Hello everyone! Welcome back to BirthMay 2022! Today’s post is all about sharing your creations after you’ve, well, created them!

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In case you’re new, every May I blog every day and call it BirthMay! Why? Because it’s my birth month and I’m super extra.

This is the third part of my Casually Creative series, which is focused on creating for fun! I’ve already shared my tips on finding inspiration, actually creating stuff, and today’s is about sharing what you’ve created! Next week will be the final part of this series on my blog, about supporting other creatives, so if you’re interested in that, come back next week!

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Casually Creative: Share Your Creations

So I know not everyone wants to share their creations. I certainly don’t share everything I create! Actually, I rarely show off what I create. Maybe I need to take more of my own suggestions! Anyway, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to share my creative endeavors so I figured I’d put them all together in a nice post for this series to share with all the other creatives who may read this!

Now, when it comes to creativity, I am primarily a writer, usually blogging (of course) and young adult novels. I also write short stories, dabble in photography, do some DIY projects, and just love to try new things! So while a ton of my ideas are writing/photography based, I’ll try to come up with other suggestions too.

So, first and foremost, the best place to share your projects is probably going to be with your own support system such as friends and family. When it’s time to get beta readers for your novel or want to practice photography skills or need inspiration for other projects, friends and family members would be a great idea! If they are creatives themselves, that’s great! But they don’t need to be. Either way, that’s a built in audience already!

Next, trying local groups and opportunities that are already in place is also a great idea. I’ve come across writing groups at my local public library and surrounding libraries in my area, city initiatives, and community led groups as well. Same for photography contests, poetry slams (coffee houses I think are also a great place to look for these), park district hosted events, city hosted events, and more. I have taken part in groups hosted by my library and tried to enter a writing contest at another library nearby but ultimately didn’t get to submit in time before the pandemic shutdown back in 2020. I have won a writing contest at my own local library though, so that was pretty cool!

Online groups on social media can be great too! I’ve joined discords focused on creatives, NaNoWriMo in November is pretty cool to partake in, and Facebook groups can be great too. It can be really cool to get to know other creatives miles away and can be a great way to make new friends. Blogging has led me to make friends all over the world and I love it! I’ve collaborated with those friends over the years, and it’s crazy to think that I’ve made those connections all by blogging. Creating your own groups can also work! Local social media groups can be a great resource to either find others who have already expressed interest in your particular interest or to put it out there that you’re looking for other creatives. There will also be promotions for existing groups too.

Now, I know you might have reservations about sharing your work. I know I do sometimes and have come across other creatives that do too! For example, I once met a children’s book author who said she never shared any ideas and was very wary of talking about her work or joining groups because she was scared others would steal her work. I’ve known plenty of writers in general who closely guard their work. For me, I write as a hobby so you would think I wouldn’t care as much, but I do! It’s hard to create something unique and good, so thinking that someone could “steal” my idea is scary. Even within blogging, plagiarism is insane. Even more insane is the fact that it’s already published work! Yes, it’s public, but it’s someone else’s! I’ve also seen people who sell things online like guides, recipe books, worksheets, and more who are victims of plagiarism and lose revenue to those who steal their work. And, in general, online influencers can be a jealous bunch. So yes, they do exist out there!

However, I find that those shady characters are not as common as one might think. In general, creatives are a supportive, respectful, and kind group full of integrity and positivity. We create and share because we feel called to after all. I do think that sharing my creative work did help me enjoy the process in a whole new way. For example, I shared the basic idea of one of my novels with a friend who is also a writer herself, and she’s almost more invested in the novel as I am! It’s really cool to see others become so passionate and become such fierce supporters of my work. Also, I don’t often mind to share basic ideas, since only I would write the same story I came up with. Hence why writing prompts exist! Everyone could be given the same basic idea but end up with something totally different. It’s pretty cool and I love how supportive a community can be.

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So those are some suggestions on how to find ways to share your creative work, if you want to. As I mentioned, you certainly don’t have to share anything at any point. If you do though, I hope these ideas help!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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