Struggling to fit creativity into your busy life?
Daunted by your creative project?
Wondering if it’s all worth it?
Welcome to the Gentle Creative
My name is Cali Bird and I love to give gentle, encouraging advice on getting going with your creative project.
I help people find the time and courage to be creative alongside other things that you have to do (like work or take care of your family!) I’m guessing that you don’t have a trust fund or lots of servants so you are going to have to keep working and/or looking after your family while scratching that creative itch.
Let’s find a way for you to do your creative project in realistic bite-size chunks that fit around the other things you have to do in life.
If you want to write, or make music, or make art, jewellery or crafts (or whatever floats your creative boat) it is easy to get caught up in “will I make money from it?” or “am I good enough?” or “I’m too old to do that”.
Forget all of that rubbish. Get on and create in the best way that you can just for the sheer joy of doing it.
Next Steps…
- Sign up in the box at the top of the page and get the Gentle Creative manifesto. You’ll get some great tips to help you bust through your fears and get creating now.
- Scroll down and read some blogs.
- My latest writing is on Substack. Check out my newsletter over there and subscribe. There are also some links to the articles below.
- Buy the book: Don’t Give Up Your Day Job – Practical ways to lead a fulfilling life and still pay the mortgage. Click on the picture of the book and it will take you through to a website where you can purchase a copy. It’s only £8.99, is an easy read and contains a few exercises that will get you started on a project that will feed your soul.
- Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter by using buttons below.
Check out these blogs to get started on your creative journey…
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Check out my Substack newsletter
I’m not adding new blogs to this website at the moment. My latest writing is on Substack. Check out these recent articles. (You can subscribe and get them straight to your inbox too)
How To Deal With Other People’s Expectations Of Your Writing
Would You Like An Extra Month Of Writing Time?
Are You Tortured Because You’re A Really Slow Writer
Should You Stop Writing Because You’re A Bit Too Weird?
Want An Escape Route From Your Day Job? Your Book Won’t Provide That
Want An Easy And Realistic Way To Achieve What’s Important To You?
The Only Way To Beat Resistance Is To Do The Work
Why It’s Hard To Write, Even If You Really Want To
Writing a Novel Is Like Doing An Archaeological Dig
Do You Want To Smash Your Time Management?
Don’t Shy Away From Tricky Topics
How To Be Content With Your Writing Pace
Do You Need To Lower Your Writing Expectations?
Would You Really Write More If You Didn’t Have A Job?
Is 2022 The Year You Write That Book?
Here are all the older blogs. Happy reading…
Should You Give Up Your Day Job To Make More Art?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you didn’t have to work? You could spend all day writing or painting. And you’d have time to do the marketing stuff so that you could actually sell your art. You wouldn’t have to cram your creative work into tiny time slots that have to fit...
How To Create Art From Difficult Life Circumstances
My original title for this blog was "how to turn your shit into art". I don’t mean that literally though some artists have done this! I’m referring to the difficult stuff going on in your life. Your sick child. The big project at work. Your mother as she slips further...
How To Stop Being Afraid And Start Creating
You want to get on with your your writing, your art project or your music. You see everyone else doing it. They don’t seem to suffer like you. They produce. There must be something wrong with you because you can’t. And this makes you feel even worse. You have good...
Should You Accept Your Limits Or Break Through Them?
It can be so frustrating when you can't go as fast as you want to. Maybe you are comparing yourself to other artists and they seem to produce more work than you. Perhaps they seem to have more success in selling their work. You want to be faster, better. You want to...
20 Lessons From 20 Years Of Writing
It was the 24th August 1999 in New York City. I was earning more money than God but I was bored and unfulfilled. It was a good time to be in the technology sector. There was a lot of money sloshing about. My daily rate was very healthy but my mind wasn’t. My life...
How To Balance Your Creative Ambition With Your Relationships
Do you recognise any of the following scenarios? You desperately want to work on your art. It’s the weekend at last but now there are other things to do. Shopping, chores, family time, looking after aging relatives. The clear day that you have promised yourself all...
Is The Great Creator A Myth?
Do you wonder where your art comes from? Do you have ideas which feel too hard to accomplish and yet you are drawn to having a go anyway? Do you wish that you didn’t have these ideas running through your head? Or perhaps you wish that you had more of them because you...
David Bowie was a failure
Yes, he failed. A lot. Especially in his early days. Did you know the following about David Bowie? In the 1960s he released nine singles which failed to chart before Space Oddity made it into the top five in the UK. Those singles were with 3 different bands and...
If I build it, what happens if they don’t come
There is that wonderful scene in the movie Field of Dreams where Kevin Costner is urged to “build it and they will come”. A baseball field in the middle of a cornfield starts to attract great players from the past. Many people in the personal development...
But why do fear and doubt accompany creativity?
Why is it that fear and doubt go hand in hand with creative activities? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just get on and paint or write or act without being nervous about it, without worrying what people think, without self-sabotage? In the War of Art, Steven...
Is It A Folly To Be Creative?
Is it a folly to be creative? Do you ever think you are crazy to have creative goals? Do you question yourself about whether it is all worth it? Does your family ask you seemingly innocent but loaded questions such as “Have you published your book yet?” Or are they...
Can Walt Disney Teach You To Be A Better Creative?
Recently I watched a two-part documentary on the life of Walt Disney. Even though I have seen so many of his films and have fond childhood memories of them, I didn’t know much about him as a person. I was struck by the ups and downs of his life and how he went about...
Newsflash – Tales of the Countess is published
Yes, at last my debut novel is available.
What if your handbag could talk? What if it could help you sort out your love life?
The book is a romantic comedy about the need to be happy in yourself before you get your man. However, it has an unusual twist. The main character, known just as the Countess, has a collection of handbags that talk. Think Sex and the City meets Toy Story.
The bags, along with her teddy bear, are her chief confidantes who provide the Countess with support and advice as she nurses a broken heart and attempts to move on with her life.
One Amazon reviewer says: “I couldn’t put it down & might even have got a tad emotional towards the end. It’s different, quirky, excellently written & perfect for the times we’re in.”
For more info see www.calibird.com