Nobody puts Natalie in an office.
I get some of my very best writing done on airplanes.
And I know why: it's a venue that has many of the magic ingredients that are most supportive for my creative expression.
A gif of a smiling black person wearing clear-framed glasses, a blonde wig, and white gloves dressed as a flight attendant in a plane points forward and to their sides indicating the exits on the plane.
Pardon me while I tell you something you probably already know:
If you want to be creative, you must frequent the venues that best support your creativity.
This is quite like finding the right window for your houseplant, or the best spot in the garden for your peony bush. We don't expect plants to thrive and blossom just anywhere, so why would we expect that of ourselves?
What makes a venue ideal for creating? That, my love, is unique to YOU. Do you know the magic ingredients of your ideal creative space?
Mine are:
- ambient noise (NOT silence, and DEFINITELY NOT music)
- huge windows and high ceilings (and/or no ceilings at all - outside can be great)
- natural light (fine, because I rarely write at night)
- people around, coming & going, doing various things, but not talking to me (I cannot be isolated! Nooo!)
- a spot I can easily get up and walk around for a change of scenery. And another beverage.
There's a super mega creativity bonus if:
- the place is new, or novel
- the environment is beautiful
- I am far from home (the further I get, the more creative I am)
I find the highest concentrations of my magic ingredients in places like coffeeshops and hotel lobbies and museum foyers and around the open community spaces in libraries. Sometimes also poolside. And, apparently, on airplanes.
Before I discovered and sought out these kinds of spaces, I was much MUCH more creatively frustrated.
Trying to write at the kitchen table, or - very most worstest of all - upstairs in my little office, all alone? Close to impossible.
My ideas do not easily blossom into creations in those places, and I no longer try to force them there.
So, how about you?
What are the most supportive venues for your creativity?
What magic environmental ingredients help your ideas to blossom onto the page, and into the world?
How can you be there more often?
love,
Natalie