I don’t know if that’s someone else’s phrase, or if I just coined it, so let’s just take it from here, shall we?

In my ever growing circle of writing friends, there is a common thread. All of us have more than one creative pastime. There’s writing, of course. But many of my friends are also musicians or artists. Some dabble in pottery, ceramics, and sculpture. Me? I just dabble.  I like trying out everything, but don’t really excel at any of them.

Think about the talented people who surround you. Do they, also, have multiple creative skills?

Some of us talked about this at a gathering and one remarked that it’s as if creativity begat creativity. If you were talented in one area, your mind naturally wanders to other similar areas and from there to others, so there is a constantly broadening of your abilities. It seems that the real key is that creative minds aren’t satisfied with just one outlet. By exercising all these things, we make our talents stronger. Creating doesn’t stop. Can you turn it off?  Me neither. One thing leads to another, then another, and it keeps flowing.

Let me ask you. If you are a musician as well as a writer, do you write songs? If you have artistic tendencies, do you illustrate your work? It’s wonderful when you can use both talents in tandem. I know I like to make short web/power-point videos of some of my poetry….using both  writing and  artistic design. As soon as I figure out how, I’ll post a couple to this site.

But here’s another question. If your talents mesh it seems like a beautiful marriage.  But what if they don’t? Are they in conflict? Do you struggle to find time for both? Sure, you could write about your other interest – a how-to book, or a cookbook, or other things that have to do with your second (third, fourth) talent. But if you take time to actually practice it – like weaving, for instance – is there guilt for not working on that book that’s half finished in the computer?

Sometimes, we have so many interests that we hop from one to another in a frantic attempt to find a ‘home’. It can be problematic…have you ever known an extremely smart person that just can’t seem to find his or her place in the world? There’s a book on this, called The DaVinci Curse.

Many actors have talents that others aren’t aware of. Sure, we heard Reese Witherspoon sing in ‘Walk the Line’, but did you know that many other actors have musical talent? Bruce Willis, harmonica; Eva Longoria, clarinet; Steve Martin, banjo; Halle Berry, flute; Jennifer Garner, saxophone; Woody Allen, clarinet – and here’s list of other ‘second’ talents -

1. Colin Farrell is a line dancer and was even a line dance instructor.
   

   Hedy Lamarr

2. Kristen Stewart can juggle.
3. Seth Meyers writes comic books
4. David Arquette is a PRO knitter
5. Hedy Lamarr co-invented the technology for spread spectrum and frequency hopping communications – recently incorporated into Wi-Fi, CDMA, and Bluetooth technology.(Now, THAT was creative!)
6. Kristin Wiig is an artist
7. and the late Jonathan Winters’ paintings are valued collectors’ items.

(Funny note.  When I looked all this up, I ran across another article titled Famous People With No Discernible Talent.  Well, we won’t go there….today.)

Okay – ‘fess up. What’s YOUR second, third, or fourth creative talent, and how do you balance them?