Drawing by Aleah Crouch

How to Keep Making Things without Getting Bored

This could be a short post. Though perhaps it should be obvious, the way to keep making more things without getting bored is to not feel forced to make the same things over and over. A great example of this is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He became really sick of writing about Sherlock Holmes, so he killed the character off at the end of a story series. The fan outcry was great and Doyle became desperate for cash, leading him to retcon Holmes back into existence for a much longer period later in Doyle's life.

But most of us don't want to do this. We like to try all different kinds of things and getting pushed into a small corner of our talents is not fun or interesting. So I say, to keep creating without getting bored, just go with that urge! Follow your interests and your bliss with what you create. Keep a vision board, scrapbook of magazine pages, or notebook of things that inspire you, or to remind you of something you'd like to make someday. 

A lot of artists think they have to make only the same type of work to be successful. This is certainly what authors are told and in fact, most major publishers will not publish just any book by even a famous author. As a result, many famous authors end up using a nom de plume if they want to write and publish a book that isn't in their genre. But think of this: do you really want to be making copies of things similar to a crafter? Maybe you do! That's okay too and it probably is easier to merchandise and market. But if you feel yourself becoming drained by repetition, don't feel afraid to branch out. 

I can't find it right now but I read a bio of a woman who had spent almost her entire career writing and publishing cookbooks, and then one day she found herself drawing a mermaid. That one little drawing led to a whole new career in the visual arts! 

Let your inner child out. Let it find something that leads it to wonder and beauty.

Blessings,

--Pam

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