What is creativity? (part 2)

What is creativity? (part 2) is available on my other blog, Siretona Creative.

That’s where the first post was supposed to go! What is creativity? (part 1)

Identity (part 2): person or brand?

I bought the March/April issue of Writer’s Digest to get Christina Katz’s article “50 Simple Ways to Build Your Platform in 5 Minutes a Day.” This gem comes with other treasures, including an interview with Emma Donoghue, author of bestseller Room.

A theme of identity stood out to me in their pieces.

Katz advises writers, “Be Yourself. Advice that tells authors to act like brands encourages us to forget to act like regular people. But social media is made for people, not robots. The fact that you’re a writer and a parent or an uncle and a Packers fan or a vegetarian makes you interesting. Your readers and fans want you to be personable, not a one-topic ever-plugging broken record. Spend five minutes making a profile more you” (p. 43).

Writer’s Digest asks Donoghue, “In a publishing climate where writers are often advised to develop one niche, you’re quite diverse. Is that something you consciously strive for?”

Donoghue replies,

“You know, maybe I’m lucky nobody ever told me that. I know what you mean, in terms of marketing and making a brand of yourself. It would be logical to develop one niche. But I’ve always had a very good agent who’s always emphasized the sure interest of each book or play. She’s never approached my work with that hard-boiled, Will this appeal to your previous readership? attitude. I know my publishers are occasionally a bit bemused by, you know, what am I going to throw at them next, but nobody’s ever said, “Oh Emma, you have to give us more of the same thing” (pp. 37-38).

It’s not just a publishing climate, it’s a business climate, even a social climate. E-Myth talks about it. My colleagues talk[ed] about it at Ambrose and Briercrest. Stephanie Pollock exhorts that business and life are not separate and guides women through a clarification process for it.* Christina Katz rejects it for writers:

Now some people like to substitute the word "branding" for identity, but I'm not partial to the former. Are you a writer or a pharmaceutical company? Are you a writer or a can of soda? Are you a writer...you get the idea. Be who YOU are and spread the word in a professional manner. This takes more thought than you might expect because it's part of the story that precedes you, goes with you, and lingers behind you, everywhere you go. For more on this topic, start reading on page 175 and don't stop until you figure out your Otherwise Known As.

There’s a place for branding, but let’s heed fair warning that brand building can de-personalize. Some people’s names are synonymous with their brand: Rachael Ray, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Covey are three who immediately come to mind. It’s common, but what’s the net effect? I don’t have a lot of answers, but I do have a healthy wariness.

Who are you? Do you distinguish person from brand? Why or why not? How?

 

*Note: I like Steph Pollock and just signed up for one of her courses. I might filter some of her branding messages, though.

Identity (part 1): grieving losses and change

What is creativity? (part 1)

Often when people tell me they are not creative, I tell them, “Creativity is the ability to use other people’s ideas well.” The idea came from a college textbook that made a strong impression on me two decades ago: Creative Teaching Methods by Marlene LeFever.

My sister is getting married next month and because I live far away from her, I’m compiling a cookbook using The Great Family Cookbook Project. It’s fun to read the submissions & sending out little inspirational notes to the [would-be] contributors.

My next note will suggest the contributors don’t need to be original and will encourage them to share favourites from other sources. For example, one woman added “Angel Biscuits” and included her source: Company’s Coming Muffins and More. I need to include “Blender Hollandaise Sauce” from The Joy of Cooking—so easy and so scrumptious on asparagus or eggs benedict.

I found Creative Teaching Methods on Google Books (of course). In searching for the quotation above (if it IS a direct quote), I have discovered other gems, like this one:

Creativity has become a feminine word. Women are usually thought of as being more creative than men, more at ease sharing their emotions through drama, song and teaching. … “Of course not,” we say, but our attitudes don’t always back up our words.

Look a little deeper. Most creative people are both sensitive and independent. In our society sensitivity is a female characteristic, and independence is considered a masculine characteristic. (p. 37)

LeFever goes on to show that creativity is NOT just the domain of women. That’s good, because I know a lot of creative men: my brother Jeffrey (an insanely talented potter-photographer-videographer-painter-musician), my friend Grant (carver; wordsmith), the illustrious Robert Genn, my husband, etc., etc.

The problem is connotations in meaning. When most North Americans hear “feminine,” we tend to think female. The French would never make that mistake. Or when we hear feminine in relation to men, we tend to think effeminate and/or gay. True, some creative men are effeminate and/or gay, but lots of men (like the ones listed above) are not. It’s too easy to make false equivocations.

So technically, I have no problem with saying that creativity tends to be a feminine quality: not female, not effeminate, not gay, not limited to women. And I’m comfortable saying that independence is a masculine quality, but not male or beefy or limited to women. Of course, to say creativity is feminine implies softness, which is kind of true (think intuition), but it certainly requires discipline (more later), which has a masculine denotation. But creativity is NOT chiefly a womanly thing.

