My Creative Process

Hello, you lovely people!

 I haven't written a blog post in *so long* and I feel really bad about it, but life has just been all kinds of intense here in the past few weeks (months, to be quite frank with you all).
 Moving on, I've decided to talk to you all a bit about my creative process.

 For me, a creative process has to start with inspiration. I find my inspiration in many areas of my life; dancing is a place I find a lot of inspiration for my art, and vice versa. Depending on what I need my process for, is how I decide where to find my inspiration;  music, books, and television are major sources of inspiration for me. Seeing other creative people being creative helps me a lot.

 The second thing I need in my process of creativity is the space to be creative. Whether it's sitting down to write blog posts, writing a song, choreographing a dance, or doing an art piece, I need some space. Other people tend to suffocate my creativity (this isn't me being rude- I am just more introverted) and I like having room to move.

 The third thing is is my surroundings; I have this weird idea that if a room is not 100% surrounded with furniture/stuff/paintings then it's not 'correct' or something- it's very weird, but the fact of the matter is, I like to have stuff surrounding a room on all 4 sides (that's why I'm such a pack rat). I also like to have blankets for drawing, a clean, swept floor for dancing, and lots of table space for writing.

 The fourth thing is sound. I am extremely sensitive to noise. My ears physically hurt if I hear a noise that is too loud or scratchy or squeal-y (I hate styrofoam with a burning passion because of this). I have a lot of music that inspires me; so I usually have headphones on, or if I'm home alone, blasting through my speakers or from the TV.
 Music is really powerful to me and affects my mood strongly, so having something that inspires me really decides whether or not I will finish my project, or not.

 The fifth thing is stress. If I'm stressed out or extremely anxious, I will shut down. I find most of my creativity comes to me late at night when I'm sleepy or when I'm in an afternoon sleep-craving period because it's when I'm most relaxed and calm. Deadlines to get things done also cause me to procrastinate until it's nearly too late, even if it's something I love doing.

 The sixth thing is to just do it. Sometimes, even if nothing else is writing, just closing my eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath, and focusing is enough to get my creative juices flowing. There's only so much you can do sometimes, and you just need to get it done. I've created some of my best projects this way.

 What's your creative process? I'd love to know. Drop a comment down below! I love you all!

Ciao,
Hannah