Q&A: Productivity and Circumstances

Question and Answer: Contemplate your most productive periods. Did you act alone? With others? Were you striving to be creative? Specific incidents that caused you to act? Serendipity and happenstance?

Oddly, mostly alone. When I teach, I usually think up creative projects for my kids. When I write, it just happens, for the most part. I just "show up at the page", as Julia Cameron put it. Same with art. I paint and draw when the kids are in bed and there aren't many distractions.


But lately, I've been reaching out to fellow writers and artists. I've found that I enjoy bouncing ideas off people. Talking or chatting about it can inspire other ideas that I wouldn't have considered otherwise. It just seemed like the "right time" to stand up and say "I'm a creative artist."

Unproductive times: What forces were directing your actions?

Bad health, family issues, and doubt in my own abilities. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by real life and become paralyzed. 

Creative achievement: Were they proceeded by difficulty?

Definitely. I began painting at 30, a few months after my son was born. I was feeling trapped by being a stay-at-home mom with a new colicky baby. Art was my outlet. Years of professional frustration and marriage problems finally spurred me to take my writing seriously and not as just a hobby.

All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010