment, I do have a secret potential plan, but not going to say too much on that yet until I investigate more and can trust this body to reserve some energy to do it!
- Refresh the Website, It’s important to keep all my content fresh on the website not just the blog, so I want to keep checking in with things like The Curious Cave and add in new resources on a regular basis. I also need to book in some technical wizardry with a WordPress expert friend and finally get a shop on here for my art!
- Writing Classes, I’ve cleared it with my doctors to go back to one of these as it’s held in a house, so I’m starting back at that tomorrow and going every 2 weeks when I’m well enough, which fills me with so much joy I can’t tell you!
For anyone procrastinating about joining such a class, please just do it, because honestly you’ll regret it further down the line and just waste a whole load of time that could be the boost you need and give you some really valuable experience not to mention a whole dose of confidence!
I guarantee going to a class is like writing medicine and will unlock so many creative ideas in your head – there are NO downsides to this, seriously what is the worst that can happen? Everybody starts at the beginning, so it really does not matter if you write only 2 sentences in a class! The point is you will have started, and it will only grow from there.
Again, as soon as my treatment public-jail-time is up, I will be back on it with the other 3 writing groups I belong to, in-fact I suspect my family will be wondering where I am half the time!
- Writing Competitions, This was one area on my New years list last year which didn’t get ticked! And it’s not because I don’t have the ideas or the comps aren’t out there, there are tons! I think it’s because you have to follow a few more rules, such as packaging it up all nice and formally with grammar and word-count checks, payment to enter and deadline dates! I know I’m probably making a big deal of this and I just need to get over myself and stop procrastinating but I have found one very easy comp which I like via twitter with a great prize so I’m going to start with that – baby steps and all!
For anyone who is brave and more disciplined than me then have a look at Writers online, the digital arm of Writers News who publish a great variety of competitions all the time.
- Writing Courses, This is something I always look at periodically, particularly to help with the book and there are many courses out there, but some obviously cost money so in the meantime, a fellow writing friend has tracked this one down, which is free from Writer’s HQ and happens to start on my late Nana’s birthday so I’m taking it as a sign! It’s all about creating juicy, believable characters so will be a good sense check against the one’s I’ve created in my own novel.
Another good place to start if you are a beginner, is Future Learn, which is part of the Open University. It’s online and a lot of courses are free like this one Start Writing Fiction which has just started on the 6th Jan and runs for 8 weeks (they sometimes let you join late if it’s only just started and catch up) but they start new ones all the time, just use the search tab to see what appeals to you.
- Word of the Year, Yep, it’s that time of year again and for once I haven’t had to trawl my brain for one. As we head into a new decade with renewed hope after quite frankly a disastrous year for us, family and friends, it came to me once again in the early hours on steroid induced insomnia! I’ll be writing a post and a workshop about this soon and all the benefits I personally get from having a word to focus on, that hopefully you’ll identify with too.
Ironically, looking back I don’t think the word I chose last year could have been any more appropriate, although little did I know it when I chose it! It was ‘Value’, at the centre, with all areas of life streaming from that, such as health, myself, freedom, money, relationships, planet etc – it certainly became very central to our lives! If you want to find out how I came up with last year’s word click here.
- Social Content, despite having 4 Insta accounts (@thecuriouscreativeclub and @soothedbynature mainly), 2 Facebook accounts (The Curious Creative Club and my personal one), Linked In and Pinterest (both newish), I still love thinking about the content for them all and using strong creative images. Instagram as you probably know is by far my favourite, but I need to get better at Linked In and Twitter (rarely use!) this year to see if this will drive some interest to the Blog.
So, I think that is more or less a wrap on my writing intentions! I do have lofty ideas of pitching some magazine articles too, but know that will take away from my main focus which needs to be The Book, so I am trying to be good and not overload my time!
Plus, this is just one arm of The Curious Creative Club! I have big art ambitions and WOW Wednesday plans too but I’ll tell you all about them in a few blogs time!
