I'm always much more motivated to create when I can see what purpose that may serve. This is as true of my writing as it is of any action that depends on manifesting inspiration into the world. I won't cook an elaborate meal for myself, but I will certainly do that for other people.
Like everyone else, I need to be able to afford to eat, so 'will this sell?' is a question I have to ask. However, along the way I've found that things written in the hopes that they will sell don't do any better than things I wrote because I thought they were needed. If I'm passionate about something, the odds are at least some other people will be too, and that tends to work out ok.
I've run into the idea around 'fine' and 'high' arts that if something is Serious Art then it is art for art's sake. I'm the sort of person who wants to make essential and useful things that are also cheering in some way. That's why I craft. We ran into this last year when Tom and I put on a Hopeless, Maine show in the local gallery. A fair few people who came to look at the work commented that they don't usually go into that space because they don't feel that what's in there is for them.
Things that are supposedly made for everyone tend to be box tickers designed by a committee, often targeting what they imagine to be the lowest common denominator. Creativity doesn't have to be deliberately exclusive in order to oppose this and be clever and good. The sweet spot - to my thinking - is making things for people.
One of the key stages when I'm creating is to establish who I am creating for. With a craft piece I usually have a specific person in mind. When I'm setting out to write something, I may have one or more people in mind - usually the longer the piece, the larger the imagined audience, but there's always someone specific in there. I write for Pagans and Druids, for steampunks and for people who like speculative stuff. I write for my friends. I find it really helps to think about what would entertain, engage and delight a few specific people I know well and I know like the kinds of things I tend to do.
I also find there's nothing like encountering need to focus my inspiration. If something needs doing, or fixing, or figuring out, my brain gets right in there.
Humans are intrinsically creative people. We're problem solvers and innovators - not just a special few of us, but all of us. Being able to make answers to our problems isn't just a useful skill, it's empowering and uplifting. Having the inspiration to make change is one of the most powerful forms inspiration can take in our lives.
It's good to delight in arty inspiration, but it's important to remember that inspiration is not just here for making pretty things of no great consequence. Inspiration is how we get things done and fix what's wrong, and that inspiration has never been more needed than it is now.
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