By Vicki Hughes Posted March 14, 2013

Part of being creative is doing something often enough to discover your own voice. Each of us has a voice so distinct, that they’ve invented very expensive equipment to discern it, much as they can read a fingerprint. Just as our vocal chords create a distinctive sound as we speak, our creative efforts also speak in their own voice. We need make no apology for that tone. It is what it is. Some have BIG BOLD voices, and others express themselves in the miniscule.  Primary colors, or muted earth tones, everyone has their way.

It never surprises me to see how many painters there are in the world, or clothing designers, or movie directors. I know there’s such a wide variety of personal tastes out there to create a market or audience for nearly every style of those art-forms.

But until a short while ago, it hadn’t occurred to me how that is also true of writing, and books. I was at a local coffee shop, enjoying a latte, and my eyes ran over all the books on those shelves. Each of those books has it’s own particular readership. It dawned on me that I don’t have to write things that appeal to everyone! Lightbulb!

I have a particular style of writing that is a perfect fit for a certain style of reader, but it’s not for everyone. Even Harry Potter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Painters like Picasso, Erik Wahl and Grandma Moses all appeal to a different group of art lovers. We should create what we like, what we want to share, and let the audience develop naturally.

There is a tribe for each of us, and our art-form (from painting, cooking, writing, gardening, needlepoint, building rat-rods or raising great kids.) Our creative efforts send out a vibration that resonates with the people who “get it.” We know because they nod their heads in agreement, saying, “Yes! Yes! That’s how I feel too!” That in turn, gives us greater confidence to continue, to try again, to face another blank canvas or a blank page, to risk it all again.

In my mind, people who put their own personal stamp on anything, can elevate it to an art-form. To be artistic is to go ahead and risk the exposure, to sign your name to your efforts, and own them. Artists constantly face their fear of doing it wrong, or imperfectly, or that they’ll be exposed as a total fraud. To some of us it is the greatest audacity to say, “I am a painter,” or “I am a writer,” or heaven forbid, “I am a fun, creative, loving mother.” We cringe back as if the Artist Police might pop out of the bushes, demanding, “Prove it!” Here’s a little secret. There are no Artist Police. That’s not to say there are no critics, because they exist everywhere, in every realm. But nobody is authorized to say who is an artist and who is not. You can’t afford to ignore your gifts for fear of a few critics. If some people can’t criticize your art, they will criticize your teeth or your car or your taste in Mexican restaurants. Trying to please those people will leave you curled up in the fetal position talking to the cat.

Move on, and do your thing, regardless. Let the critics criticize, because that’s what they do. We can’t change that. If you waste a bunch of time worrying about who is going to dislike your efforts, you’ll never get anything done. Speak in your own voice, whatever you do, and let your people show up, smiling and thrilled that you are their people too.

I remember being so inspired when I first discovered that Susan Branch didn’t even know she could draw until she was in her thirties! Here I was, looking at her books, in awe of her talent, as if she’d come out of the womb with those skills. But that’s not her story. She went through a sad divorce, and one day in the gloom of that reality, she picked up a pencil and drew something, and changed her life.

Sometimes we are very good at things we’ve never done before. That’s a great reason to try things as soon as possible, when the idea strikes. There’s really no way to know what we might excel at until we do a few things. This doesn’t apply to solely to crafty, traditionally artistic endeavors. Professional and personal efforts can reveal talents that we had no idea we possessed!

Sometimes we need to get unstuck by changing venues. Volunteer a half a day to work with a group of people you’d love to work with. Be teachable and helpful. You may have always worked in an office, but you’d love to work in a bakery, or you may have gotten bogged down in retail, but have a talent for working in the medical field. Sometimes it’s hard to picture ourselves in a completely different realm. The familiar can create it’s own orbit that seems to keep us circling the same old, same old.

Try something new, and branch out a little. Dip your toe into the water and see what you think. You don’t have to risk it all or go for broke. You are allowed to walk away if it’s not your bag. Maybe you will get so excited and inspired that you’ll completely change paths, or maybe you will discover something else you’re good at, which will give you some much needed momentum.

What would you like to try?

• Salsa dancing
• Snorkeling
• Painting
• Paper making
• Graphic design
• Pet grooming
• Hair cutting
• Stand-up comedy
• DJ-ing
• Gardening
• Calligraphy
• Poetry
• Quilting
• Book selling
• Animal rescue
• Weaving
• Genealogy

Some fabulous full-time careers have been born out of a person discovering a talent they had previously left untapped. You’ll never know how good you might be at something until you try. You probably won’t be great when you first start, but if it’s something you truly enjoy, find a way to start a tiny habit so you can do it again, and again, and again. Repetition will help you gain new ideas and skills. Leo Babauta of www.zenhabits.net suggests starting the habit of flossing your teeth (which many people never seem to get around to) by just deciding to commit to flossing one tooth a day until the habit is established. It sounds like such a ridiculously small effort, it almost demands that we do it. Who can’t find time to floss one tooth??  How many habits do we fail to establish because we try to start too big, and bite off more than we can chew? You could draw one doodle a day, or sing one song, or be consistent with the kids on one thing, every day. Start small, and build from there, once you get the habit rolling.

When I bought some craft wire at Hobby Lobby and decided to try to make a pendant out of pieces of sea glass I’d collected at the bay, I wasn’t overly thrilled with my first attempts. I had no teacher, no books, just some raw materials and a couple YouTube videos, with the thought that it could be fun.

After several attempts, I discovered a few tricks, and then I accidentally made a couple pieces that I really liked. I couldn’t have duplicated them if you’d held me at knife-point. Slowly, I made a few more, and a few more, and the more I did, the more I learned, and the more I learned, the better my efforts got, and the better they got, the more I wanted to try. Now I have people who are special ordering jewelry from me!

Have you ever noticed how Mickey Mouse and Garfield today, look nothing like they did when they were first drawn? Why is that? The artist developed new skills, and developed new ideas about what they wanted to do with those skills. As we grow, so does our skill-set and the result we can achieve. As Anne Lamott says in Bird by Bird, it’s okay to have shitty first drafts. Everyone starts somewhere.

If you were going to give something a whirl, what would it be?

© Vicki Hughes 2013