Episode 12: Make A Mini Creative Retreat with Jennie Moraitis

Jennie Moraitis from Little Girl Designs started college as a music major… and then ended up working at engineering firms all across the U.S. It’s a little less of a traditional route than we hear on Chasing Creative, and it was such a joy to hear how she re-introduced creativity in her life, how she got started blogging about creativity, and how she makes time for it in her everyday life. She shares with us her theory of “procrastinating joy” - and how she created the project #2030Make to help us all conquer it.

Here's where to find Jennie:

Website & Creativity Resources: http://www.littlegirldesigns.com/cc/

#2030Make: http://littlegirldesigns.com/30daycreativechallenge/

Shop: https://gumroad.com/littlegirldesigns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/thelittlegirldesigns/

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/littlegirldsgns/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlegirldesigns

Here’s where to find Ashley:

Website: http://www.BrooksEditorial.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial

Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial

Here’s where to find Abbigail:

Website: http://www.www.InkwellsandImages.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/

Mini Book Club:

The Crossroads of Should and Must - Elle Luna

How to Be An Explorer of Your World - Keri Smith

Spilling Open - Sabrina Ward Harrison

Thinking Outside the Gift Box - Lauren Lanker

Little Red Writing Hood - Melissa Sweet

Amos and Boris - William Steig: the story of the unlikely friendship between a mouse and a whale

Euphoria - Lily King

The Girl with All the Gifts - M. R. Cary

Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert

Out of Sorts - Sarah Bessey

A Prayer Journal - Flannery O’Connor

Overwhelmed - Brigid Schulte

Quotes from this episode:

“That move was my creative renaissance. I started exploring my creativity again.” - Jennie

“I almost majored in biochemical engineering.” - Ashley (seriously!)

“I get a lot of my inspiration from children’s books, actually.” - Jennie

“I started getting emails from people asking me how I made time for creativity… so I started sharing.” - Jennie

“I love talking about creativity. It is so varied and broad. All of us are creative, but people express it so differently.” - Jennie

“I love seeing how creativity comes out in different ways in different people.” - Ashley

“I struggled with my creativity because I wasn’t making money from it… it felt like it wasn’t legitimate.” - Jennie

“You wonder is all of this even worth it if I’m not benefiting financially. Sometimes, we just need to be creative, and not for any other higher purpose than being creative.” - Abbigail

“What else am I going to do? This is my life. I love doing this and making things.” - Jennie

“We want the experience or the conditions for creativity to be perfect - and most of the time they aren’t.” - Abbigail

“I’m a big believer in secret projects. You don’t have to share everything.” - Jennie

“I call it ‘procrastinating joy’ - you have something you want to make, but instead you do something else. Why am I organizing my sock drawer when I can’t write for 15 minutes?” - Jennie

“I didn’t consider it being creative because I wasn’t doing projects that had a beginning and an end. It made me redefine creativity for myself.” - Jennie

“Where real growth happens is in being consistent.” - Jennie

“Choose one thing: you don’t have to do them all.” - Jennie

“Make an actual date with yourself.” - Jennie

“If your creative retreat is a burden, you’ve kind of missed the whole point.” - Jennie