Oh, and finally in the spirit of trying to keep healthy, calm and energised in-between treatments, I’ve recently bought Dr Chatterjee’s new book ‘Feel better in 5’ which I’m really excited about purely because of the simplicity of it!
I’ve been a big fan of his for ages, in particular his weekly podcast ‘Feel Better, Live More’ which has brilliant guests interviewed on health and lifestyle in general in a very relatable way, but this book is literally perfect for me and anyone else who believes they don’t have the time or inclination to devote hours of the day to the gym, or a meditation class or to cook a perfect healthy meal with a zillion different ingredients.
The book is split into 3 areas; Mind, Body and Heart (in the connection sense rather than physical) and all you have to do is pick 3 what he calls ‘health snacks’, one from each area, that are just 5 minutes long and commit to doing them 5 days a week for 6 weeks until they become a habit. There’s a menu of about 30 options, (many creative exercises), all very simple and easy to do and he offers lots of advice and case studies of how to make them stick.
So that’s just 15 minutes of something just for you, each day, to make you feel healthier and happier – what’s not to love?
On that note, I wish you a very healthy, happy and curiously creative year and please do share any of your creative intentions below, I’d love to hear what you are all up to!
Until next time…
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
P.s Our first Wow Wednesday meeting of the decade went down a storm last week with 5 new members! To discover more, hit the link and the next meeting is Wednesday the 22nd of January. We’ve got lots of exciting in-between sessions planned too where members share their skills and expertise so why not give us a try? Don’t forget it’s FREE!
The ability to learn is our super-power – my favourites of 2019!
Note 1st; Apologies for the lateness of this one, I wrote it and then just needed to finish it off with pics but then Christmas Eve happened and I ended up half the day at hospital as I have a cold, therefore next chemo pushed back a week and lots of drugs to take….but on the plus side I now get to enjoy an extra week of Christmas without feeling pants…..so all is rosy!
A sunny day on Christmas day so I managed to get out for a walk, woohoo!
Now back to the blog…
Since I began my journey with The Curious Creative Club, I knew from the very beginning that I was still very much a novice in this arena with an awful lot to learn. Yes, I practiced my own creative hobbies of writing, photography and art, but so do many others, and by no means does this make me an expert!
Thankfully I’ve always loved to learn, from a very young age. My Mum says that as a child I was exhausting! Not in a physical sense but because I asked hundreds of questions a day.
I simply love learning, and it’s why I seek out nuggets of wisdom everywhere I go, whether that be at a book shop, through a magazine subscription, an art workshop or listening to an enlightening conversation on a podcast.
In the quest to improve my knowledge on all things creative, my curiosity has stepped up a gear; discovering new trends, new ideas and strategies that can help me take The Curious Creative Club forward.
Learning from other more experienced creatives and business people, I know is key to my development and that of this little business venture. Plus, we really have no excuse not to make the most of the age we live in, as a motivational speaker and podcast host of ‘Rise’, Rachel Hollis often comments; The wealth of free courses on the Internet means we are open to so much more, it’s just whether we choose to access that huge resource; if you want to grow, you’d be a fool not to – I couldn’t agree more!
The wonderful thing about the human mind is the ability to continually learn and with the likes of Google, Alexa (you really can ask that woman anything – I could have really done with her as a child!), social media and more books than ever on the planet, gaining that extra knowledge is seconds away, right at your fingertips, so long as you stay curious.
Of course, the beauty is that you then pass on your knowledge too, sprinkling it with enthusiasm and joy so that the creative community expands even further.
Despite being someone that can flit from one thing to another and get easily distracted, I have tried to absorb what’s out there, more than ever this year.
So, today’s post is a review of the amazing things I’ve listened to, visited and read that have been useful in giving me creative inspiration and knowledge.
I’ll talk through the books I’ve read and people I follow via podcasts, events (and on social media too – visit The Curious Cave for that part), so that you can also check them out, if you like and see if they resonate with you and could also help support you on your creative journey.
