Читать книгу The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women - Gail McMeekin - Страница 12

In my early readings on creativity, I was struck by the absence of women in the literature. Except for the regulars like Martha Graham and Georgia O'Keeffe, anthologies on creative people told stories only of men. I vividly remember being a child in elementary school and assuming creative women didn't exist, except for a few rare examples like Elizabeth Blackwell and Madame Curie. This vacuum of education about women's lives had a profound unconscious impact on me; it implied impossibility and danger. If there were no examples of creative women to fantasize about, how could we be expected to dream in that direction? While we now have women's studies programs, I have talked with many women and adolescent girls who still express the same longing to know the details of the lives of creative women that I felt thirty years ago.

As I undertook to transform my life in midstream, I began to look for the mentors of advanced creativity. Who were the best role models of successful creative women? Why this gap of information and stories about women who use their creativity to create products and services and support themselves successfully with their talent? Who succeeds and how were my questions; I wanted a thoughtful road map. I had heard from so many women over the years that self-employment or careers in the arts were “impractical.” I knew that the average writer in this country makes a subsistence income and faces increasing competition. Yet, every year women publish books, design clothing, create pots, and begin businesses, and I wanted to know what separated the women who do from the women who just dream about it. Now, some women are also running multimillion-dollar businesses. Although many of these women are in partnership with their husbands or fathers or inherited the businesses, an increasing number have done it on their own. That kind of monetary achievement and level of responsibility is not everyone's definition of success, though.

In the sacred traditions, the first thing you do in the morning is ask for blessings from the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Because all of the work that you are going to do that day will change the universe.

—LAURA ESQUIVEL, WRITER

Other creative women earn just enough to support their needs, choosing lifestyle and balance over income. They, too, are successful—but by their own parameters.

With this in mind, several years ago I began a journey of interviewing creative women and reading about the struggles and triumphs of others, with the intent of writing a book. My quest was to identify the skills and strategies successful creative women use to transcend the confusion of being a woman in this culture and hold steady on their creative course. I began teaching workshops for creative women and collecting information about creative catalysts. My own creative process took me in many directions during the writing of this book, but my commitment held steadfast. Giving up was simply not an option. I felt as Sarah Ban Breathnach did about Simple Abundance, when she told me, “This is the book I was born to write.” So I carefully filed my rejection letters from agents and publishers and kept sending out my proposal. Fortunately, I was heartened by many kind and encouraging words about the project along the way. Finally, serendipity intervened and I was led to Mary Jane Ryan at Conari Press.