The creative process can seem so daunting when you’re starting out from a point that seems like you’re sitting at the bottom of a deep pit looking up into a dark night’s sky. You wonder how you’re going to climb out and how you’ll navigate you’re way toward the path you should be on. First, if you find yourself at the bottom of a dark pit, write a lamp into the scene and be sure to draw a ladder. I think you are following me now. Let’s look at the first step of the creative process…

• Have an Imagination – Always have a fresh imagination to take along with you no matter where you are. Imagination is useful to help get you through a stressful day at work because at lunchtime you can give yourself permission to excuse yourself, sit and dream up all kinds of ideas for art you’d like to pursue or let your mind take you away to a place it’s never visited before in your writing.

• Always Carry a Small Notepad – It’s a must to carry a small notepad in your back pocket or in your purse so that when your ideas come to your mind you have a convenient place to write or sketch them down. You won’t always have a napkin nearby to jot on. When a poem comes to mind or a character for a story hits you, just reach for your notepad and get those ideas down before you forget them. Also keep a notepad on your bed stand to write down dreams. You never know when a dream will inspire art, music or a writing topic.

• Buy the Proper Tools – If you are a painter, buy plenty of paintbrushes and have a couple of blank canvasses ready to paint on. If you are an illustrator, have plenty of pencils, pastels and lots of paper. Writers, head out to the bookstore and stock up on a dictionary, thesaurus and the latest volume of Writer’s Market. Musicians, order and get sheet music to your favorite tunes.

• Be Ready for Surprises – Photographers, you can’t take that great last minute shot if you don’t have your camera with you, so keep a camera on you at all times. Have some spare spending money in your wallet that is reserved just for those special deal purchases you come across like sheet music you’ve been searching high and low for, that perfect paintbrush that no other store carriers, or extra black & white film you have to pick up.

• Give Yourself Permission to Be Creative – Don’t make excuses for why you shouldn’t take that photography class at the community college. List all the reasons why you want to take the class and then go sign up for the class.

• Make a Creative Space – Set up the designated space you need; in your house, your apartment, and your special corner of the room and declare that space your creativity zone.

• Have a Creative Attitude – Don’t be afraid to express yourself in your daily life creatively in the way you dress, shop, buy gifts, and interact with other people. Even volunteer to head up creative projects.

• Make Time to Be Creative – Don’t let all the responsibilities of life carry you completely away from your creative passions. Set aside a specific amount of time each day or each week just for your particular art and do your thing.

• Have Creative Vision – See life through the lens of a camera even if you are not a photographer. Look at different forms of art for the first time with an open mind. Go to a play or see the ballet for the first time. Experiment.

• Display Your Own Creations – Make your art visible to your own eyes. Mount your paintings, drawings, and photography on the wall to remind you, you are an artist. Listen to CDs of your music and watch videos of your dance performance as your #1 fan.

• Don’t Care What Others Think – Develop thick skin and tell yourself that you will tune out the critical comments of those who will critique your art with their own unfavorable opinions. All art no matter what the medium, no matter what its subjective quality, is valuable in its own right as a personal expression of the artist.

• Be Yourself – That’s what being creative is all about, being unique. No other person on this earth can express him or herself exactly the way you do. No one can paint the same, write the same, sing the same, do anything creatively just like you.