Caught in a Gale Wind Upon the Sea of Creativity

# Summary

The author describes navigating the chaotic and invigorating aspects of creativity during a collaborative meeting with a graphic artist named Garth to plan an installation for the Secret Storyworld at the Mystery Museum.

# Abstract

The author recounts a meeting with Garth, a graphic artist characterized by his dynamic and forceful communication style, akin to a gale wind. The encounter serves as a metaphor for the creative process, which can be overwhelming yet full of potential. The author learns to assert control over the creative energy, directing it into a structured form that can be shared and experienced by others. The transformation of raw inspiration into a tangible outcome is likened to sailing a ship from the wild Sea of Creativity to the Marketplace. By the meeting's end, the roles reverse, with the author becoming the conduit of creative energy, demonstrating the dynamic exchange inherent in collaboration. The experience underscores the importance of harnessing and refining creativity to make it both exciting and manageable.

# Opinions

- The author initially feels overwhelmed by Garth's energetic communication but learns to control and direct the creative flow.
- Creative inspiration can be chaotic and powerful, requiring a deliberate and forceful approach to harness and shape it effectively.
- The creative process is about bringing order to chaos, transforming abstract ideas into concrete, shareable forms.
- The author equates the act of saying "Stop" to control the creative flow with casting spells in Harry Potter's world, emphasizing the need for decisive action.
- The author views the creative energy exchange as a phenomenon that can shift the dynamics of a collaboration, with each party playing a role in activating and calming the other's creativity.
- The author identifies with a Pirate Queen, confidently steering the course of creativity towards a final product that is both inspiring and achievable.

Creative inspiration doesn’t always whisper

Wednesday is the Secret Storyworld day dedicated to sailing our creative Muse to the Marketplace (image by author, that’s me on the right!)

Today I met with Garth, a graphic artist of rather epic talent to talk about the Secret Storyworld installation at the Mystery Museum. Great timing as today is my Storyworld date with My Muse upon the Sea of Creativity.

Garth is a very energetic talker. So much so that I often feel like I am in a gale wind when I am with him. At first, I buffer myself against the onslaught and then as I grow more comfortable I allow the words to swirl around me.

This is a perfect example of the creative forces that move through our life. How often does inspiration strike that almost knocks us off our feet and we aren’t sure how to move forward with it?

So as Garth and I progressed in our conversation I found myself growing more comfortable to direct the flow of this creative force. Frequently I would put my hand up and say STOP. The upper case letters are deliberate. I had to say it very loud and mean it. Just like casting spells in Harry Potter’s World. The word Stop doesn’t have its full effect unless you put power into the saying of it.

Once I stopped the overwhelming flow of creative words barraging me I could interject and collaborate. I wasn’t just being bowled over by it. I was directing it and focusing it. And this is so exactly like the creative process.

A Conduit for Creative Energy

Creative energies can be overwhelming and sometimes we’re not sure how to start and what goes where and what to do next and how we will know when it's finished.

Pure creativity is chaos. The act of creation is making new order out of this chaos.

We take the wild creativity of the Sea of Creativity and sail it into the container of the Marketplace. Bringing out treasures to shore means that they have some kind of form or container around them so that others can experience and share in them.

This is the act of transforming inspirational energy into its material form.

Transforming Creative Inspiration into Material Realization

By the end of our meeting, I noticed a very amusing phenomenon. I was talking loudly and Garth’s voice had quieted. The energy exchange had taken place. The wild creative impulse that is Garth had been channeled into me and now I was on fire with creative energy. I had been activated and Garth had been calmed.

So lessons learned today in the Sea of Creativity. A Secret Storyworld installation can be refined from pure overwhelming potential into something that is exciting and creative, but also manageable and doable.

A creative gale wind can become an inspiring breeze that uplifts and awakens and activates.

And a Pirate Queen (me!) sailing upon the Sea of Creativity can direct the wind to unfurl the sails of her pirate ship and make way for the Marketplace with all the grace and power and ease at her command.

Creative adventure calls; sometimes loudly. We get to decide how we will answer the call and the Creative Doings that will follow. Always.