Oh, don’t worry, I’ll get back to the 64 Arts before too long, I’ve just got something things on my mind that I wanted to think out loud, as it were, and maybe someone else needs to hear or think about.

This weekend I spent a lot of time working on just one project. It wasn’t a particularly difficult project, and I can’t show you what it is, just yet, but there was a lot riding on it. Or, well, maybe not, but it felt like it.

You see, it was my first project working with a new Gauche Alchemy kit and it will mark the change between blog writer for the fabulous Gauche Girls and a full-fledged artsy Alchemist. And I want it to be good. I’ve thought about this project, planned it in my head, spent 3 days, off and on, tweaking here or there, debating each step.

Not that I’m worried about it, I know that what I turn in will be fine or even better, I just want to make sure I do it right, that I justify their faith in me.

What’s different, though, is how I would have approached this if it had just been another project for me, or even a gift for someone else.

In those cases, I take a much different tack. Sure, I plot and plan ahead of time, but when I sit down to start I usually go like gangbusters until I reach the end. Unless the project itself is something that’s going to take a while (like knitting), usually I finish it in one, sometimes mammoth, sitting and move on to the next.

All of that led me to the thought:

Why We Create

The project I’m still finishing is meant to showcase a particular product, so I might make a concerted effort to show more of the different items included in the kit than I would have normally.

If I’m creating for a friend, I’ll make sure to include little touches that mean something to them, or represent secrets or jokes we share.

And when I create for myself I tend not to think, just to do. Because creating for myself isn’t about the what, it’s all about the why.

So the WHY affects the HOW, but it’s still creating.

And that’s what’s truly important: that we keep creating. Whatever it is, as long as we keep working at it, we’re bound to improve and innnovate and keep the inspiration train rolling.

I create for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes for fun, sometimes for work (though, truth be told, creating as “work” is some of the best work I do!), and sometimes just because. I’ll bet you do the same–or you would, if you get out of your own way long enough.

Ergo…

Click for the full-sized image.