Indie Author Weekly

176: What does it mean to be a creative and an indie author?

• Sagan Morrow • Episode 177

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In our most recent couple of episodes here on the Indie Author Weekly podcast, we’ve been exploring the importance of trust in the creative process — including self trust and trusting others. I want to take it a step back today and ask this question: What does it even mean to be a creative, and, since this is the Indie Author Weekly podcast, what does it mean to be an indie author?

Especially given that recently here on the podcast, I’ve been sharing about my creative process in designing burlesque choreography. What does that have to do with being an indie author? Can we count that as something appropriate for our purposes of being on this podcast? 

TUNE IN NOW for my take on the question of “What does it mean to be a creative and an indie author” — plus what you can expect as we move forward with the Indie Author Weekly podcast...

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Hello and welcome to the indie author weekly podcast where I take you on the behind the scenes journey of my adventures as an indie author. I'm your host Sagan Morrow, and I'm an eighth time polyamorous romcom. Author. Plus, I've also written several business books for solopreneurs. Let's dive into this episode. What does it mean to be a creative? What does it mean to be an indie author?
In our most recent couple of episodes here on the indie author weekly podcast, we have been exploring the importance of trust in the creative process, including both self trust and trusting others. If you miss those episodes, I would recommend that you go back and listen to them. They're really great. Those are episodes 174 and 175. Here on the India their weekly podcast so today I want to take it a step back and ask this question.
What does it even mean to be a creative? And since this is the indie author, weekly podcast, what does it mean to be an indie author?
Especially given that recently here on the podcast I have been sharing about my creative process in designing burlesque choreography. So what does that have to do with being an indie author? Can we count that as something appropriate for our purposes of being on this podcast? Not so much is burlesque dancing appropriate, but does it fit into the capacity, the space that we have created with this podcast? Does it make sense to talk about it?
And in some cases, it does make sense to talk about it in terms of the novels that I write because one of my main characters is a burlesque dancer. So in that case, it absolutely lines up. But otherwise, how does it actually fit into the entire concept of indie, authorship and creativity as a whole I feel like this is a really important topic to explore.
So with that in mind, here is my take on this question of what does it mean to be a creative and an any and an indie author?
First, a creative a creative is anyone who creates Basically, everyone to some degree, at some point in time, in some capacity is a creative and creation itself. Creativity and creation can involve so many different aspects. Something that I really enjoyed learning about in one of my hobbies, which is face reading in traditional Chinese medicine, is that the philtrum speaks to either strength in fertility or creativity, such as making art. So they're almost interchangeable, the way that they can be viewed.
They are simply both a form of creation, painting a masterpiece, creating a child, right, these are different forms of creativity. And it's really cool that in traditional Chinese medicine, face reading, when you are looking at the face and looking at the strength of the philtrum that actually reflects that very interesting.
There is an element as well, I would say, of imagination and curiosity and perception that typically is present for a creative, we can all be creative beings. And we might be more inclined, more immersed in our creative self, when we are allowing ourselves to have that capacity for more imagination. To indulge our curiosity and to be willing to look at things from perhaps alternative points of view.
There needs to be that space to see opportunities for creativity and to pursue or engage in it.
Being a creative can also relate to the skill and expertise of it. For example, the person who can walk into a kitchen, see a variety of different ingredients and then just throw a meal together. That is a beautiful act of creativity. They can see a vision of how all the pieces can come together and be filled out. They understand the nuances both the science and the art of cooking. They understand how the ingredients interact with one another and they understand how some ingredients may be able to be swapped out for another one versus some some other ingredient that could not be a replacement. You understand the interactions, they understand the chemistry of it. They understand how it all works together. And that gives them the opportunity to be so much more creative than someone who does not know anything about cooking and doesn't understand those different elements.
There is also an aspect of play involved, which does happen it does occur especially in the early stages of exploring a creative pursuit. So the novice cook might have no idea what ingredients will blend well together or the best method to combine and work those ingredients, but they can still indulge their curiosity and experiment.
So being a creative does not necessarily require skill and expertise. It does not require the element of play, but there often are one aspect of this or another or some combination of both.
And again, that curiosity and that imagination and that willingness to see things from maybe different angles, different possibilities than we might normally be structured into looking at the world as a result of this regardless of what is going on in your life, even if you feel like you do not have the capacity or time or bandwidth or energy for an active creative project such as painting a portrait or writing a novel. You can still be a creative in everyday life. In the smallest of moments. In fact, I would encourage you to get creative with how you view creativity. Can you find some kind of creative element in just about anything if you were to keep track of them those moments of everyday creative opportunities, if you were to keep track of them for a day or an hour? How many different types of creativity in your everyday life? Can you discover?
