I do back a lot of things on kickstarter, most of the time they're just cool things that I like the look of and have the spare funds to buy in on, sometimes they're things where I just think that the persons got a dream and I want to help them achieve that dream and sometimes...
Sometimes it's something that you've thought about and never got around to addressing...
This is (un)fold, potentially the first in a series of publications aimed at exploring the link between mental health and creativity, and by that I mean not just the theory that every creative person might be a psycho lurking just under the surface...
Although that said...
I know a lot of creative people, between the games companies that I work with, the writing groups I'm with, and the various groups I'm in that get creative with all sorts of other things, from prototyping to photography, and if I'm honest, in creatives that I know, there is a higher percentage of people who have anxieties of various types.
I'm not saying that those who aren't very creative don't have anxieties of their own, but certainly they're less evident than in the people who spend their days dreaming up new worlds and ideas. Maybe it's because we spend our time dreaming up things that we can see all the possibilities out there and sometimes it's hard to ignore those possibilities when we see them. Maybe it's because we're putting ourselves out there all the time, and everything we create is a little bit of ourselves on view to the world, and we wonder whether or not everyone see's more of us in what we do than we wanted to put on show.
Maybe...
For myself, I'm an Introvert masquerading as a monstrous Extrovert, always have been, those who've seen me at conventions know all about the big personality. I'm large and in charge, the life and soul of the party, no one's ever going to doubt the Dodd in high gear, because that's not what I am out in the world, that's the part of me that faces impossible odds and doesn't think of what might go wrong.
But what do I see when I'm in the dark, and the demons come...?
Never going to tell anyone, because it's no one's business but my own, possessed of gigantic mirth and gigantic melancholy, and those who know me, know how well I can hide both, but they're there. I see those same things in the words and deeds of the other creatives I know, so I'm interested in this Kickstarter because it might well be something that goes some way towards addressing both my thoughts and the thoughts of others like me, and for that I'm backing it.
They're inviting articles from anyone who works creatively in some way (doesn't matter how) and wants to share their thoughts on the matter, and I think that it's worth lending a hand here.
The kickstarter can be found at
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/161012329/unfold
Feel free to spread the word