Do you agree or disagree? Why?

project management

My husband took a project management course on the weekend. It has led to some important conversations that will affect business and our personal lives.

First: personal. Kevin’s group used our home renovations as a case study. We’re going to have a family meeting about it tomorrow with all of the key stakeholders: his daughter, his cousin, himself, and me.

Second: business. Kevin has suggested that I take advantage of what he’s been learning to develop and strategize in my own business. He’s brilliant. I’m looking forward to that.

I’m also looking forward to lunch with him in a few minutes!

homesteading & camping out

Since this blog is called 2 conversations, I should tell you about a couple of actual conversations.

1.    

Don't you love it when something that's already on your "to do" list suddenly gets accomplished and you didn't actually have to take the initiative? And isn’t it a nice surprise when you usually don’t answer 800 numbers, but sometimes when you do That's what happened this morning: my list told me to call Homestead/Intuit about setting up a storefront ... then THEY called ME!

It was just a routine customer service call to see how things were going and if I like their service. Like it? I love it! I’ve designed quite a few sites with their easy drag-and-drop SiteBuilder technology (see list below).

I had the loveliest chat with Amy. She was most helpful and knowledgeable. We immediately emailed back and forth a bit on some of my questions. I have a feeling we’re going to have a fruitful relationship, possibly both ways, since she was quite interested in my children’s book publishing.

2. 

We’re renovating the bachelor pad. We’ve been talking about it for months. I hear it’s really good for a marriage. Not stressful at all, except maybe conversations about what to do with a front entry and whether or not to knock out walls and door frames. :)

I’ve been hovering in “camping out” mode with papers and filing and boxes and projects, waiting for the day when we’ve set up the basic infrastructure (i.e. flooring and desk) before settling in. As a partially self-employed person who works from home, it’s hard to be camping out for so long, especially after five years of nomadic life, with most of my household effects in storage! When we got married on December 30th, I thought we might start by the end of January or mid February. Of course not. Everyone says renos always take at least twice as long as you expect.

But just when I think my husband isn’t thinking about renos, he surprises me by saying he’s called someone: a painter, a carpenter, a plumber, a supplier. He bids on leftovers and demos from his employer: light fixtures, baseboards, a brand new frontloading washer/dryer set. And today I welcomed a flooring expert to measure our house. It’s really happening now! We’ll replacing everything on the main floor with new tile and laminate (and maybe a bit of carpet). It will be so refreshing.

Of course I’m dreaming about window treatments and slipcovers and more!

 

Websites I’ve built on the Homestead/Intuit platform:

Personal projects:

• My main site: www.siretona.com (being renovated, kind of like my house…)
• Children’s book publishing: www.openeyes.ca
• Humour about going “over the hill”: www.marthamorgan.ca
• Music: www.colleenanddara.com

A few other clients:

• www.keystomusic.ca
• www.exceptionalconsulting.ca (aka www.mychildmybusiness.ca)
• www.northernlakeshealthcommittee.ca
• www.safetyforallconsulting.com

gardens

I’ve been thinking about gardens, growth, hospitality, and attracting butterflies.

Occasionally I have grown potted plants with success.

A few years ago I tried a garden plot, with VERY small success: a few handfuls of beans and peas and 3 or 4 cabbages. Maybe one or two cobs of corn: I don’t remember. I didn’t know what I was doing. And I lived too far away from my garden (several km) to nurture it well.

This year, in a new home, I plan to try again. The back yard is small, but it’s handy and it neighbours a playground. I dream of planting sweet peas and sunflowers against the chain link fence to create a bit more privacy for us and beauty for passers-by. I dream of a couple beds of vegetables, and of still having room for a sitting area around a small fire. Perhaps it will never be as verdant as the garden pictured above, but it can be cozy and it can be mine.

My husband doubts the execution, but he humored me and bought seed packets: sunflowers, sweet peas, and a mix called “butterfly garden.” Butterflies, like bees, are important for the pollination and propagation of plant life. Flowers, thus, are not merely beautiful: they attract synergistic relationships.

I hope, through nesting into my new home and my garden, to draw butterflies, grow vegetation, and nurture relationships—to find sympathies and synergies. I hope to draw literal butterflies and metaphorical butterflies*: women (and men) who are emerging, discovering who God has created and intended them to be.

*Apparently Wendell Berry was careful about the use of metaphor: “When a metaphor is construed as an equation, it is out of control; when it is construed as an identity, it is preposterous.” (source: Twitter @DailyWendell). As much as I admire Mr. Berry, I don’t mind if my use of butterflies and gardening as metaphor transgresses his perspective a bit.

transformation

I’ve been thinking about the life-span of butterflies.

I’ve been thinking about metamorphosis, process that transforms an egg into a caterpillar or worm (something squishy, maybe fuzzy or slimy) into a cocooned chrysalis into a fragile, gossamer- or dusty-winged creature.

