• The theatre last night was awesome. And #livelove was lived lovingly. Or something.
• The weather has been amazing for the past few days.  It’s our mid-winter’s spring.
• If you’ve never seen theatre sports (in this case, Spontaneous Broadway musicals), you really need to.
• Our new home, for at least the next year, is the one we wanted it to be.
• We are ever so slightly ECSTATIC about this.
• The musical we had written for us last night (at the Sydney Opera House, no less) was called The Simple Dapto Life.
• Our church changed its name on Wednesday, just in case you missed that in several other heavily signposted references over the past several weeks.
• The musical starred Paris and Nicole, Paris’ greyhound Fingermuffin, and the centrepiece song “My Ex-Best Friend Is A B*tch”.
• I’m not looking forward to packing.
• Writing B*tch makes me think of awful Irish 90s girl group B*witched
• I’m in awe of the pianist from the show.
• Anyone wanna pack for me?
• Now this song is in my head.  Lord, let the rapture come now!
• A new financial year means lots of work for those in financial management. ie: me.  “Hooray” for audits.
• I’m seriously in love with my wife.
• Seriously, hooray for soundly-executed audits, for they are the business world’s equivalent of having an accountability partner.
• Why am I having so much trouble finishing songs lately?  Or rather, songs that I’m happy having people hear?
• The amazing cast last night managed to incorporate French into the musical at every available opportunity.
• When preachers give a message as poorly structured as this post it drives me barmy.
• I executed a contract today that was 5cm (2 inches) thick !!!
• Does anyone use the word barmy anymore? Or did they ever?
• Accountability is still a problem if all parties are in bed with each other .
• Thanks for reading my 150th post.

• It’s Thursday, July 2, 2009.  How did that happen?  I might have tweeted about our financial year on the day, but I didn’t get anything on here… Slacker
• We think we’ve found where we’re moving to.  We even have a back-up plan if this one falls through.  We hope it doesn’t though, ’cause we love the place we’ve found.
• Hillsong Conference 2009 is next week!! YAY!
• My dad is coming to stay with us this weekend.
• We will be moving during the week after Hillsong! Anti-yay … to the moving process…
• Hyper-yay if our desired house is where we’re moving to.  And just mega-yay if it’s the backup plan option.
• I’ve been writing lots of half-finished songs (read: electronica soundscapes), but I’ve nearly finished one I’m really happy with.
• It’s been a few months since I did a proper song.  And yes, I count ‘Asian Cowboy‘ as a proper song.
• My Our Creative Community commitment for June has slipped by.  Hopefully this song happens so I can stay vaguely on track.
• The next recording session for our church album is coming up soon too. I thought May was busy.
• We had an all staff meeting following our annual stocktake.   First time in over 6 years.  Yep.  This is some of the change I’m driving, and it’s great to (a) see it happen and (b) be appreciated.
• The next song we’re recording for the album is one of mine.  It has a simple complex I-think-it’s-simple sequenced introduction and line which runs through half the song.
• I need to wrap this up and get on with writing employment contracts, enjoying enduring end of financial ‘fun’
• Now I’m really late for LifeGroup Online … oops!

This post is part of the spring challenge over at Our Creative Community to share our various creative processes.  So after you’ve read this, head on over there and check out everyone else.

I’ll be honest, when OurCC left us this challenge, the very first thing I thought was “well, that’s one post for the week I won’t need to think much about then”

Except…that would be wrong.

Defining my creative process proved more difficult than I had imagined.  I also wimped out on being truly creative with my blog response; I should have done a vlog, but didn’t want it to be just a little talky, unedited one…and…and…and… :/

Anyway, here’s what I came up with.  All things considered, this took ages to write :

What ignites that flame inside you to create?

Quite apart from the fact I feel like being creative nearly all the time, I get inspired by others’ creativity.  A play, a song, a sculpture, a book, a solution…a tweet, a blog post.  Etc. I think it’s at the root of my being, which makes sense since God is there, and He’s the Master Creator.

What sparks that passion inside you?

I kinda answered this already above didn’t I.  Actually, is this really the same question presented in a different way?

How do you channel your creativity into a finished product?

With great difficulty.  I often get into the middle of something and divert over to something else.  Being part of this community and having some clear goals has helped me be more focussed and target oriented.  Learning Garageband and therefore having more flexibility in how I present what I do has been great.  I can’t believe I had a Mac for over a year without touching it!

Still, not knowing how to play any instruments well is annoying.  As is my concern for my neighbours, which therefore restricts how much I’ll let myself go with my vocals.  I know I can do a lot more with my voice – I do it at church on Sundays, and have done in choirs for years…so I might need to find a place to let rip that’s soundproof.

And, importantly for me, the creative process of songwriting includes the recording and production.  It’s not just a song, it’s how it sounds, what synth is used, what bass sound, how many different drum tracks.  It’s all part of the process.  At the same time, I love how someone else could pick up the raw ingredients (music, lyrics) and create something entirely different in their interpretation.

What do you do when you struggle to create?

Usually this means I’m over-tired and need to step back and recouperate.  At one time, I’d push through.  This never yielded results, so I’ve learnt from that.

How do you celebrate your wins?

I’m not sure I really know what wins I’ve had.  Putting something out there that is enjoyed is a win I guess.  But a bigger win in my book is being satisfied with something I’ve created.  Coming back to it later and not wanting to change anything.  I’ve done that a couple of times.  Not many times, but it’s been done

Do you enjoy your creative process?

Yes.  If I wasn’t enjoying this, there’d be little point in doing it.  I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have my creative process and my income stream intersecting; some fatigue would be bound to set in at times.  However, it’s less likely to be an issue than when you feel your income earning is pulling you away from your creativity.

At the moment, I am blessed with a better crossover than some people I know…but I’d still rather be able to create all day than have to work.  So come on benefactor, I’m waiting

How do you share your creative elements with others?

For my congregation friendly songs – in church.

For my electronica & other noodlings – on my blog.  And it’s pretty diverse.  I gotta say, I’m really enjoying the self-imposed challenge of writing songs for/about other people.

Hopefully combining the two at some point by doing some video-clips which can be played at church of the songs I’ve created which are currently only on the blog.  Though probably not the ones I’ve done for/about other people.  Or my “25 Things” song.

The ones I do for church are going to be recorded for our first ever worship album over the course of the year too.  V.excited about this