This time last year, if you had asked me how I felt about being photographed, I'd have laughed. Including my hands or my torso in images was the furthest I'd moved towards taking a self portrait I felt comfortable sharing. I took a couple of bio/headshots when I absolutely had to for an interview - but I didn't like them enough to use on my website or blog, and I certainly would never have posted them on instagram.
I didn't start writing fiction until I was twenty two. In fact, I hated creative writing throughout school (vastly preferring the literature of others to anything I could create) - but this doesn't make me any less of a writer now. Looking back, I can recognise my dislike of creative writing then for what it really was - the fear of others (even a teacher!) reading something deeply personal to me…
Read MoreIf your creativity is at all linked to your career or finances (even if it's a side hustle), or if you share what you make with others in any way, it's likely you'll feel more than a little pressure surrounding it.
Too much pressure can easily lead to creative block or self doubt, but the easiest way to help head this off is by creating work that fills you up with joy in the first place.
Read MoreIt can sometimes be incredibly difficult to open up about our creative hopes and dreams. However, we're often much happier to share our creativity in the online world than we are face to face.
We lie about our weekends; hide the blog we've been pouring our free time into; live in fear that our colleagues or old school friends will find our creative instagram account.
But what is it that makes us close up around the people we see every day, and how can we start to be more open about who we really are?
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