Dear Creative,

Desire is the roadmap to finding out what you really want, how far you’ve actually come and where you want to go. What if the things you’ve always wanted have already come true?

I believe that our lives can change for the better when we ask the right questions. This week, my creative life changed with one question. What do you desire? This month, I’m exploring the word desire, as it applies to “creative desire.” I’ve been asking myself these questions:

• What do you desire in your work?
• What is it you want?
• What’s one thing that could change everything for the better?

What if your creative desires have already come true?

For years, I’ve wanted this one thing: to become a full time, paid writer. Every year, I create vision boards with images of the writers I most admire. Many of them shaped my perspective as a writer, and some of them are my creative ancestors. Writing is not a dream. It is a way of life for me, something I do with or without payment.

My love of language started at a young age. My mother filled the library with books from around the world. I read Achebe, Baldwin, Dr. Angelou, and the late Toni Morrison. I read anything I could find anywhere and deep down I knew I wanted to do what these people did. Language has always made me and allowed me to discover myself. Language and what we do with it can create profound experiences. And I wanted to find a way to pay the bills, keep food on the table and stay off the street.

My mother often worried this would happen. I was so busy wanting it and imagining what it had to look like, that I almost missed the fact that I had made my wish come true. I am a paid writer, and I didn’t even realize it. Let me explain.

Acknowledging your creative desire allows you to improve your creativity and see how far you’ve come

I work in technology as a web designer. Some days I build websites. Some days I’m more focused on the user experience side, while other days I write website copy. For every project I’ve worked on over the past 10 years, I’ve written something.

• I write client biographies.
• I write the Call To Action on each button.
• I write the Brand Story.
• I usually write the About Us page. 4. And sometimes, a client shows up with no copy.
• I start from scratch and I usually write something for every page on the website.
• Last summer, I wrote my first script for a short film.

I also wrote the product description for the first green screen app in 2011.

I have always been a writer. It’s in my blood. It’s how I make sense of the world, of my work. But when it did not show up in a way I could recognize it, I forgot about it. I needed to remember this. I needed to remember that every project I work on starts with a story. And usually, I’m using a combination of writing, images, and design to tell that story. And I’m getting paid to do it. Now, I can tell my mom not to worry.

I hope you take the time to ask yourself these questions to help you improve your creativity:

• What do I want?
• What do I desire?
• What part of this desire has already been fulfilled?

And when you receive the answer, be open to realizing that you may have already fulfilled your wish. You might need to find a new dream.

How did I miss this realization? I don’t know, but I can’t ignore it now. I did what many people told me I couldn’t do. Now, when they ask me what I do. I’ll say writer like I often do. But when the say “but how do you pay the bills.” I’ll say the same thing over and over again until they believe it as much as I do. Keep going dear creative. We all want to see your brilliance.

Love,

Your Future Self