Here are my Top recommendations for each section, with some commentary on my Top 3 selections;
Firstly, Creative / business Books:
Just a few of the great reads that have inspired me this year
Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth writes beautifully about creativity and her thoughts on its very existence – you won’t fail to be encouraged to try something new and to be swept up in her enigmatic voice.
Meeting the lovely Sara Tasker at a talk all about her book, Hashtag Authentic
Hashtag Authentic – Sara Tasker
Sara is the first person to write about her experience of Instagram, her story behind her hugely successful account @me_and_orla and shares all the hints and tips she’s learned along the way, a must for anyone starting out with a new Instagram account.
Collecting Conversations – Sam Bunch
This was a surprise read for me based on a recommendation from my local bookshop and I’m glad I listened, part auto-biographical and part intensive research – Sam talks about the key events and issues in women’s lives, through many different age decades, with really interesting and relatable results – great for writing research too!
Other great reads to consider;
Conscious Creativity – Phillipa Stanton
On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft – Stephen King
The Multi-hyphen Method – Emma Gannon
Hegarty on Creativity – John Hegarty
Company of One – Paul Jarvis
The Joy of Watercolour – Emma Block
Reading Books: Because if you are a writer, you also need to read!
The Family Upstairs – Lisa Jewel
A complex intertwining thriller where the house is as much a character as the cast. I loved this book and devoured it on holiday in 3 days, whilst simultaneously ignoring my family, oops! Lisa’s books always deliver on the character’s and the release date always fall in the Summer holidays – the only downside? A year in-between! My favourite author who just gets better and better.
Where the forest meets the stars – Glenda Vanderah
A beautiful story that keeps you guessing and almost believing the child character’s interpretation of the world before reality comes crashing down. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Big Sexy Love – Kirsty Greenwood
A debut, modern-day Bridget-jones type tale with a tragic undertone but some truly laugh out very loud moments! Great comedy timing and strong characters throughout who left you feeling uplifted. I’ll definitely be looking out for Kirsty’s next book.
This is going to hurt – Adam Kay
I have to also comment on Adam’s debut because it was such an amazing book, filled with both humour and heartbreak from the true reality of a junior doctor working un-godly hours in the NHS. You will laugh and cry and forever remember this book!
Other fab reads this year;
The Holiday – T M Logan
Ordinary People – Diana Evans
My name is Leon – Kit De Wal
Also note the last book on this list I discovered thanks to the Clare Mackintosh Book Group on Facebook (Author of I let You Go, Let me Lie etc); a good resource to find your next read and try different styles to the normal genre you go for.
2019 Events / Workshops I’ve been on:
Conversations of Inspiration – Live at Manchester with Mark Constantine
A truly memorable evening delivered from my favourite podcaster and small business advocate; we had a brilliant evening listening to her interview Mark Constantine of Lush, click here for my full review of that evening.
Sarah Masons Photography Workshop
Here I learned how to use my DSLR camera properly, within a small group in a beautiful barn in Hebden Bridge. Sarah took us through the steps slowly which was good for me and the surroundings provided lots of photo opportunities.
Vision Board Workshop – Yorkshire Writers
Another really interesting event that helped us home in our individual goals that we wanted to focus on for the next 6 months. For a more in-depth review on this, click here.
Other workshops that inspire my creativity;
Acrylic Painting Workshop at Art Group
Weekly Creative Writing group
My favourite Podcasts this year
Conversations of Inspiration – Holly Tucker
You just can’t fail to be inspired by Holly’s in-depth interviews of people who have started from nothing, sometimes struggled but then have forged their path into hugely successful businesses! Holly is so warm and is a true small-business advocate who genuinely cares and lends her advice regularly whilst remaining humble about her own success, and that is why I’m drawn to her style and strength. To get an overview of her year of interviews, check out her 2 Christmas specials out now, full of wisdom from her lovely guests.
