The Little Spark

The Little Spark

Adult non fiction
I am one of those people who never grew up. I never learned
most of the things grown ups do:
*that creativity is the domain of only professionals,
*that most people are doomed to failure on such endeavors,
*that anything less than perfection is failure,
*that making a mess is a very bad thing...
So far I've gone through life like a female Peter Pan, learning,
writing, creating, dancing just for the intrisic joy in doing so.
When I read Carrie Bloomston's The Little Spark: 30 Ways to Ignite
Your Creativity it felt like coming home.
We're born with creative sparks. As children we live life, as
Bloomston says, "with curiosity and openness.". Remember how we'd
totally immerse ourselves in projects and fantasies of our own
devising, dress creatively, dance and skip instead of walk? Then
something happened, adulthood, which is greatly overrated. Now we
don't have time to be creative. We might make a mess. People would
judge our efforts. We'd never do well enough. Why bother?
Bloomston asserts that no matter how hard we try to hide it or
blow it out the spark stays lit. We can bring it back to full blaze
by taking baby steps in the right direction. The Little Spark gives
invitations to take these steps and affirmations for the journey.
Questions help you personalize these roadmaps. Spark 2, for instance,
is about creating the space you need. There are ways to do this even
when you don't have a lot of square footage to work with. Do you need
fresh air? Do you prefer a desk, an easel, or even the floor as a
work space? How can you store materials?
A lot of people deal in somedays. Someday I'm going to write a
book/make a quilt with the children's old clothes/join the choir...
If that's you, get your hands on a copy of The Little spark. It can
show you what small steps it can take to turn someday into today. And
you'll have a wonderful time on the journey.
On a personal note, quite fittingly, The Little Spark was one of the
first books I read and reviewed in my brand new--drum roll please--
studio. That's right, folks. For the first time in my life I have a
studio dedicated to my reading, writing, and crafting. It's the room
my girls grew up in which makes it doubly special. Up til now I had
run into an obstacle Bloomston describes eloquently,
Always having to move stuff to get down to work. In my case that
translated into misplacing just what I needed. The girls' old room
had started to be a storage space with a Hurricane Andrew decor. Then
one day I knew it just had to be a studio. The minute I started
cleaning the project organized itself. A small coffee table, for
instance, just had to hold my library books. The free bookcase I
found on someone's lawn fit perfectly beside the bed where I like to
read and write. I now have my studio set up enough to be useful but
still a work in progress. The bed is made up for a daughter sleeping
over. But I use it on hot nights since it's the room with the best
cross ventilation.
A great big shout out goes out to my daughter, Amber, who is one of
the craftiest people I know. She has an amazing crafts blog that is
perfect for people who don't have tons of money for fancy supplies.
If you'd like to discover some pretty fun ways to unleash your inner
creativity, check out http://amberscraftaweek.blogspot.com.you'll be
glad you did.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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