I will not Reason & Compare; my business is to Create!*

I had grand plans for writing here this evening. But instead I've been chatting on the phone with one of my sisters and spending a ridiculous amount of time editing and uploading photos of preschoolers' artwork for my son's teachers.

I have to say, it's been a relaxing and enjoyable evening.

I'm on a roll at work. Hopefully, I won't spring a leak or run off course into a gutter any time soon.

And the community art project I've been part of for the last five or six weeks - Greetings From Motherland - has been fantastic. Not only am I working side by side with inspirational and talented women (including one of my Cupcakes - Tara from Capitol Mommy), the workshops have really got my creative juices flowing.

These workshops have inspired me in my photography - a lot of abstract and macro work; in my writing - my writing at work pours easily, flowing with the dams down; and in my mind - my Snippets project had been drifting around in my brain for some time, but the workshops inspired me to make it a collaborative endeavor. (Won't you play along?)

The workshops have stirred up all that had settled in the reaches of my mind - I'm writing poetry again for the first time in years (other than the impromptu poem I wrote a few weeks ago here). I'm toting my camera with me wherever I go - pulling over and snapping shots as I see them, like this morning on my foggy drive.

I came home tonight to an email from my friend Jill. (The lovely lady behind the fashion and design blog Good Life For Less, also my former college roommate, also a participant in the first edition of Snippets.) She sent me a link to this post at Whitehot Truth, called 'the suck factor of life balance, + passion as a cure to stress'. And I nodded my head right through the entire thing. I loved it. (Would love to hear what you think - feel free to come back here with a comment or shoot me an email. I'm guessing some who thrive on organization and structure and checklists may not jive with this philosophy, but for me - it makes sense and feels affirming.)

And one more thing to leave you with - a little gift to unwrap (because it is Tuesday tomorrow, you know). [That link will take you to Emily and friends at Chatting at the Sky, the HQ for celebrating the small things or the gifts in the middle of the mess. It's become a weekly tradition for me.]

This past week I devoured Brenda Ueland's If You Want To Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit (thanks Nancy!) and it blew me away. I want to give a copy to everyone I know. Brenda Ueland (1891-1985) vows that "it is impossible that you have no creative gift...the only way to make it live and increase is to use it...." And she quotes *William Blake, on his attitude toward his genius. "I will not Reason & Compare; my business is to Create!"

So you - and by you, yes I mean YOU (and me) - please don't say "But I'm not an artist." Please don't let the creative works and successes of others get you down about your own work or lack of it, and especially don't let it stir up envy or feelings of inadequacy. There's no reason to compare, to measure one product of creativity against another. Tear down the creative dams and let your mind and heart start swirling. It's in you - you just have to let it out.