A change of name, a shift of direction

From creative chaos to something more accurate

I originally named this Substack Creativity in Chaos because when I started it two years ago I felt fairly frayed at the edges. Working full time, raising our daughter, newly living in Manchester, full of uncertainty and ambition.

Me aged five in the middle of a party at home reading a book on the kitchen floor. I was always quite good at getting lost in a book.

I’d done The Artist’s Way and found it transformational but there were things I was struggling with. How could I take time for myself when there was so much to do around the house, reading to be done for work, and the siren’s call of my ever-lengthening inbox? Where was the space for me?

Gradually, I started to carve that time out. I thought of it as being like a little wedge, a cigarette-paper-thin break in my day when I could slip away into my own space to be alone with my thoughts and be creative.

It never needed to be anything wild, but I began to try to make time for photography, writing, drawing and occasionally things like pottery. I learned how to crochet, taught by my incredibly creative sister who crochets everything from clothing to blankets to Christmas decorations.

Gradually, my daughter didn’t need quite so much of my time, and I’ve made some changes in my life that give me a bit of space each week. At home, everybody now knows that if the door is closed, they are not to come into the room while I’m working.

I’ve gradually felt less chaotic over the last couple of years and more fulfilled - consistent, creative and increasing in confidence and output. So now, a name-change that better reflects what I’d love to talk about: The Creative Wedge.

Finding at least five minutes a day just for you to do something for yourself. It doesn’t have to be a physical creation. It doesn’t have to be anywhere near perfect, in fact I’d strongly encourage it to be terrible. As bad as that primary-school air-dried clay model you can’t quite manage to bin because it’s got tiny finger-marks in and you know that one day those little fingers won’t be quite so little any more and life is so fast. It just has to be something that would make you feel glad you took the time for yourself.

So let’s try and put a creative wedge in our days, a physical wedge in the door so we are undisturbed, and focus on something outside the day-to-day.

And if you’re not sure where to start, try my toolkit for creativity post here!