Did you know that not all chrysalides are completely helpless?

“Like other types of pupae, the chrysalis stage in most butterflies is one in which there is little movement. However, some butterfly pupae are capable of moving the abdominal segments to produce sounds or to scare away potential predators.”

Waiting brings helplessness. The instinct to divert perceived predators is natural and right.

 

I’ve been thinking about the lives of women and butterflies.

Men, too. But women in particular, and how so much of our lives consist in waiting.

Sure there is some truth in saying we have choices, yet we can’t pursue everything.

Sometimes even the gentlest force is too much, shortcutting a process and crippling the result.

Sometimes we just have to wait and pray, like living in a cocoon, and wait for the day when we emerge: fragile, gossamer, gorgeous new creatures.

That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

~ Romans 8:18-30, The Message

mixing ministry and business

Today I enjoyed working at home: listened to a webinar for Siretona business, set up a cookbook project as a remote wedding shower for my sister, did some cleaning to serve my household, and replaced our mismatched Corelle dishes with the pottery my brother made for our wedding. I used another wedding gift, our slow cooker, to make one of my favourite recipes: Boston Baked Beans (recipe below). The sauce was so deliciously compelling, that I ate too much of it before Kevin got home!

Over supper we discussed and critiqued the webinar I had heard. It was the second in a three-part series on ministry entrepreneurship. In the first webinar, I was concerned when the presenter said that Christians don’t need more Bible study, we just need to put what we know into practice. True, we need to practice what we profess, but saying we don’t need more Bible study is like saying we can train for and run a marathon without eating! It’s not either/or, it’s both/and.

A bit skeptical, I approached the second webinar and was even more concerned with the presenter’s officious and pedantic style. He dismisses “aggregates” (organizers and leaders of groups) as roadblocks to ministers who must “posture to persuade the gatekeepers” to let them in. Then he says “the secret is to become your own aggregator.” Several times he does this: dismisses a category or term in one area only to re-appropriate it for his purposes later. He also implies that a “ministry entrepreneur” must “become a powerhouse” in order to build a niche following or aggregate (aka “Ministry Family”) in order to found a sustainable ministry. Though meaningful ministry is the goal, it is not located in the context of the church—in fact, it seems to happen in spite of or even against the church. Though he talks about building relationships and giving ministry, the whole model comes across as dehumanizing, blatantly individualistic, and self-seeking. He defines ministry as sharing ME. Apparently, I am God’s gift to the world and all I need to do is unwrap the gift and open myself up. 

We can proof text the Bible to support this model. The presenter uses Matthew 13, the parable of the pearl of great price, to show that we have He doesn’t use 2 Corinthians 4:7 (which would have been more obvious): “We have this treasure in jars of clay.” Perhaps he avoids this one because of context: the our treasure is not to become our own powerhouse, employ failsafe entrepreneurial strategies, but rather “to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” The surrounding chapters, 2 Corinthians 3-5, are all about suffering and being reconciled to God through Christ. Paul and his companions are very aware of calling people to follow Christ, not “galvanizing people” to themselves. We can couch our business models in religious term, but what are we doing? Justifying our own wisdom, rather than really grappling with and following the call of God. Of course, there’s no suggestion that in unwrapping and opening myself I might find a Pandora’s box of sin along with ministry gifts.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Notice who does the work: GOD does it through Christ. Even in verse 20, we are Christ’s ambassadors “as though God were making his appeal through us.” In every case we get eclipsed by the one we serve.

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Boston Baked Beans
(from Company's Coming - Slow Cooker Recipes, pg.22)

I doubled this recipe for our large slow cooker. In consideration of my husband, I omitted the onions and added a package of bacon. I cut the bacon into small pieces and pre-cooked it (as advised by Rachael Ray) and added it in the second step. In hindsight, I would use a thicker back bacon for a heartier effect.

2¼ cups (560 ml)  Dried navy beans (or peas), 1 lb. (454g)
1½ cups (375 ml)  Chopped onion
5 cups (1.25 l)      Water

Combine beans, onion and water 3 1/2 quart (3.5 l) slow cooker. Stir.
Cover. Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours.

½ cup (125 ml)      Ketchup
1/3 cup (75 ml)  Molasses (not blackstrap)
1/3 cup (75 ml)  Brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. (5 ml)     Dry mustard
1 tsp. (5 ml)     Salt
1/4 tsp (1 ml)    Pepper

1 pkg thick back bacon or salt pork

Add remaining 6 ingredients. Stir well. Cover. Cook on High for about
30 minutes to blend flavours. Makes 6 cups (1.5 L).

Nutritional information: 1/2 cup (125 mL): 195 Calories; 0.6 g Total Fat; 380 mg Sodium; 9 g Protein; 40 g Carbohydrate;
good source of Dietary Fibre.

PHOTO: Pottery by Jeffrey  Taylor of Newschool Arts

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