Creative communities – there’s no such thing as three’s a crowd!

There is a joke in my family that I was born telling stories; I apparently came into the world mid-sentence. When I was two years old, I began inventing words. At four I dictated stories to my parents in lieu of being able to write them myself. My father built my first writing desk when I was seven because my notebooks overtook the kitchen table. I didn’t ever doubt the answer: when I grew up I was going to be a writer.

However.

While I loved my dream of writing, the hideous truth was I never actually wrote anything. I bought books insatiably and spent hours in libraries. I collected journals and fountain pens, book-writing software and writing centre memberships. I studied creative writing as my undergraduate degree. But I didn’t actually do any writing of my own free will.
And, the longer I went without writing, the more elusive my words were. There were some days when my future without words was so palpable I could actually see myself looking back on life and saying, ah yes, I wanted to be a writer once. Those days made my spine shrivel.

The turning point arrived two years ago when I joined a new online writing community. It took me six months to contribute anything and after submitting my first piece, I admittedly felt ill. Then a community member commented on my work, and then another. Complete strangers were reading my writing and I was not cowering under the weight of rotten tomatoes. The feeling was indescribable. The feeling was encouragement. Sometimes, that’s all anything with a skerrick of life left in it needs to grow.

Creative communities exist everywhere, literally now at your fingertips thank to the Internet, and do so because creativity loves company. Knitting groups, sewing circles, writing centres, cooking classes, music groups, dance groups, acting classes, craft clubs. These are all different places that aim to do the same thing: encourage you to grow, experiment, and be fearless with your imagination. Can’t find a group for your creativity of choice? Clear your kitchen table, gather your besties and get together on a Sunday afternoon with all imaginations present and accounted for. The main thing about joining a creative group is the declaration you are making that you take your creatively seriously. And sometimes, self-belief is all the encouragement an idea needs.

If it’s been a while since you’ve fired up the old brainstorming juice, or if you’re not ready to launch straight into joining a group just yet, start with little steps. Take as little as ten minutes out of a day and recall the last time you created something you loved, even if it was when you were a child. Then spend another five imagining how you might do it differently now. Jot down your ideas. And then do this again tomorrow. The thing about doing anything regularly, even just daydreaming, is that you get better at it. You refine, you grow, you bloom. Creativity is no exception.

Talk to your friends, get on Google, explore the vast and bountiful world of social media to find groups you can follow on Facebook and Twitter. Check in at your local library or call your local council. Check the newspaper. Explore the arts magazine sections in the newsagent. Whatever it takes, give your creativity the air it needs to breathe and grow. You will feel better for it. You will become a better you because of it.

All you have to do is be brave and jump.

– Holly Ringland

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