Good morning from Martha’s Vineyard. What’s on my mind this morning is getting started, as it relates to any sort of creative self-expression. Interestingly, the most downloaded episode of Dear Constance is called ‘on creativity and artistry’. It was episode number one, and I don’t think that’s the reason it was the most downloaded episode. I think it’s because of the title, and I don’t think I’m alone in having confused those words, creativity and artistry.

I think that was an interesting episode because I’m sharing how people used to always say to me, you’re so creative. It always landed flat. I never considered myself creative because I was confusing those two words. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it for a number of reasons. First, I’ve been talking about my experience at the Chilmark Writers Workshop, and I’ve met two people in the last few days who have really powerful personal stories to tell. It is clear to me that they’ve been thinking about doing so for a long time, and I spent a lot of time encouraging them to simply start with one story. I think in any creative endeavor, as we start the process, we start to get clues about a story, a song, a poem, a beautiful meal. In the doing whatever it is, a part of our brain – our subconscious – starts to get activated. When you’re all up in your head thinking about the end result, it can be crippling.

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