#oneaday Day 78: Vanity Project

One thing I've never been quite sure about being "acceptable" when it comes to creativity is enjoying your own work.

I know there are plenty of people out there who, having put something out there for people to enjoy, promptly want nothing more to do with it. And I can understand that!

However, I've never really fallen into that category for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I used to enjoy reading stories I'd written and looking at pictures I'd drawn; when I was at university I added musical compositions to this; now, I enjoy reading back over articles I've written and watching videos I've made.

Part of this is the attitude I think I've always taken towards creativity: most of the way through my life, I've treated creativity as something that is, at its core, quite selfish. I don't mean that in a bad way, despite the negative connotations to that word. Rather, I mean that I've always treated creativity as something to be enjoyed, and an act of creating something that I want to enjoy myself.

And that's what I still do to this day! Everything I make is something that I enjoy myself. As I type this, I'm re-watching my Atari ST A to Z series, and I often read back over the 800+ articles on MoeGamer to bring back fond memories or revisit some favourite games.

Arrogant and prideful? Perhaps. But I feel like it works out all right in the long run. Creating stuff I enjoy has helped bring me closer together with people I get along with. Because it turns out they like the stuff I create too. And that's a really pleasant bonus to an activity I already enjoy.

So thanks for indulging me, I guess!