Creative Types Catch Up

Hello! No, I haven’t forgotten you, I’ve just been a bit disorganised recently.

Firstly, thanks very much to Elizabeth and Paul for sharing their creative work on Facebook as part of Share Your Wares Sunday. Now I know full well that a lot more of you are doing good stuff (hint – blog posts count as creative too), so feel free to share what you’re up to either over on Facebook or in the comments. I’ll not limit it to Sundays but that would be the best day as it allows me to keep track of it.

Ten Top Creative Types

There are now 10 Clear-Minded Creative types featured on this blog, not to mention the Four Creative Types that I interviewed for www.gaseousbrain.com (who were the unwitting guineapigs for the series).

And although there’s plenty more interviews with inspiring creative people to come, I’ve not had the chance to get them online for a couple of weeks (apologies) so it seems like as good a time as any to catch up with what our ten creative types so far have been up to.

Japan

I’m still reeling from what’s happened in Japan, it’s almost unimaginable what people went through when the earthquake and tsunami struck and are continuing to go through with the aftermath, especially the truly terrifying nuclear power station problems. It certainly puts things into perspective in my own little life, where I often complain for the sake of complaining, forgetting how truly fortunate I am.

• Hande Zapsu Watt and her friends at the Istanbul Review are asking people to make 1000 folded cranes to send a message of hope to the children of Japan, it’s a really nice idea and I hope you consider getting involved as it is definitely an opportunity to do something creative and feel you’re making a contribution. Of course you can also help in other ways – Google’s crisis response page is a good place to start, and Mary Jaksch of Goodlife Zen also has suggestions of how to help out.

• Michael Nobbs has just released the updated version of his Sustainable Creativity* ebook, there’s loads more content and if you buy it you’ll get extra bonuses in the future (tip: check out his Facebook page for a wee discount code). I’m also really enjoying his email newsletters on the same subject, which cost a couple of quid a month but are well worth it as he really shares some interesting thoughts and ideas.

• Andrew Eaton is still posting some of his more obscure recordings on his ‘Might Make a B-Side’ blog, and through his label Biphonic Records (which he runs with Swimmer One bandmate Hamish Brown) he’s releasing a new album by a band called Luxury Car which is worth checking out.

• Finbarr Bermingham is coming to the end of his Korean adventure soon and still writing great stuff on his blog.

• As mentioned in the newsletter, Dougie Anderson has released his film Timber! online and also a ‘behind the scenes’ guide to how he made it.

• Mr Thom Chambers has released the most recent issue of In Treehouses, called The Profit of Free which is all about using free content to build an audience. As always, it’s beautifully designed and acts as a teaser for his new product, the Free Fans Kit which looks very useful indeed.

• Nine has posted a bunch of photos from her trip to Kurdistan on her blog. Oh, and she’s currently in Sri Lanka apparently. I refuse to be jealous of her freewheelin’ ways!

• Melissa Dinwiddie is busy as ever, doing 15 minutes of art a day and continuing to add great content to the  Thriving Artists Project* which will be opening to new members again soon. She’s also doing her bit for Japan by helping to promote the ‘Customer Love for Japan’ extravaganza.

• Our most recent interview was with Mary Gordon of Creative voyage who’s got an interesting post on ‘the joy of part-time work’. I would agree, but I’ve only actually had two of my Monday’s free since going part-time as I’ve been working freelance or travelling back from family visits all of the other days. But yes, in theory, I agree  🙂

• Finally, Lisa-Marie Ferla is doing very well indeed. She’s back doing what she does best, journalism, blogging and taking photos of gorgeous places – and next Thursday I’ll be joining her and fellow Scottish blogging behemoth Peenko to talk about blogging at the Apple Store in Glasgow– how exciting!

So, what creative stuff have you been up to? Let me know in the comments!

* Affiliate links – if you buy, I get a cut. I only recommend things I own myself and have found useful.