Creating or Curating?
I am not a good curator.
When I think of curator, I think of a musty dusty museum and someone who likes to type little cards that go next to a fragment of bone:
Fibia (fragment). Wooly Mammoth. 10,000 b.c.
They don’t spend their time or energy finding out that the mammoth’s name was Joe, or that he had a mate and sired about 15 baby wooly mammoths, or that he broke his left ankle during a stampede and walked with a limp which is why the lion got him and ate him and he ended up in the museum.
The curator of my imagination types up little cards.
No, I wouldn’t be great at that. I’d get carried away making up stories and imagining where the things were and what they were used for.
I’d rather be making the things.
Which brings us to Pinterest. I’m just not there yet.
Part of it, I think, is that I’m not crafty.
I can almost maybe sew a straight line. I made a pair of curtains from some twill one time. It took me like a month, and there were two pieces of fabric to sew together. So don’t give me too much credit here.
My point, though, is that even though a lot of people do both, I think you’re either a creator or a curator at heart.
Some people are wired to make new stuff.
And some people are wired to find that stuff and pull it together, connect the dots, and share it with the world.
I wish I was good at both. Because there’s a lot of really really cool stuff out there in the world that I’d like to be seeing and sharing.
But I’m not.
Are you a curator or a creator? Or both? Leave a comment…
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About Christine
I am a writer, a project manager, and a corporate refugee with a heart for orphans around the world. My two daughters were adopted from Ukraine at ages 12 and 14. I post about writing, chasing dreams, and making a difference in the world, and sometimes I share fun snippets of fiction in-progress.
I’d say I’m a bit of both. 99% of the ideas out there are not original to me. So by default I’m “curating” some ideas. I might be creating 1% new thoughts…maybe. I hope
That’s a great point, Jim. Sometimes I just absorb ideas to the point where I might not even realize I’m curating rather than creating.
Jim, you are an ‘idea machine’. You’re clocking in way better than 1%. Don’t be modest!
I find the most dejecting thing of all is to be excited about a fresh idea, and work feverishly on it, only to find out it’s been done already. The only option at that point is to go “Thomas Edison” on it, and make someone else’s idea better by your hand!
Have you read Austin Kleon’s “Steal Like An Artist”? Incredible book! It has fantastic thoughts on the genealogy of ideas and what makes good and bad stealing.
I love to curate ideas, but at the end of the day I really enjoy creating. And usually the creating comes because of the curating. Are curating and creating in relationship with one another? Maybe…
Maybe I just need to learn to find a better harmony between them? My difficulty with curating is frustrating to me…Hints??
I curate ideas even on pinterest and evernote. If something evokes emotion, makes a lightbulb turn on above my head, or if there is a pause inside me – I curate it. I think of it as filtering.
Why is curating frustrating?
Maybe you can redefine curating for yourself. Of course, I do work in a library and love the ordering of things BUT I really want to go beyond that into the story. I also think of curating as idea capturing (Jon Acuff). Does that help any?
It does…if I can count curation as putting it in Evernote, then I don’t suck as bad as I think I do! My issue is putting some kind of organization around it in a way that it actually means something. I even have troubling with tag and category structures that make sense and are scalable.
If I worked in a library, all the books would be in random piles all over the place. Or perhaps they’d be in order by size. Or color of the book jacket.
You don’t suck!!! The organization is the hardest though…I spend a lot of time trying to organize and develop better organization. I have stacks of ideas scribbled on post-it notes, ideas written on the inside of book jackets, etc. But they are written down and I think that is half the battle : )
As for the library, if the librarians didn’t check on me, I’d have piles of books everywhere and rearranged every which direction. LOL!
I don’t want to take pleasure in your discomfort, but I do feel better that we’re more alike than I imagined!!
I definitely think we are a lot alike!
I think I’m more of a creator. I have tons of ideas, but somehow they get lost from synapse to paper. I really need to keep a dry erase board in the shower. That’s not only the best place I sing, but also the where my greatest ideas come from! ;^}
I would not call myself a curator, as the manifestation part is the hardest for me to work through. I relate with your point that “…organization that actually means something”. This is evident by my pile of napkins and scraps of paper with ideas written on them…usually scribbled while driving or changing diapers!
(Not MY diapers, just to clarify!)
Thanks for that clarification…I was worried. 😉
If someone came up with a seamless way to capture shower ideas, they’d be a millionaire.