Fearne Cotton – Happy Place
Equally as genuine as Holly above and doesn’t shy away from the deeper complexities of life such as struggles with mental health, addiction etc that some of her guests have been through. There is always something to take away and learn from this podcast!
Creatively Human – Ruth Poundwhite
Another inspirational woman who tells it like it is, but also has the courage to adapt to changing situations, she’s not afraid of a challenge! Ruth has a quiet determination about where she feels she wants to be and she takes you along the ride with her whilst talking about unique ways of working, for example if you are more of an introvert like her. I find her podcasts truly fascinating and come away thinking deeper about my little venture and where I want to take it!
Other amazing podcasts I’ve listened to this year:
Dreaming and Doing – Nicky Raby
Elevate your curiosity – Joanne Griffin
Dream and Do – Nicola Rae Wickham
Letters from a hopeful creative – Sara Tasker and Jen Carrington
Rise – Rachel Hollis
So, I hope this has been helpful to see just a glimpse of what is out there and of course there are more listed on my resource page – The Curious Cave.
I believe as much as the doing is important, so is the learning and researching, for example if you want to be a writer, it makes sense to read as much as possible – evaluate other’s author’s styles and see what appeals to you. If you want to share beautiful images on Instagram, then look at other’s accounts, see what works, but also understand how you can be different and use your own style and voice to stand out.
As I’ve said many times before I want this to be a sharing space too, so if you have examples of great podcasters you listen to or a book that really spoke to you this year on a creative level, then please don’t be shy and share in the comments below for us all to benefit!
And finally, this is the last Blog post of this year!! So, thank you for following along and keeping me company, I really appreciate all your support and comments.
I wish you all a lovely Christmas time, spending it with your loved ones and come New Year I hope we’ll all be raring to go once again!
I’ll be sharing my list of new intentions for 2020 (I love this time of the year for that – that re-fresh feeling) and where I want to take The Curious Creative Club over the next 12 months.
After a uniquely crazy, up and down 2019, I’m looking forward to delving into a new decade and the year that I’m focusing on getting fully well and back to my best, fingers crossed!
Happy New Year to you all!
Until next time….
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
Reflecting on 2019 – What ‘firsts’ are you celebrating this year?
As we come to the end of the year, I begin to reflect on what’s gone on and whether I’ve made the most of it or not. To help with this, I keep a record of key moments throughout the year, especially if it’s been an eventful one.
It’s easy to forget about the big wins and the smaller successes when life is really busy, so jotting it down makes it easier to look back on. If you are a regular reader, you’ll know that this year has been especially crazy, probably the one of most dramatic years of my life to be honest and that is not me dramatizing either!
It’s been filled with exciting high points and devastating low points with only a smidgen of normality in-between!
So, today I’m going to focus on the incredible high points, and in particular the ‘firsts’ I’ve managed to achieve this year.
‘Firsts’ for me are important because they make you strive for the ‘new’, the things you’ve never tried before and the things you are really curious about, because then it makes you dare to do them and your life becomes all the richer for the new experiences.
You may be thinking, what is the point of looking back and reflecting, I haven’t time for that! But it does have huge benefits I promise you, especially if like me, you don’t have a great memory!
Here are the plus points:
- It’s easy to get caught up in the ‘busy’ of your creative business / hobby. Stopping and taking time to reflect gives a deeper understanding of how far you’ve come and will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
- Think about the moments that terrified you, for example trying a new style of work or delivering a talk on your skills.
Now, remember how you felt afterwards? Elated, buzzing, relieved? I’m sure you will have felt proud that you did it! Even if it didn’t go as well as planned, you were brave enough to try and that is a huge step forwards that you can now learn from
- If you are your own worst self-critic, like many creatives are, you may be the kind of person who focuses on the negative, for example if something didn’t quite work out or you missed an opportunity, then it may surprise you to see a written list of all that you have achieved, which should then give you a confidence boost and help to shift to a more positive mindset.
