Is Your Creative Heating On In The Winter Months?
Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 13:48 
After a fairly quiet summer, things are getting busier work-wise. You know the type, full days with multiple meetings scattered around London and a pile of emails to answer when I get home. Though I can't moan. I'm the kind of person to responds more quickly when things are coming a mile a minute. I like being busy, or as my fellow poet Lemn Sissay says 'I have a full life'. Last year around this time I did a lot of evening workshops on combined arts projects. I'm happy to have the chance to do that again this year. In a couple of weeks I'll start on a project called Fast Forward, it's a collaboration between All Change and Sadler's Wells. Using dance, literature, music, photography and film, a group of artists will design a series of workshops focused on the future of everyday life for young people in Islington. I'm really excited about this, especially being able to help young people create speculative fictions and new realities.
I think imagination is even more important with the darker and colder evenings approaching. For me, it'll probably be listening to audio books on the underground journey home. Or sitting on the Southbank scribbling ideas for poems, before it's too cold not to be wearing gloves and heading home to finish. And if it's freezing, I'll just be chilling at home watching a dvd.
What is it for you? Are you a snuggle up and read a book time, a dancing around the living room person? How do you keep the creative heating on in the colder months?
Comment back, let me know.
Peace,
Yem
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Reader Comments (4)
At the moment the cold has frozen my brain, totally not motivated at the moment. I think being busy and having no time to think about whether I want to do stuff or not suits me better.
It will all kick off after half-term, can't wait to be honest. When limited I am most creative.
this post triggered my thoughts... we all need that life force and vibrancy cursing through our body in the darker months. Creativity is what feeds this. So guess I’ll continue to feel life through all senses... a particular mood, an overheard conversation, imprint of a dream, a fleeting visual, or a convergence of these. Capturing in some way, often photos and sometimes words. Music connects me with a deep pulse of life so learning guitar (taking ages!) and singing with the choir will keep me going til spring....
Hey you!
Good questions... Since I had a couple of years where I lacked anything resembling motivation, when I got it back (quite recently), I had to find new ways to keep it going.. For me, the summer months are definitely easier. In the winter, spending more time with people who keep my energy high always helps, as does taking time out for myself - half an hour sitting on a park bench with a hot drink can really focus my mind and bring back the motivation I need to keep on. Thanks for getting me to think about this!
Hey Honest, thanks for sharing. These last two weeks have been super chilly. I'm gona try the park bench tea tip over the weekend. Peace.
Yem