Create, create some more, then don't stop creating - by Rohadi

I saw the new Finding Dory flick and enjoyed it. Dory’s mantra, ‘just keep swimming, swimming, swimming’ resonated with me.

You know that idea you have? Just do it.

If you really wanted to be, do, create something, then you would.

Want to be a writer? Then write! Watch less Netflix, don’t play video games, (but read more) and you’ll find the time to write that book. OK, maybe I’m oversimplifying things. There are certain luxuries, particular time and finances, that enable dream pursuits, but what ultimately makes someone a writer, musician, or an illustrator? A special gift (maybe)? Years of practice (definitely)? Or the capacity and activity of creation? If the latter is the case then everyone who chooses the creator path will succeed to complete what they set out to do.

Creativity is capturing and grasping ideas, then letting the magic happen (to borrow from Elizabeth Gilbert).

Ideas. So many ideas….

Many people have so-called good ideas ranging from products to projects, to books and songs. What separates the doers from the wishful thinkers, (there are few of us who are doers), is giving those ideas life. This is the key—the constant process of turning ideas to reality. For professionals of their craft they not only do but they keep doing, and in beast like fashion—non-stop with reckless abandon to prevent any ideas from slipping into the unknown never to be discovered.

Create, and create some more, and don't stop creating.

"Create like a beast,” a line coined by a professional illustrator friend. I'm a professional nothing. The difference between the two of us is he's spent years investing in his craft that he loves it (and the talent part). I have a lot of small steps, and some big leaps, to catch up. Some of that took shape early last year. I made the decisions to spend some significant time putting scattered ideas into a cohesive body for my first non-fiction manuscript. Committing to the writing routine was the step I needed to hit the next level. I didn’t complete the book, but I did get an important, “oh, I can do this” moment that has propelled me forward. The focus helped me turn around the next project (my adult colouring book) into a publication, in just five months. The routine of writing, committing to continuous completion of new projects, along with necessary and valuable critique, will hopefully increase the quality and reach of every new work.

Where does this take me? I don’t know. But I do know I get a sense of joy and contentment when I can take ideas, make them real, and carry on swimming.


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You can visit Rohadi at his blog, and you can check out this recent Christian coloring book released in June.