- Share how far you’ve come with your friends and family, blow that trumpet, you deserve it! Especially to the ones who may not truly ‘get’ what you do, it may just help them understand it all more. And talk to any willing apprentices too, hearing your story will encourage other creatives to try new things too and put themselves out there making the creative community bigger and stronger!
- Use your list to set new challenges for the next year. Maybe you never thought that you’d achieve all that you have? Now that you know you can, it can guide your goals for next year, increase your appetite for challenge and set the bar a little higher, though not too high to scare the pants off you, obviously!
Now that you know the advantages of looking back, below is my list of firsts, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, to then make your own, and some lessons I’ve learned along the way.
There are other things I’ve done of course, but these are true ‘firsts’ and as this was the year I set up The Curious Creative Club, there have been quite a lot. If you too are thinking of moving from creative hobby to something a little entrepreneurial, I’m hoping this may help you.
The Curious Creative Club
My ‘middle of the night’ idea of how to create a blog and website by combining my 3 creative interests came to fruition this year and launched in January, but there were many ‘firsts’ to make it happen as I literally didn’t have a clue what I was doing and started from scratch with no professional help! This is how it evolved:
- Setting up my website – I chose WordPress and then taught myself how to use it. Yes, ok it is a fairly simple process, but for me it was still a challenge, albeit a fun one. Choosing the template and design, creating the content and branding, working out social media buttons and links I really enjoyed, but I’ve yet to master a ‘shopping’ page, next year!
- Blogging content – to date I’ve written 44 blogs which I’m really proud of to be honest! When I started out, the idea was to do content once a week which up until recent health issues, I’ve done, but the surprising part was that only once did I struggle to think what to write! I’ve always been an ideas person and thankfully each week something would guide me to the content, but as it’s all based on creativity, rather than say a lifestyle blog, the content subject is narrower, so it just goes to show there is a lot to talk about around creativity! I was also invited to share one of my posts on Woman Ready Blog which was lovely!
- Blog interviews – again this was something new to me, but I really enjoyed it and will definitely be doing more. In March I did a series of 4 interviews with local creatives and it was great to hear local success stories that I knew would inspire others. Feedback from the interviewees was lovely and gave me the satisfaction of supporting my creative community.
- Social media – whilst this isn’t completely new to me, making sure that this content aligned with The CCC website and supported the blog was really important. I set up Instagram, a Facebook page , a Pinterest page and more recently LinkedIn.
Instagram was especially challenging because I almost wanted it to be magazine like, rather than a perfectly curated, visually appealing account like my other @soothedbynature account. I thought this might not work as it goes against the grain of normal Instagram accounts, but so far it is growing (currently 475 followers) and works well to facilitate other news like the WOW events and my workshops.
- Writing Workshops – This was something I really wanted to do and after putting my proposal to local café owner Miriam, who loves her café to be used as a community and creative hub, we went ahead and have delivered 5 workshops this year! I started off with ‘Playing with Writing’ for beginners and then recently developed ‘Writing from Personal Experience’ and both have been received so well with fabulous feedback!
Creating these has been the biggest lesson for me so far in this journey. I am not a writing teacher, and yet all that was needed really was the belief that I could do it!
I had the ideas for tasks, I rehearsed (in the woods on dog walks) and knew my stuff more than I thought I did. These workshops gave me so much confidence and pure joy, watching my participants come alive with creative ideas right in-front of me. It was like watching the light-bulbs go on in their eyes – so rewarding! I can’t wait to get back to doing them, once pesky chemo is over with.
- Setting up WOW Wednesdays; another ‘middle of the night’ idea. This stemmed from visiting networking groups HD8 network and Business Brunch Club – and whilst I appreciate what they do in terms of networking opportunities, I quickly realised these kinds of groups weren’t quite right for me – I wanted to create something of more personal value and usefulness, that didn’t cost money, to help individuals who worked from home, had their own business or were studying and had goals to reach too. In addition to this, I’d worked with Miriam from a local café who hosted my writing workshops and she was struggling to get people in on Wednesdays and so our local accountability group WOW Wednesdays was born!