How many ways can you strengthen your creative muscle in even the briefest of moments or interactions?
And again, we can look at this as cooking but you can also look at this as the creative interchange when you are chatting with a stranger in line or waiting for a bus there is an interaction that takes place a creation in that moment, even in your dialogue.
So where can you find these bursts of creativity these moments of creativity, where you can see that you are part of the creative process. Whatever that creative process might be in that moment.
All of that is what makes you a creative.
So these are just some of the building blocks that can be involved with a creative when we ask that question of what does it mean to be a creative?
A creative does things like that. A creative looks for those opportunities.
And again, pursues or engages with that. And sometimes it really can simply be that mindset shift of exploring. How can this moment be an act of creativity?
And you might also notice that some aspect of it as well is simply about how can I be more present in this moment? How can I be an active participant in this moment?
And there's something very beautiful about that, the even the even the act of presence, which is a challenge in today's society, but even the act of that can be creative.
That's lovely. That's so beautiful.
There's so much opportunity in that there's so much potential in that.
And it's funny too, because in previous episodes here on the indie author weekly podcast I have shared about how one of the one of the exercises that I have given myself one of the writing exercises I've done for myself when I'm writing novels, is that I will create situations and these are ways in which I drop a character into any kind of setting. And I see what do they do? How do they respond to being in this setting versus another? If they are in a park and a dog? A dog runs up to them a strange dog. How do they react to that
if they're standing in line? Are they the type of person who talks to the person in front or behind them? If that person talks to them, how do they react to it very sort of mundane situations, but how does that character respond? And it is in those seemingly mundane moments that we can learn a lot about a character and when you are writing a novel, it can be a great way to tell how well do I even know my own characters? Do I know how they would respond in this situation? And if I don't then I really need to sit with them in even more everyday situations to understand them more deeply.
And the same is true for ourselves. We can learn a lot about ourselves from the way that we interact with the world and with those everyday moments.
And those everyday moments can be that act of creation of creativity.
So let's move on to the next part of our question for this episode. Right so that was what does it mean to be a creative let's move on to the next part of the question, which was, what does it mean to be an indie author?
So an indie author is an independent author, the first half of that term, indie or independent? That first half indicates someone who is self led and self directed a solo artist. This could be interpreted as a self published book writer, right.
The second half of the term author can I believe also encompass a range of different types of authorship. You can be the author of a novel, you can be the author of an email newsletter.
You can be the author of your own life, the author of your own choices, the writer choosing the direction that you take, even looking at the word author itself, it can connect back to authority, in which case we can view this independent authorship, this whole concept as being your own internal authority.
There is a delightful freedom involved with the possibility of what we mean by being a creative and the concept of authorship. It can mean so many different things. The sky's kind of the limit.
And I don't know about you, but I think that this will be a really fun concept to explore as we move forward with this indie author weekly podcast. I would like to dive more into this and talk about various types of creativity and various types of indie author Ness, that internal authority that you are creating for yourself.
The story that we are writing in all different aspects of our lives, the creativity that we can find in essentially anything.
So even though we have historically focused more on the rom com sides of things on this podcast, I have shared with you about writing my romantic comedy novels and what that process looks like. And I've talked a little bit about the marketing side of things and the writing process and the characters. I still want to to continue sharing about those things with you. But going forward.
I also want us to expand on that to touch on all different aspects and elements of the broader sense of being a creative and to being an indie author because as we explored today, in this episode, being creative, and being an indie author can mean many, many different things.
So that is what I am envisioning for our future with this podcast. And I would really love to hear what you think of that. Please do reach out via Twitter or Instagram to help let me know your thoughts. My handle is at Sagan lives.
That my friend is a wrap for today's episode, access the shownotes at Sagan morrow.com/podcast. And please take two minutes to rate and review indie author weekly on Apple podcasts. By the way, I do take requests submit your questions and podcast topic ideas at Sagan morrow.com/question so I can keep them in mind for future episodes here on the indie author weekly podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. And I will see you next time for another episode of indie author weekly

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Sagan Morrow

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