Why is creativity important to you? It's a question posed to me (and all of you) from Microsoft Canada. I'm so excited to be working with both Microsoft and Wattpad on this incredible contest where YOU can WIN your own Microsoft Surface! It's AMAZING! A creative paradise in digital form with limitless possibilities at your fingertips. Every single part of this was #createdonsurface (cover and content), and I had so much fun, I may even be an apple convert! Read below to find out why creativity is important to me.
The secret of success is... to be fully awake to everything about you.
—Jackson Pollock
I'm a writer. I'm a creator. I'm an artist. These three simple things are part of what
defines me. It doesn't work the other way around. I can't say why being creative is important, only that it is—because much to my very logical mother's chagrin and my artistic father's delight—I was born this way. I feel it in the marrow of my bones, in the cells of the blood that rushes through my veins, my mind buzzes on a constant high frequency—like a dog whistle that only other artists can hear.
It's a huge part of the person I am. A fundamental part of existing. I make worlds from words in the same way I eat, sleep and breathe. Writing makes sense of the tornado of random thoughts and feelings and dreams—things that whirl around inside my brain like a feral tumbleweed composed of bits and pieces of life spent seeing the world through the kaleidoscope lens of a creative person.
What does that mean? How does being creative make me see the world any differently than anyone else? By seeing the extraordinary beauty of everything. When the sun rises each morning, the Universe offers me three amazing gifts: two eyes, and one beating heart. It offers these same gifts to many but if they go unrecognized eventually they vanish. Poof. Gone. Unthinkable. So, I walk around with eyes wide open.
My friend may notice the obnoxious purple jumpsuit on the woman at the bus stop, I'm focused on the ring she wears on her right pointer finger. The jewel steals light from the sun and throws rainbows with it. Maybe it's not fake, maybe it's a real piece given to her ancestors by a prince.
While everyone else is complaining about the sap from trees getting stuck to their shoes in the Springtime, I'm marveling at how the leaves have died, fallen and been reborn. And how that happens every single year, forever.
Most people don't want to be stuck outside in the rain, but I love it because it makes me wonder if raindrops are like snowflakes. Each one feels different when they hit my skin, so they must be unique in some way.
It means that music is so good that I spend hours making hundreds of play lists with thousands of songs because a few lyrics can offer me a small glimpse into a long forgotten cherished memory, or spark an idea for an entire novel.
Beauty is in everything. Everywhere. And it's extraordinary. Without art or the desire, need and drive to create it, I'm not sure I'd have this view of our world, and that is why creativity isn't just important. It's imperative because I'm a writer. I'm a creator. I'm an artist. These three simple things are part of what defines me.
What makes it important to you? Share your entry on the @talentscouts page for your very own chance at winning a Microsoft Surface. Good luck! I can't wait to see what you come up with!
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