Interview with Meghan Corbin [megexpressions] on Whohub

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How and why did you begin to be creative?

I have always had a crafty/creative bent, and after I graduated from college I decided that I wouldn't be happy unless I dedicated a large amount of time pursing this.

Your mind is your work tool. How do you take care of it?

I try to spend a lot of time reading, exercizing, praying. It is important to me to not let my life become too busy, because I think that in an area of relaxation creativity can begin to flow.

Also I take lots of baths!!

How do you avoid repeating yourself, or falling into formula? How do you stay fresh?

One of the things that I like best about my purses is that they are each unusual, one of a kind. This way, nothing I do with MegExpressions is a repeat of the past. Additionally, I am always coming up with new designs for purses to sell; I see that my product line is continually developing.

Do you have a ritual like retiring to a lonely place from time to time to cleanse your mind?

Yes, I have several ways of doing this. I spend a lot of time reading in coffeeshops, praying, or taking baths...these are three of the ways that I like to spend time alone, or focused time working on an issue.

I also like to journal and to exercize. Baking also can be therapeutic.

What cultural sources do you draw from the most?

It's pretty hard to answer this one!

Who have your teachers been?

I have met many people over the past several years who have encouraged me with MegExpressions; my friend Jackie who is an expert quilter offered much encouragement when I told her that I was interested in working with textiles; another friend Gordon helped me out with my website, and I also had an excellent business advisor, Betsy Talbot, who assisted me with some of the business set-up for MegExpressions.

When you accept a job, how much value do you place on each of the following? Money, creative liberty, visibility, and to work with the best.

My objective with MegExpressions is to support myself through selling my purses; and so price and cost are always a consideration. However, I do not want to support myself at the expense of losing sight of what my business really is; a return to simplicity, selling purses that have been made from the heart.
If i sense that I might be compromising this philosophy, I decide to take my business in another direction.

Have you ever had a job that was so stimulating that you could not get your mind off of it?

yes, always! It can sometimes take a lot for me to dive into a creative project, but once I am there I am totally engrossed; just this week I designed three new accessory products, one after another, as an example.

"To give birth to ideas." Is this only an expression, or are there really parallels between giving birth and creativity?

I think that creativity is a process, and that after much diligence you will arrive a breakthroughs; for example, I spent 2-3 years journaling and writing short stories, and then I joined a writing group and found that I was writing a novella!

I think that you need to respect the low times as well as the creative times as a part of the process.

Does spirituality contribute to your creativity?

Definately. In fact, I think that spirituality is what brought MegExpressions into being; I think that listening and spirituality and creativity are closely related; I see my creative process as a listening process, as an allowing myself to be led.

What is your blog address? What subjects do you deal with?

www.megexpressions.blogspot.com. My blog covers a variety of subjects, and lately it has been related to cooking projects, book reviews, and things that I have been doing with my purses.

What was it that made you create your blog? On what date did you start it?

I had wanted to create a blog for several years; I am not sure what exactly led me to finally start it; but I know that I felt inhibited to start it since I didn't know what subject I wanted to cover with a blog. After starting it, I realized that I had to actually create the blog and start writing to see where I wanted the focus to be.

How has 'having a blog' contributed to your life?

Having a blog has given me the capacity to communicate my ideas in ways that I might not otherwise be able to do; I think that a blog is a way of having an online conversation, only I am able to choose the subject material myself. Oftentimes in daily interections I sense that I have ideas that I want to share but no place where I can share them. Having a blog helps me to 'get some of these ideas out' and to formalize them.

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