Hands down, this is the idea that I’m most proud of this year. I had no clue how it would go but 9 people showed up on the first one back in June and now we have 25 members, who are such amazing people they inspire me at every meeting. This little community means the world to me and it makes me feel quite emotional talking about them. It’s a complete diverse range of people who share their stories, skills and support to all the other members and there is literally nothing that they can’t help with.
They are simply my dream team who in just a few months have grown so much themselves in all sorts of ways but especially confidence in their own work and abilities and at the end of this I‘ll share some of their firsts too!
- Eco product testing for Psychologies magazine! This was a lovely surprise opportunity with a magazine I’ve loved for years, following one of my photos being chosen as the winner of their monthly competition in the magazine. They also chose me to be in their profile section which was great exposure too!
So far I’ve tested a yoga mat, deodorant, tea bags, chocolate, candle, face cream, hand balm, shampoo bar and each time I’ve done a minute video review for their website – something I’ve never done before! Testing the products has been a real eye opener on how much more we need to focus on the products we use to help our planet, for more info on the product reviews click here.
- Events to learn from; Along with my partner in crime, Clair, we’ve attended Holly Tucker’s live podcast event in Manchester, Yorkshire Writer’s Vision Board Workshop and Sarah Tasker’s (of Hashtag Authentic book and podcast) talk, all of which were incredibly inspiring and educational. I can’t recommend enough to go along to these kinds of events, especially if you are stuck in a creative rut, you’ll walk away with ideas sparking I promise!
Other Creative firsts for me this year:
Writing; This year I joined 2 new writing groups, Write at Read bookshop in Holmfirth and the Huddersfield Authors Circle, the latter’s first task was to write about Huddersfield in the 1800s, completely out of my comfort zone! I stared at my notebook in sheer panic and didn’t write for 15 minutes, which has never happened to me before, but I got there eventually and the group really liked my piece! Phew!
Art; trying new things again such as pyrography, acrylic painting and perspective work at Demos delivered by Shelley Art Group, and also becoming Calder Arts ‘Artist of the Week’ on their Instagram – great exposure again! I’ve also started selling my art cards in Miriam’s Kitchen Table.
Photography; In April I attended Sarah Mason’s DSLR Workshop which was such a fab day learning how to use my proper camera! Since then I think my photos on @soothedbynature have improved and I’m getting more engagement with lovely comments lately. My goal is to get to 500 followers on SBN, currently at 497 so I’m really close! I also entered the Countryfile photography competition and want to enter more next year.
So that’s a run down on my year, or in reality 9 months before all the health investigations and diagnosis so all in all I’m really pleased with how The Curious Creative Club is going and I’m so grateful for everyone’s support.
There’s so much more I want to do and what I’ve learned is that the more you do, the more opportunities and ideas spring up, one thing most definitely leads to another!
In the New Year I’ll be talking about my plans and wishes for 2020 of where I want to go with The CCC, and when I’m fully better (hopefully by end of April), there will be no stopping me!
In the meantime, here are some of my WOW members firsts for this year to hopefully inspire you further!
‘Delivering my Pocket Vision Workshop, a great experience that boosted my confidence at a time when I needed it’ Zoe
‘Going from ‘How can I grow my business to how can I fit all these clients in, in a year!’ Clair
‘Letting people read my creative writing and sharing it at writing groups has really helped my confidence grow as a writer!’ Carrie
‘My first pyrography workshop! So pleased I did it!’ Jac
As always, I’d love you to share your ‘firsts’ too in the comments below and do get writing those lists of achievements, I’m willing to bet it will be a lot longer thank you think!
Happy reflecting! Until next time…
Juliet, The Curious Creative x
P.S At the moment I’ll be posting every two weeks to coincide with when I’m at my best after treatment, if there’s anything in particular you’d like me to write about or share insight on, please do get in touch as I want this blog to be as helpful and as useful as possible! Thank you xx
