Creative Communities - Why There's No Need to Struggle to Create Alone

The majority of creative artists - such as writers, painters, photographers and mixed media artists - spend their time creating alone, without the input of anyone else. While this may well be necessary when creating it doesn't mean you have to remain in isolation for the rest of your time.

The reason why so many creative people give up creating, even though they're producing wonderful artwork, is because they simply feel they're living in a social vacuum.

Not only does it feel like no-one appreciates our work, it often feels that no-one even knows or cares we're creating at all.

Under these conditions, staying motivated to create becomes far more difficult. A drop of enthusiasm, just the acknowledgment that you're stepping up and creating each day, and a few kind, supportive words, can have a tremendous effect on our drive and enthusiasm to continue to create.

So how do we get this kind of encouragement, when it feels we're the only one in the world that cares that we're creating at all?

The answer is creative communities.

Traditionally a creative community would be based around a physical place, like an amateur dramatic group at a theater, a writer's group at the local library or simply a group of friends meeting at each other's houses regularly to share stitches, sequins and stories.

These kind of creative communities continue to thrive and always will do. But these days we're in the midst of an explosion of options to meet people and share our work in the online world.

There are groups, communities and networks for every possible creative discipline, as well as blogs, photo and video sites where you can connect with other like minded artists all over the world.

The wonderful thing about these online communities is you can create a new artwork, then minutes later be sharing it with the other artists in your creative community, for encouragement and feedback.

You can wake up one morning with a blank page or canvas, and by sunset have created something new, have it online for your community to see and have dozens of supportive comments from people who have genuinely enjoyed and been inspired by your work.

Not only that, but you get to share in the artwork of others, and give your support to them in return. Knowing that a few encouraging words of yours resulted in someone taking the plunge and writing that story, or completing that collage, is a very rewarding experience.

Also highly satisfying is hearing that by creating yourself and sharing your artwork with the world, you're inspiring others to do so, people who you've never even met or spoken to before.

If you haven't already, joining a supportive online creative community is a fantastic way of not only spurring on your own creativity, but playing a part in encouraging others to be more creative too.

With that in mind, I invite you to come over to CoachCreativeSpace, a thriving interactive creative community space for you to learn how to be as creative as you've always known you can be.

You'll find Creative Forums, Groups, Artwork and Blogs to share in and contribute to, and supportive like minded creative people who are experiencing some of the same challenges and triumphs you are. Check it out now, at:

http://www.CoachCreativeSpace.com

From Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin